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EP-4396554-B1 - AGRICULTURAL SAMPLING SYSTEM AND RELATED METHODS

EP4396554B1EP 4396554 B1EP4396554 B1EP 4396554B1EP-4396554-B1

Inventors

  • O'NEALL, Matthew
  • SWANSON, TODD
  • KOCH, Dale

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20220822

Claims (13)

  1. A soil sample collection system (8000) comprising: a sample collection vehicle (2802) comprising a pair of front wheels (8106) and a pair of rear wheels (8107); a support frame (8103) mounted to the sample collection vehicle (2802); and a sample collection apparatus (8002) supported by the support frame (8103) and comprising soil engaging elements disposed between the front and rear wheels (8106, 8107), the soil engaging elements configured to engage the soil and collect the soil sample as the sample collection vehicle (2802) travels along a surface of the soil; wherein the soil engaging elements include a coulter blade (8021, 8021) rotatably coupled to the support frame (8103), a knife assembly (8020, 8120) coupled to the support frame proximate to the coulter blade (8021, 8121), and a collection spool (8040) movably mounted to the knife assembly (8020, 8120), the collection spool comprising a collection cavity (8042) configured to capture the soil sample.
  2. The soil sample collection system (8000) according to claim 1, wherein the soil engaging elements are disposed between a transverse front wheel axis (AX1) extending through the front wheels (8106) and a transverse rear wheel axis (AX2) extending through the rear wheels (8107).
  3. The soil sample collection system (8000) according to claim 1, wherein the collection spool (8040) is rotatably and vertical moveable relative to the knife assembly (8121).
  4. The soil sample collection system (8000) according to claim 1, wherein the coulter blade (8021) is disposed forward of and axially aligned with the knife assembly (8121).
  5. The soil sample collection system according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the soil engaging elements are disposed equidistant between opposing lateral sides (8105) of the sample collection vehicle (2802).
  6. The soil sample collection system (8000) according to claim 2, wherein the sample collection vehicle (2802) is a trailer (8100) comprising a hitch (8102) configured for coupling to an engine-powered vehicle operable to pull the trailer along the surface of the soil.
  7. The soil sample collection system (8000) according to claim 6, wherein the sample collection apparatus (8002) is disposed in a central equipment opening (8103) defined by a frame (8103) of the trailer (8100).
  8. The soil sample collection system (8000) according to claim 7, wherein the central equipment opening (8108) has a length which extends for a majority of a length of the frame (8103) of the trailer (8100) and a width which extends for a majority of a width of the frame of the trailer.
  9. The soil sample collection system (8000) according to claims 7 or 8, wherein each of the front and rear wheels (8106, 8107) are rotatably mounted to the trailer (8100) by individual torsion axles (8109) which do not extend laterally through the central equipment opening (8108).
  10. The soil sample collection system (8000) according to claim 9, wherein each torsion axle (8109) is supported by an associated spring suspension member (8113) coupled to the frame (8103) of the trailer (8100).
  11. The soil sample collection system (8000) according to claim 1, wherein the knife assembly (8121) comprises a blade guide element (8150) including a forwardly open recess (8152) which receives a peripheral cutting edge (8151) of the coulter blade (8021) partially therein.
  12. The soil sample collection system (8000) according to claim 11, wherein the coulter blade (8021) is configured to be linearly adjustable in a forward and rearward direction relative to the knife assembly (8121) for adjusting a depth of the coulter blade in the recess (8152) of the blade guide element (8150).
  13. The soil sample collection system (8000) according to claim 1, wherein the sample collection apparatus (8002) is angularly adjustable relative to the surface of the soil.

Description

BACKGROUND The present disclosure relates generally to agricultural sampling and analysis, and more particularly to a fully automated system for performing soil and other types of agricultural related sampling and chemical property analysis. Periodic soil testing is an important aspect of the agricultural arts. Test results provide valuable information on the chemical makeup of the soil such as plant-available nutrients and other important properties (e.g. levels of nitrogen, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, pH, etc.) so that various amendments may be added to the soil to maximize the quality and quantity of crop production. In some existing soil sampling processes, collected samples are dried, ground, water is added, and then filtered to obtain a soil slurry suitable for analysis. Extractant is added to the slurry to pull out plant available nutrients. The slurry is then filtered to produce a clear solution or supernatant which is mixed with a chemical reagent for further analysis. EP 1 970 493 A2 relates to an apparatus for taking soil samples having sampling means for taking soil samples during travel of the apparatus. The sampling means comprise a soil drill. A drive serves to control and assist the movements of sampling means. US 8 955 401 B1 relates to a truck or other vehicle carrying a sampling assembly that is capable of quickly and efficiently removing a sample from the soil when the vehicle stops. The sample may be dropped from a sampling tube. Soil compaction within the sampling tube may be avoided by tapering of the interior of the tube itself. US 2014/251032 A1 discloses an automated soil sampler that is removably mounted on an agricultural tractor, and that collects soil samples in a farm field while the tractor is driven through the field. At a periodic interval, the soil sampler collects a soil sample by a knife and places the collected soil sample into a bar-coded storage container. CN 109 085 013 A discloses a column-shaped soil sample continuous sampling device with sampling shovel mechanisms, a host mechanism, a sampling stroke mechanism and a vehicle body. The host mechanism can continuously clamp the sampling shovel mechanisms in sequence to enable the sampling shovel mechanisms to be connected with the sampling stroke mechanism to complete multiple sampling. Improvements in testing soil, vegetation, and manure are desired. BRIEF SUMMARY The present disclosure provides an automated computer-controlled sampling system and related methods for collecting, processing, and analyzing soil samples for various chemical properties such as plant available nutrients (hereafter referred to as a "soil sampling system"). The sampling system allows multiple samples to be processed and analyzed for different analytes (e.g. plant-available nutrients) and/or chemical properties (e.g. pH) in a simultaneous concurrent or semi-concurrent manner, and in relatively continuous and rapid succession. Advantageously, the system can process soil samples in the "as collected" condition without the drying and grinding steps previously described. The present system generally includes a sample preparation sub-system which receives soil samples collected by a probe collection sub-system and produces a slurry (i.e. mixture of soil, vegetation, and/or manure and water) for further processing and chemical analysis, and a chemical analysis sub-system which receives and processes the prepared slurry samples from the sample preparation sub-system for quantification of the analytes and/or chemical properties of the sample. The described chemical analysis sub-system can be used to analyze soil, vegetation, and/or manure samples. In one embodiment, the sample preparation system generally includes a mixer-filter apparatus which mixes the collected raw soil sample in the "as sampled" condition (e.g. undried and unground) with water to form a sample slurry. The mixer-filter apparatus then filters the slurry during its extraction from the apparatus for processing in the chemical analysis sub-system. The chemical analysis sub-system processes the slurry and performs the general functions of extractant and color-changing reagent addition/mixing, centrifugating the slurry sample to yield a clear supernatant, and finally sensing or analysis for detection of the analytes and/or chemical properties such as via colorimetric analysis. Although the sampling systems (e.g. sample collection, preparation, and processing) may be described herein with respect to processing soil samples which represents one category of use for the disclosed embodiments, it is to be understood that the same systems including the apparatuses and related processes may further be used for processing other types of agricultural related samples including without limitation vegetation/plant, forage, manure, feed, milk, or other types of samples. The disclosure herein should therefore be considered broadly as an agricultural sampling system. Accordingly, the present