Rotating ground driven high speed precision vacuum planter with seed injection teeth
An agricultural seed planter is provided. The agricultural seed planter has a large diameter rotating planting wheel with fingers or teeth spaced around the periphery of the planting wheel. The teeth are positioned so as to achieve a spacing of the seeds when planted in the soil. The teeth have a small dimple in the end and an even smaller hole passing through the entire length. The dimple provides a place for the seed to sit in and the small hole allows positive or negative air pressure to be transmitted to the seed. The negative air pressure creates a vacuum suction that attaches the seed to the teeth, and the positive air pressure releases the seed from the teeth. In an example implementation, the wheel includes many individual mechanical modules that are linked together to form the wheel.
1. An agricultural seed planter comprising:
a plurality of modules arranged around a center to form a planting wheel, each of the modules including:
a tooth for injecting a seed into the soil, the tooth including a hole passing through the length of the tooth; and
a pressure generator coupled to the tooth and configured to generate positive or negative pressure to control a position of the seed when the seed is received by the tooth;
a frame coupled to the planting wheel;
at least one gauge wheel coupled to the frame; and
a seed chamber coupled to the planting wheel,
wherein each of the plurality of modules further includes:
a retractable tooth filler configured to be in at least one of a first position or a second position, a distance between the retractable tooth filler and the tooth being smaller in the first position relative to the second position, and
wherein each retractable tooth filler of a first set of modules in the plurality of modules is positioned in the first position, and each retractable tooth filler of a second set of modules in the plurality of modules is in the second position.
2. The agricultural seed planter of claim 1 , wherein the pressure generator includes a cylinder or a bellows device.
3. The agricultural seed planter of claim 1 , further comprising:
a cam coupled to the frame and to the plurality of modules, the cam being configured to actuate each pressure generator of the plurality of modules to generate positive and/or negative pressure.
4. The agricultural seed planter of claim 3 , wherein each pressure generator of the plurality of modules is a bellows device, wherein each bellows device is configured to expand or compress in response to being actuated by the cam.
5. The agricultural seed planter of claim 3 , wherein the cam actuates each pressure generator of the plurality of modules as the planting wheel rotates.
6. The agricultural seed planter of claim 1 , wherein the generated positive pressure controls the position of the seed by discharging the seed from the tooth, and wherein the generated negative pressure controls the position of the seed by causing the seed to stick to the tooth.
7. The agricultural seed planter of claim 1 , wherein the generated positive pressure prevents buildup of soil in the hole of the tooth.
8. The agricultural seed planter of claim 1 , further comprising:
a sensor coupled to the plurality of modules and configured to determine whether the seed is present in the tooth.
9. The agricultural seed planter of claim 1 , wherein the seed is received in a recess of the tooth.
10. The agricultural seed planter of claim 1 , wherein a distance between consecutive teeth of the plurality of modules determines a separation between seeds when the seeds are injected into the soil.
11. The agricultural seed planter of claim 1 , wherein the seed chamber is coupled to the the frame.
12. The agricultural seed planter of claim 1 , wherein each tooth of the first set of modules is positioned in the seed chamber and each tooth in the second set of modules is positioned outside the seed chamber.
13. The agricultural seed planter of claim 11 , wherein the seed chamber includes guides for creating a track where at least one tooth of the plurality of modules moves along the track as the planting wheel rotates.
14. The agricultural seed planter of claim 1 , further comprising:
a cam coupled to the frame and to the plurality of modules, the cam being configured to actuate each retractable tooth filler in the plurality of modules to be placed in the first position or the second position.
15. The agricultural seed planter of claim 1 , wherein the at least one gauge wheel elevates the frame such that a depth of injection of seed into the soil is based at least in part on an elevated distance of the frame.
16. The agricultural seed planter of claim 1 , wherein the at least one gauge wheel reduces a weight of the planting wheel on the soil.
17. An agricultural planter comprising:
a plurality of agricultural seed planters, wherein a respective agricultural seed planter in the plurality of agricultural seed planters includes discrete teeth arranged on a periphery of the respective agricultural seed planter and a retractable tooth filler between a pair of adjacent ones of the discrete teeth, each of the discrete teeth having a hole passing through the tooth for communicating fluid pressure through the tooth, the retractable tooth filler being configured to be in at least one of a first position and a second position, a distance between the retractable tooth filler and one of the adjacent ones of the discrete teeth being smaller in the first position relative to the second position.