US-12622343-B2 - Agricultural tool unit for rapid conversion of a combination seed drill having a trailed or fine-grain seed dispenser to an on-demand supply system and vice versa

US12622343B2US 12622343 B2US12622343 B2US 12622343B2US-12622343-B2

Abstract

Agricultural implement assembly, for the rapid transformation of a seed drill with a drilling or dragging dosing device, volumetric supplier to an on-demand supplier and vice versa, including at least one hopper containing a granular input, such as grains, seeds or granules of agrochemicals, and a delivery device arranged under the hopper. This device has a structure consisting of two physically delimited areas. A seed box is formed by side walls that delimit its width, a bottom wall, a rear wall with the air inlet from the fan, and a front partition that has at least the passage of the seed to the area where the dragging rotor is eventually located for the case of drilling work, or to the area where the containment slope is located for the case of on-demand supply.

Inventors

Gustavo Raul CRUCIANELLI

Assignees

TALLERES METALURGICOS CRUCIANELLI S.A.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20190606

Claims (9)

1 . An agricultural implement assembly for rapid transformation of a seed drill combined with a dragging or drilling seed dosing device to a supplier on demand comprising: at least one hopper containing a granular input and a delivery device arranged below and in communication with said hopper, said delivery device comprising a delivery box having respective side walls delimiting its width, a bottom wall, a top wall in communication with a seed chamber from the hopper, a rear wall having an inlet of an air current, and a front partition establishing at least one outlet for at least one granulated input dragging air current from said delivery box, wherein attached against said front partition and at least part of said top wall of the delivery box is arranged a removable seed injection chamber, using holding and linking means and copying a profile of the front partition and top wall, said removable seed injection chamber having two interchangeable and distinct injection chamber construction variants; a first variant of the two interchangeable and distinct injection chamber construction variant comprises at least a first chamber wall attached to the front partition of the delivery box, a second chamber wall separated from the first chamber wall by establishing a passage between both the first and second chamber walls and a bottom, said first chamber wall being formed by a blind wall that copies a profile of the top wall of the delivery box, and portions of side walls; in at least part of a roof or vault of the first injection chamber providing a communication of an interior of said first injection chamber with the delivery box which in turn communicates with the bottom of the hopper, establishing an entry of the inputs from the hopper to said seed chamber and from there to the injection chamber; in portions of the side wall of the delivery box and above a top wall thereof there are seats of a respective end of the axis of a cylindrical body, with fastening and holding means, said cylindrical body being rotatable about its axis inside the seed chamber, and interposed and facing the communication between said hopper and seed chamber, said cylindrical body providing mechanical dragging means of the inputs towards said seed injection chamber and forming a drilling delivery device therewith; a second variant of the two interchangeable and distinct injection chamber construction variant comprises a first chamber wall attached to the front partition of the delivery box, a second chamber wall spaced from the first chamber wall establishing a passage between both walls and a bottom, said first chamber wall being at least partly permeable to the passage of a second air current from an air chamber into the seed chamber, which copies a profile of the top wall of the air chamber, having a roof or vault of the injection chamber of the second injection chamber wall and portions of side walls; a partition being disposed adjacent to the top end of the first chamber wall of the injection chamber projecting towards the roof or vault of said injection chamber, establishing a passage between a free edge of said partition and said roof or vault, the partition defining a retention slope by overflow of the granulated inputs, forming a supply device on demand; between said first and second walls, at least one communication is substantially aligned with the at least one outlet of a main air current of the delivery box, the second wall of the seed injection chamber having at least one air outlet in communication with the granulated inputs to the ground.
2 . The agricultural implement assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the side walls of the delivery box extend forward providing respective wall portions spaced apart from each other and following said front partition, seated between said two walls the sides of the injection chamber of the first variant or the second variant.
3 . The agricultural implement assembly according to claim 2 , wherein the side walls of the delivery box that extend forward are vertical and parallel to each other, with the holding means of the seed injection chamber being selectively detachable therefrom arranged below the aforementioned a seat of the axis end providing a support by pressing the first vertical chamber against the front partition of the delivery box.
4 . The agricultural implement assembly according to claim 1 , wherein a drilling or volumetric delivery device composed by said chamber by a first vertical chamber wall, a second vertical chamber wall, defining between both a vertical chamber, and side walls, comprising a plurality of partitions separated from each other and arranged between the side walls, defining between said plurality of partitions the inputs to the interior of the injection chamber and all of them in communication with the outlet of the bottom of the hopper; said first vertical chamber wall has a plurality of air inlets communicating with open passages at both ends with respective air outlets of the air box present in the front partition thereof; the first vertical chamber wall is arranged attached against the front partition of the air box; above the sides of the injection chamber, a housing is provided in the form of a semicircular notch housing a dragging cylinder linked by its ends to extensions of the side walls of the delivery box seating in selectively detachable linking and holding means.
5 . The agricultural implement assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the seed injection chamber provides an on-demand delivery device, said injection chamber being formed by a first vertical chamber wall attached against the front partition of the delivery box and a second vertical wall, a vertical chamber being established between both; the first vertical chamber wall has a top edge that matches a crowning of the front partition of the delivery box, folding there backwards with an opening or passage that delimits a corresponding vault area of the delivery box against which it is attached, to then be continued obliquely upwards in a passage coinciding with the exit of seeds from the hopper; inside the vertical chamber there is a slope whose crest defines a spillage edge of the seeds which fall inside the vertical injection chamber; said vertical injection chamber has a plurality of open passages at both ends in alignment and axial communication with respective air outlets in the front partition of the delivery box determining the transport of the seeds towards proper dosing to the seed drill.
6 . The agricultural implement assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the detachable holding means from the aforementioned injection chambers are defined by a pair of opposed and aligned blind slots arranged openings located on the top back of said vertical sides extension of the delivery box, settling in the slots of each side a body of which two separate cantilevered wings are joined and parallel to each other and arranged to one projected on the other; in each of the aforementioned wings are made two blind bottom elongated notches facing each other on a same straight line, leaving between each bottom of each pair of axially aligned notches a wing portion of a width equivalent to the width of the slot, so that the notches of one of the wings corresponds vertically aligned with the notches of the other overlapping wing, determining said slots housing seats of the aforementioned central portions of each wing; the aforementioned body has a screw whose thread fillet couples in a complementary thread fillet in a passage of the body, seating the protruding end of the screw against the second front wall of vertical chamber by pressing the first wall of the injection chamber against the partition of the air box.
7 . The agricultural implement assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the fastening and holding means of the respective axis end of the cylindrical body that rotates on its axis are a pair of circular clamps, each pair of clamps being arranged in a vertical plane against the external face of each substantially parallel and vertical wall of the delivery box, the bottom half-clamp being solidary of said wall while the top clamp component pivots hinged with respect to the bottom clamp component, the ends being opposite to that of the aforementioned joint provided with reciprocal closures; in its closed clamp condition, the interior of each clamp portion has respectively a semi-cylindrical inner seat that defines corresponding circular bearing tracks, aligned and coaxial to the axis of the aforementioned cylinder, within which the respective stub is seated arranged at each end of the dragging cylinder.
8 . The agricultural implement assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the vertical chamber of the volumetric delivery device is completed with an independent plate attachable against the second vertical chamber wall, the same being retained against it by a bottom holding means defined by a series of tabs on each of which a recess is delimited, said tabs being horizontally projecting from a small plane extended between both wall portions at an extension of the sides of the delivery box, the corresponding projections being seated at each said recess practiced on the bottom edge of the aforementioned independent plate; while above, said independent plate is linked by a pivoting arm arranged at each top end of the plate in the other slots, of the pair of slots present at the top edges of the extension of the side of the delivery box, said independent plate being provided with outlets of the air currents matching axially with the air outlets practiced in the corresponding vertical chamber.
9 . The agricultural implement assembly according to claim 8 , wherein said independent plate has two notches coinciding with the displacement path of the adjustment screw of the vertical chamber, determining the free passage of the end of said screw, said top linkage arms being housed in the slots arranged upstream regarding the slots wherein the holding means of the vertical chamber are housed.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This Application is a 371 of PCT/IB2019/054738 filed on Jun. 6, 2019, which is incorporated herein by reference. FIELD OF APPLICATION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION The present invention refers to the field of transporting granulated solid materials via an air current, from a container or hopper to the means of implantation of said materials. One of the most common applications of these systems refers to agricultural machinery when it is used to transport these granulated solid materials, such as seeds or granular fertilizer, from a hopper or reservoir, ideally a centralized reservoir, to the precision dosing equipment called “single grain” located on the planting unit (Planters) and in equipment that performs seeding of fine seeds and/or solid fertilizers by volumetric dosing means also called “drilling” (Seeders). The application field of the present invention provides means for allowing, in a seed drill from a machine having a dragging or volumetric delivery system, provided by any mechanical element of granular material dragging, to quickly, simply, without the use of special tools in the same field or lot where the seed drill operates, transform it into a seed drill with an on-demand delivery device. The application field of the present invention more specifically provides means for allowing, the rapid conversion of an on-demand seeder into a seed drill, without having to displace the seed drill machine to a certain site, such as a (mechanical) workshop, and without the need for any special tool, nor needing the assistance of specialized personnel. Meaning of the Terms Used in the Present Invention The main HOPPER is understood to be the large volume container, usually installed on the central portion of the seed drill or coupled in some way to the seed drill independently and containing in bulk the seed, or input to be deposited on the ground. Usually and in a known form, the seed drills have more than one such centrally located hopper. DELIVERY DEVICE: It is composed of an AIR BOX and at least part of the SEED BOX. This device is usually located under the hopper. The air box is basically formed by a hollow body in the form of a tunnel, with an air inlet at its rear end, air current that at its opposite end proceeds to drive the granulated material by sending it towards the deposition means to the ground. The seed box is in communication with the bottom of the hopper and receives the granulated material from said hopper, for shipment thereof to the SEED INJECTION CHAMBER. For the purposes of the invention, any device capable of delivering certain doses of fine seeds or fertilizers by rotating a shaft provided with a mechanical dragging element is recognized as a “drilling” type or DRAGGING DOSING DEVICE. Said dragging element may have various forms that allow it to fulfill its function. Depending on the construction features, these dragging elements can be presented as a single rotor for a variety of transport lines or a dragging element can be individualized by each transport line. The device that delivers the flow rate of seeds or inputs according to the requirements dictated by the dosing devices that work in conjunction with the secondary receptacles or hoppers, and that individually serve only one dosing device for the implantation or deposition of the seed in the ground, is recognized as an ON DEMAND SUPPLIER DEVICE. GRANULAR INPUT is to be understood as any grain, seed or agrochemical compound in granular state, such as fertilizers, string trimmer, pesticides, etc. PRIOR ART With the aim of increasing their operational capacity, the size of agricultural implements increases continuously. In the case of seed drills and planters, they have adopted centralized storage systems for seeds and fertilizers consisting of large hoppers, increasing working autonomy and simplifying replenishment tasks. For “coarse grain” crops (maize, soybean, sunflower, etc.), in addition to the operational capacity, there is the need to provide the seed drill machines with devices with the precision required when implanting the seed, said devices generally called “single grain” for carrying out an individualized treatment of the seed are mounted directly on the planting body. The supply of the material to the respective “single grain” dosing devices is carried out by moving the seed from the main hopper, through a series of conduits, driven by an air current. The delivery of the material is regulated by a device that is installed at the base of the main hopper, with which communicates and receives the material contained in said main hopper, with which communicates and receives the material contained in said central hopper, generally by free fall or gravity. The delivery devices mainly used for the purpose of the present invention comprise an air box having a bottom, side walls and a first front wall communicating with a pressurized air source, and a second posterior wall, with at least on