| CPC A01C 7/20 (2013.01) [A01C 7/081 (2013.01); A01C 15/003 (2013.01)] | 12 Claims |
|
1. In an air seeder comprising a furrow opener implement and an air seeder cart, a method for transferring a first agricultural product from a first transport vehicle to a first tank mounted on the air seeder cart and transferring a second agricultural product from a second transport vehicle to a second tank mounted on the air seeder cart, the method comprising:
providing a conveyor sloping upward from a lower conveyor intake to an upper conveyor discharge and with a downspout extending down from the conveyor discharge;
wherein the conveyor is supported on right and left conveyor drive wheels and on a caster wheel;
providing a wheel drive operative in a path mode to rotate the right and left conveyor drive wheels together about a rotational axis oriented substantially perpendicular to a length of the conveyor such that the conveyor rolls along a conveyor path substantially aligned with the length of the conveyor;
providing an intake elevator operative to selectively raise and lower the conveyor intake, and a discharge elevator operative to selectively raise and lower the conveyor discharge;
providing a discharge camera mounted on the conveyor and oriented to look downward from the conveyor discharge and send discharge images to a camera display and an intake camera mounted on the conveyor and oriented to look toward the conveyor intake and send intake images to the camera display;
opening a first lid covering a first fill opening on the first tank and opening a second lid covering a second fill opening on the second tank prior to transferring the first and second agricultural products;
positioning the first transport vehicle, the conveyor, and the air seeder cart such that the conveyor intake receives the first agricultural product from a discharge chute of the first transport vehicle and adjusting a radial position of a bottom end of the downspout with respect to the conveyor discharge and with respect to the first fill opening such that the first agricultural product is directed into the first fill opening;
operating the conveyor and starting a flow of the first product from the first transport vehicle to deposit the first agricultural product into the conveyor intake while monitoring the conveyor intake on the camera display;
monitoring the discharge of the first agricultural product into the first fill opening on the camera display and when the first agricultural product in the first tank reaches a desired level, stopping the flow of the first product from the first transport vehicle and continuing to operate the conveyor until the conveyor is substantially empty;
raising the conveyor discharge and rolling the conveyor along the conveyor path towards the air seeder cart;
moving the first transport vehicle away from the air seeder cart and moving the second transport vehicle such that a discharge chute of the second transport vehicle is substantially aligned along the conveyor path with the conveyor;
rolling the conveyor along the conveyor path toward the second transport vehicle and moving the air seeder cart until the intake images show that the conveyor intake is in a position to receive the second agricultural product from a discharge chute of the second transport vehicle and the discharge images indicate that the second fill opening is within reach of the downspout;
remotely adjusting the radial position of the bottom end of the downspout with respect to the conveyor discharge while lowering the conveyor discharge to a position where the second agricultural product discharged from the downspout enters the second fill opening;
starting the conveyor and starting a flow of the second product from the second discharge chute to deposit the second agricultural product into the conveyor intake while monitoring the conveyor intake on the camera display;
monitoring the discharge of the second agricultural product into the second fill opening on the camera display and when the second agricultural product in the second tank reaches a desired level, stopping the flow of the second product from the second discharge chute and continuing to operate the conveyor until the conveyor is substantially empty;
raising the conveyor discharge and closing the first and second lids.
|