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US 12,419,231 B2Granted
Sensing and control of liquid application using an agricultural machine
AssigneeDeere & Company
InventorsGrant J. Wonderlich, Kenneth E. Herrmann, Michael C. Steele, Kilian Wolff, Gerrit Pruessmann
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An agricultural machine applies liquid material to a field. Valve control signals control valves to apply the liquid material. Row pressure on the agricultural machine is sensed to identify when the valve is opened to apply the liquid material. The valve control signals are generated, based on the row pressure, to control the valves to apply the liquid material at a desired location in the field, relative to plant locations in the field.
Claims12
An agricultural system comprising:
- a material reservoir, disposed on an agricultural machine, configured to hold a fluid material to be applied to a field;
- a controllable valve, disposed on the agricultural machine, in fluidic communication with the material reservoir and configured to receive the fluid material, the controllable valve actuatable between an open position and a closed position based on a first valve open control signal and a first valve closed control signal;
- a sensor configured to detect a characteristic indicative of the controllable valve being in the open position or the closed position, generate a valve open sensor signal indicative of the controllable valve being in the open position, and generate a valve closed sensor signal indicative of the controllable valve being in the closed position;
- one or more processors;
- and
- memory storing instructions, executable by the one or more processors, that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform steps comprising:
- identifying an open time delay indicating a delay in opening the controllable valve based on the first valve open control signal and the valve open sensor signal;
- identifying a close time delay indicating a delay in closing the controllable valve based on the first valve closed control signal and the valve closed sensor signal;
- identifying a specific gravity of the fluid material;
- identifying, based, at least, on the identified specific gravity, a timing defining a time to open the controllable valve and a duration defining a length of time to keep the controllable valve open;
- and
- controlling actuation of the controllable valve based, at least, on the identified timing and identified duration.
9 more elements
An agricultural system comprising:
- a material reservoir, disposed on an agricultural machine, configured to hold a fluid material to be applied to a field;
- a controllable valve, disposed on the agricultural machine, in fluidic communication with the material reservoir and configured to receive the fluid material, the controllable valve actuatable between an open position and a closed position based on a first valve open control signal and a first valve closed control signal;
- a sensor configured to detect a characteristic indicative of the controllable valve being in the open position or the closed position, generate a valve open sensor signal indicative of the controllable valve being in the open position, and generate a valve closed sensor signal indicative of the controllable valve being in the closed position;
- one or more processors;
- and
- memory storing instructions, executable by the one or more processors, that, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the one or more processors to:
- generate a blockage metric representing a valve blockage condition of the controllable valve based on the first valve open control signal and the valve open sensor signal;
- and
- control the agricultural machine based, at least, on the blockage metric representing the valve blockage condition of the controllable valve by controllably deactivating the controllable valve based, at least, on the blockage metric.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.