FARGO, N.D. — A new blockage monitor for air seeders uses sound and air combined with Wi-Fi wireless and IPod display.
“Our experience showed there was a need for new thinking in seed and fertilizer blockage monitors,” said Chris Giese of Intelligent Agricultural Solutions in Fargo.
“There were issues with the various optical and vibration based blockage monitors on the market. A different approach was required. Our new blockage monitor is acoustic based. All sensors are mechanical. There are no moving parts. No electronic sensors and no web of wires.”
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Giese said a seed shoots horizontally out the manifold at the top of the tower. It hits the monitor’s stainless steel disc, which is mounted at a 45-degree angle. The seed bounces off the disc and drops to the opener.
The disc is like a drumhead, making a small pulse sound each time a seed strikes it. A pneumatic tube runs from the disc to a tiny microphone at the electronic control unit (ECU).
Giese said the rubber tube is much like a stethoscope, with a cold steel disc at one end to pick up the noise and channel it into the rubber tube.
“Instead of running the tube up to a doctor’s ears, it runs up to the microphone on the ECU. Each ECU handles 24 runs,” he said.
“The ECU has to be mounted close to the manifold because the tubes carry sound accurately for only three feet. We recommend one ECU per tower. The ECU listens to each of the 24 microphones, filters the sound, processes the data, converting analog audio pulses into digital signals. The ECU then packs up the information and sends it wirelessly via Wi-Fi to your IPad in the tractor cab.”
No wires run from the sensors to the ECU or from the ECU to the cab, which means there are fewer wire-related problems than what’s seen in conventional optical and electromechanical systems.
The system detects a blockage and instantly notifies the operator. In the cab, the operator sees a graphical top view of each manifold. The blocked manifold pops up in red and gives the number of the blocked run.
The system produces a beeping audible alarm if the operator doesn’t notice the red alert within 30 seconds. The sensors are built for 1 1/2 inch hoses but can be adapted to one inch or 7/8 inch.
The monitors went into production in November and will be available in January as a factory option on Amity drills and as an aftermarket product on other drills.
List price is $600 for each 24 run ECU unit plus $80 for each sensor. The system feeds into the operator’s IPad.
For more information, contact Chris Giese at 701-356-9222 or visit www.intelligentag.com.
