Crop thinning apparatus and method
AssigneeArrowhead Center, Inc.
InventorsWesley Eaton, Ryan Herbon, Vince Hernandez
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for mechanically thinning crops, particularly those planted in rows. One or more crop thinning units are connected to the back of a tractor or other vehicle. Each of the units has the ability to sense plants and activate an arm which has a blade disposed thereon. An electronic control system enables data from several sensors to be evaluated such that plants may be selectively removed based on pre-established criteria. Sensors differentiate between weeds and plants, and maintain the cutting units above the crop rows.
Claims35
A crop thinning system for selectively cutting individual plants in at least one crop row comprising:
- a cutting blade;
- a sensor located a distance in front of said cutting blade for detecting at least one characteristic of individual plants in the crop row and producing at least one sensor reading for comparison with at least one predetermined characteristic value, said distance sufficient to prevent debris produced by said cutting blade from interacting with said sensor;
- an encoder for determining a position of said cutting blade;
- and
- an electrical control system capable of storing information as to whether each plant residing between said sensor and said cutting blade is a selected plant which should be cut and actuating said cutting blade based on said at least one sensor reading to cut the plant if it is a selected plant.
A method for selectively thinning crops, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a crop thinning apparatus comprising a cutting blade and a sensor located a first distance in front of the blade sufficient to prevent debris produced by the blade from interacting with the sensor;
- detecting a characteristic of an individual plant with the sensor;
- comparing the detected characteristic of the individual plant to a predetermined characteristic value;
- determining if the individual plant should be cut;
- and
- cutting the individual plant with the cutting blade after a delay determined by comparing the first distance and a second distance traveled by the cutting blade subsequent to the detecting step.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.