Farmers who have installed the SeedMaster Smart Hitch on their air drills say it does a good job of guiding their openers down the path between last year’s stubble rows.
But nothing is so good that it can’t be improved. Norbert Beaujot, the brains behind the Smart Hitch, said his system needed more help to achieve the perfect between-row placement he wanted from his machine, especially when it strayed too far left or right.
“We’ve been working on the Smart Hitch now for 10 years, and it’s doing a good job of keeping your openers running between the old stubble rows,” Beaujot said.
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“But when the Smart Hitch goes all the way over to one side or the other, then it’s not doing as good a job.”
Beaujot said there were no reliable autosteer systems on the market when he first designed the Smart Hitch. The tractor operator used the old-fashioned method of driving down the correct stubble row. As long as the driver was accurate, the sensor and hydraulics on the Smart Hitch kept the openers between the old furrows.
But when autosteer became a reality, it allowed Beaujot to put another factor into the equation. He was now able to make slight autosteer corrections with the tractor as well. He said this really helped fine tune the overall performance and accuracy of the unit.
He accomplishes this with a linear actuator with servo motors to move the GPS receiver on the roof a little left or a little right.
“We move the receiver very slightly and very slowly to trick the whole GPS and autosteer system.
“So now the Smart Hitch doesn’t need to steer as much as before. The tractor and drill each steer just slightly. They work in harmony, together as a team.”
The linear activator is in front of the GPS system, so it’s compatible with every system on the market. Moving any receiver three inches will automatically move the tractor three inches. The GPS receiver has no clue that Beaujot and his servo motors are responsible for moving it.
In essence, the GPS system now gets its precise location information from the drill instead of from the tractor.
He said the simplicity of the idea is that there is no additional software or electronic link in the GPS system, nor is there a need for a second receiver on the drill.
The only link is a basic left-right signal between the original Smart Hitch sensor and the new linear activator. The sensor that runs along between the rows hasn’t changed at all. It still gets its signals from the rows themselves.
“However, when the sensor goes too far left or right from the true centre path, it tells the unit on the tractor roof to slowly move the receiver just slightly in that direction.
“So it corrects in a very minute way, very slowly so there’s no abrupt movement.”
The linear activator bar on the prototype shown here is about five feet wide. Beaujot said it was a ready-made bar easily available on the market.
“In reality, we only use about six inches each way from the centre position. When you think about it, that’s all you need if you’re on 12 inch or 14 inch row spacings.”
He said the smartened up Smart Hitch should be for sale in time for the 2010 crop year. It will have the correct size bar and other improvements.
“When it’s ready, it will have a resetting feature so when the Smart Hitch reaches the limit of travel left or right, it will automatically reset to follow a better row.”
For more information, call 888-721-3001 or visit www.seedmaster.ca.
