US 12,279,547 B2
Sowing machine having individual coulter pressure control
Daniel Mertens, Oldenburg (DE); Felix Warns, Berne (DE); Karl-Peter Hoffmann, Hude (DE); and Marcus Oldenburger, Ganderkesee (DE)
Assigned to Amazonen-Werke H. Dreyer SE & Co. KG, Hasbergen (DE)
Appl. No. 17/413,737
Filed by Amazonen-Werke H. Dreyer SE & Co. KG, Hasbergen (DE)
PCT Filed Dec. 5, 2019, PCT No. PCT/EP2019/083793
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jun. 14, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/120276, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 18, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 10 2018 132 226.7 (DE), filed on Dec. 14, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2022/0053688 A1, Feb. 24, 2022
Int. Cl. A01C 7/20 (2006.01); A01B 79/00 (2006.01); A01B 79/02 (2006.01)
CPC A01C 7/205 (2013.01) [A01B 79/005 (2013.01); A01B 79/02 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A sowing machine, comprising:
a plurality of row units, where said row units are arranged on a frame extending transverse to a direction of travel, each of the row units comprising tillage tools and a hydraulic cylinder that applies a coulter pressure upon said tillage tools, where the coulter pressure acting upon said tillage tools is adjustable by a pressure valve connected upstream of each said hydraulic cylinder and where each row unit of said row units has a total pressure that acts upon said tillage tools of a respective row unit of said row units,
a sensor arrangement which comprises at least two sensors which are each configured to produce an electrical signal in connection with a corresponding total pressure acting upon said tillage tools of a respective one of the row units,
an open-loop or closed-loop control device which is connected to said pressure valves and said sensor arrangement and is configured to adjust the coulter pressure of each of the row units individually,
wherein a number of the row units exceeds a number of the sensors such that a functional relationship between positioning of said row units on said frame and an association of said sensors with said row units and the electrical signals produced is stored in a memory of the open-loop or closed-loop control device and said open-loop or closed-loop control device is configured to control the coulter pressure of each of the row units individually by said functional relationship such that each total pressure of each row unit of said row units reaches a predetermined value, and
wherein said functional relationship comprises a spline interpolation.