US-12623863-B2 - Automatically detecting or estimating material delivery delays and machine control

US12623863B2US 12623863 B2US12623863 B2US 12623863B2US-12623863-B2

Abstract

Material is metered by a meter into a delivery conduit from a tank and delivered to a tool on an agricultural machine. A sensor detects when the material arrives at the tool. A delay time is detected between when the meter is activated and when the sensor detects the material. The agricultural machine is controlled based on the delay time.

Inventors

Mandar Mhalsakant Kale
William D. Graham
Omkar P. JOSHI
Venkata Nagendra Pavan Kumar Nerellakunta

Assignees

DEERE & COMPANY

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230221

Claims (18)

1 . An agricultural system, comprising: a material application implement; a material tank; a delivery conduit coupled to the material application implement; a meter configured to meter material from the material tank into the delivery conduit; a meter control system configured to activate the meter; a blower that generates airflow in the delivery conduit to carry the material from the meter through the delivery conduit to the material application implement; a material sensor configured to sense material flowing at the material application implement and generate a sensor signal indicative of the material; a material flow monitoring system configured to identify a flow characteristic of the material based on the sensor signal and generate a material flow output indicative of the flow characteristic; a flow timing control system configured to: determine whether the material flowing at the material application implement meets a flow threshold based on the material flow output; identify a flow start delay based on when the meter is activated by the meter control system, when the material sensor senses the material, and the material flow output indicating that the material flowing at the material application implement meets the flow threshold; and a control system configured to generate a control signal to control a portion of the agricultural system based on the flow start delay.
2 . The agricultural system of claim 1 wherein the flow timing control system is configured to: deactivate the meter; and detect a flow stop delay based on when the meter is deactivated by the meter control system and when the material sensor stops sensing the material.
3 . The agricultural system of claim 2 wherein the material flow monitoring system is configured to identify a second flow characteristic of the material based on the sensor signal and generate a material flow output indicative of the second flow characteristic.
4 . The agricultural system of claim 3 wherein the flow timing control system is configured to determine whether the material flowing at the material application implement meets a second flow threshold based on the material flow output.
5 . The agricultural system of claim 4 wherein the flow timing control system is configured to identify the flow stop delay based on the material flow output indicating that the material flowing at the material application implement meets the second flow threshold.
6 . The agricultural system of claim 1 wherein the blower is configured to operate at a plurality of different blower speeds and wherein the flow timing control system is configured to detect flow timing values corresponding each of the plurality of different blower speeds.
7 . The agricultural system of claim 6 wherein the control system is configured to identify a current blower speed, access the corresponding flow timing value and generate the control signal based on the accessed flow timing value.
8 . A system for controlling an agricultural material application machine that includes a material meter and a material application implement, the system comprising: a material sensor configured to sense flow of material at the material application implement and generate a sensor signal indicative of the flow of material; a material flow monitoring system configured to generate a flow output indicative of a characteristic of the material flow based on the sensor signal; a flow timing control system configured to: generate estimated time delay information corresponding to material traveling between the material meter and the material application implement through a delivery conduit; determine when material flow of the material flowing at the material application implement meets a first flow threshold based on the flow output and generate a flow start output; identify a flow start delay indicative of a time that the material takes to begin flowing at the material application implement, based on flow start output, after activation of the material meter to dispense the material into the delivery conduit; determine when material flow of the material flowing at the material application implement drops below a second flow threshold based on the flow output and generate a flow stop output; detect a flow stop delay indicative of a time that the material takes to stop flowing at the material application implement, based on flow stop output, after deactivation of the material meter to stop dispensing the material into the delivery conduit; perform a comparison to compare the estimated time delay information to the flow start delay and the flow stop delay and update, based on the comparison, the estimated time delay information to obtain updated estimated time delay information; and a machine control system configured to generate a control signal to control the agricultural material application machine based on the updated estimated time delay information.
9 . The system of claim 8 wherein the comparison comprises a determination of a threshold difference between the estimated time delay information and one or more of the flow start delay or the flow stop delay.
10 . The system of claim 8 wherein the material meter is activated to dispense material into the delivery conduit and wherein the agricultural material application machine comprises: a blower that generates airflow in the delivery conduit to carry the material from the material meter through the delivery conduit to the material application implement; and a material sensor configured to sense flow of material at the material application implement and generate a sensor signal indicative of the flow of material.
11 . The system of claim 10 wherein the blower is controllable to operate at different blower speeds and wherein the flow timing control system is configured to automatically detect a time delay corresponding to material traveling between the material meter and the material application implement through the delivery conduit at the different blower speeds.
12 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the flow timing control system is configured to update the estimated time delay information based on a user acceptance input.
13 . An agricultural system, comprising: a material application implement; a material tank; a delivery conduit coupled to the material application implement; a meter configured to meter material from the material tank into the delivery conduit; a meter control system configured to activate the meter; a blower that generates airflow in the delivery conduit to carry the material from the meter through the delivery conduit to the material application implement; a material sensor configured to sense material flowing at the material application implement and generate a sensor signal indicative of the material; a material flow monitoring system configured to identify a flow characteristic of the material based on the sensor signal and generate a material flow output indicative of the flow characteristic; a flow timing control system configured to: determine whether the material flowing at the material application implement meets a flow threshold based on the material flow output; identify a flow stop delay based on when the meter is deactivated by the meter control system, when the material sensor stops sensing the material, and the material flow output indicating that the material flowing at the material application implement meets the flow threshold; and a control system configured to generate a control signal to control a portion of the agricultural system based on the flow stop delay.
14 . The agricultural system of claim 13 wherein the flow timing control system is configured to detect a flow start delay based on when the meter is activated by the meter control system and when the material sensor senses the material.
15 . The agricultural system of claim 14 wherein the flow timing control system is configured to determine whether the material flowing at the material application implement meets a second flow threshold based on the material flow output.
16 . The agricultural system of claim 15 wherein the flow timing control system is configured to identify the flow start delay based on the material flow output indicating that the material flowing at the material application implement meets the second flow threshold.
17 . The agricultural system of claim 13 wherein the blower is configured to operate at a plurality of different blower speeds and wherein the flow timing control system is configured to detect flow timing values corresponding each of the plurality of different blower speeds.
18 . The agricultural system of claim 17 wherein the control system is configured to identify a current blower speed, access the corresponding flow timing value and generate the control signal based on the accessed flow timing value.

Description

FIELD OF THE DESCRIPTION The present description relates to agricultural equipment. More specifically, the present description relates to a system that detects and processes material application delays on an agricultural machine. BACKGROUND There are a wide variety of different types of agricultural equipment that can be used to plant seeds or apply other commodities to a field. Such equipment can include air seeders. Air seeders have an air cart with one or more central seed or commodity tanks. The seed or commodity in the tank is metered by a metering system into common product delivery tubes called “primaries”. The seed or commodity is delivered (using air delivery) to a tool for disbursement. The tool disburses the product into secondary tubes which deliver the product to individual furrows opened by the tool. The furrows are opened by a furrow opener and closed after seed is delivered to the furrow by a closer. There may be multiple tanks and multiple metering systems so the distance that the material travels from the different tanks to the tool may be different. Also, the length of the secondary tubes can also be different because the secondary tubes deliver the product across the width of the tool. The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. SUMMARY Material is metered by a meter into a delivery conduit from a tank and delivered to a tool on an agricultural machine. A sensor detects when the material arrives at the tool. A delay time is detected between when the meter is activated and when the sensor detects the material. The agricultural machine is controlled based on the delay time. This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. The claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in the background. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a partial pictorial, partial block diagram illustrating an agricultural system in which an air seeder is towed by a tractor. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an air cart. FIG. 3 is perspective view of metering devices and primary delivery tubes. FIG. 4 is a top view of the agricultural system. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of one example of an agricultural system. FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C (collectively referred to herein as FIG. 6) show a flow diagram illustrating one example of the operation of the agricultural system. FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing one example of the operation of the agricultural system. FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C and 8D show examples of operator interfaces. FIG. 9 is a block diagram of one example of a remote server architecture. FIGS. 10-12 show examples of mobile devices that can be used in the systems and architectures shown in the previous FIGS. FIG. 13 is a block diagram of one example of a computing environment that can be used in the systems and architectures shown in the previous FIGS. DETAILED DESCRIPTION As discussed above, air seeders have an air cart with one or more tanks that hold material to be delivered to the field. The air cart also has a metering system corresponding to each tank. The metering system meters material from the corresponding tank into a primary delivery tube and a fan blows air through that tube in order to move the material through the primary delivery tube to a seeding tool. The seeding tool receives material from the primary delivery tube and disperse the material into a plurality of secondary delivery tubes. Each secondary delivery tube delivers material to a particular furrow that is opened by a furrow opener on the tool. After the material is placed in the furrow, the furrow can be closed by a furrow closer on the tool. Some current systems include a sensor on the secondary tubes on the seeding tool in order to determine whether any material is passing through that secondary delivery tube. If material is not detected by the sensor, then the sensor generates a signal indicative of a blockage somewhere upstream of the sensor. As discussed above, the air cart may have multiple different tanks carrying one or more different types of material. The tanks are spaced relative to one another along a longitudinal (front-to-back) axis of the air cart. Each tank often has a corresponding meter that meters the product from the tank into the primary delivery tubes. Therefore, the distance that the material travels from one tank to the seeding tool is different from the distance the material must travel from another tank to the seeding tool. Further, the primary delivery tubes are often different lengths relative to one another because those conduits each deliver