Meters for fertilizers, small seeds, and chemical products and related systems and methods

Abstract

Meters for fertilizers, small seeds, and chemicals include a housing defining a loading chamber, a rotatable metering disk provided with a receiving surface and a discharge surface, the disk including metering orifices; a ring including a discharge opening, and an insulating barrier arranged in the interior of the housing, the insulation barrier forming an insulating chamber on the rotatable disk and defining an inlet region of the disk and an output region of the disk; a metering bulkhead associated with the insulating barrier in the inlet region of the rotating disk with metering orifices loaded, the metering bulkhead being arranged on the rotatable metering disk so that a lower portion of the metering bulkhead is coplanar to the receiving surface of the rotatable disk.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A meter for fertilizers, small seeds, and chemical products, comprising:
 a housing defined by a base, a side wall portion, and an upper inlet portion, the housing defining a loading chamber;   a rotatable metering disk comprising a receiving surface and a discharge surface, the rotatable metering disk comprising metering orifices passing from the receiving surface to the discharge surface;   a ring comprising a discharge opening;   an insulation barrier disposed on an interior of the housing, the insulation barrier forming an insulation chamber over the rotatable metering disk and defining an inlet region of the rotatable metering disk for loading of the metering orifices and a disk output region for discharging of the metering orifices; and   a metering bulkhead associated with the insulation barrier in the inlet region of the rotatable metering disk, the metering bulkhead being arranged over the rotatable metering disk so that a lower portion of the metering bulkhead is coplanar to the receiving surface of the rotatable metering disk.   
     
     
         2 . The meter of  claim 1 , wherein the orifices of the rotatable metering disk are arranged in at least one radial row, the orifices being distributed equidistant from each other. 
     
     
         3 . The meter of  claim 1 , wherein each of the metering orifices are oblong or circular. 
     
     
         4 . The meter of  claim 1 , wherein the metering orifices are arranged to configure regions of interference between adjacent orifices. 
     
     
         5 . The meter of  claim 1 , wherein the metering bulkhead comprises at least one of a rigid material or a flexible material, the flexible material being one of a polymer or a spring steel. 
     
     
         6 . The meter of  claim 1 , wherein the meter further comprises an ejector arranged inside the insulation chamber, an anti-skip bulkhead arranged adjacent the metering bulkhead, wherein the metering bulkhead is interchangeable. 
     
     
         7 . The meter of  claim 6 , wherein the ejector comprises at least one of:
 projections complementary to the orifices of the rotating metering disk; or flexible bristles.   
     
     
         8 . The meter of  claim 1 , wherein the ring is formed by at least two overlapping layers, comprising a lower layer of polymeric material and an upper layer of abrasion-resistant material. 
     
     
         9 . A method of metering fertilizer, small seeds and chemicals products, comprising:
 receiving an input material in a loading chamber of a housing comprising the loading chamber and an insulation chamber;   filling, with the input material, at least a portion of at least one metering orifice passing from a receiving surface to a discharge surface of a rotatable metering disk, through the receiving surface of the rotatable metering disk;   rotating the rotatable metering disk until at least one at least partially filled metering orifice passes through a metering bulkhead positioned over the rotatable metering disk so that a lower portion of the metering bulkhead is coplanar with the receiving surface of the rotatable metering disk; and   emptying, into an interior of the insulation chamber and through the discharge surface of the disk, at least one metering orifice that passed through the metering bulkhead.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein emptying the at least one metering orifice comprises forcing the input material out of the at least one metering orifice with an ejector. 
     
     
         11 . A monitoring system of metering of fertilizers, small seeds, and chemical products, comprising:
 a metering means with a predefined volume and comprising a receiving surface;   a metering bulkhead positioned adjacent to the metering means, relative to which at least a portion of the metering means is movable;   a metering sensor arranged on the receiving surface of the metering means and after the metering bulkhead in a direction of movement of the portion of the metering means; and   a circuit associated with the metering sensor, the circuit comprising data processing and transmission means.   
     
     
         12 . The monitoring system of  claim 11 , wherein the metering means with the predefined volume comprises:
 a rotatable metering disk comprising the receiving surface, a discharge surface, and metering orifices with predetermined volumes, wherein the metering orifices pass from the receiving surface to the discharge surface; and   an insulation chamber arranged on at least a portion of the rotatable metering disk and defining an inlet region of the rotatable metering disk for the loading of the metering orifices and an outlet region of the disk for discharging of the metering orifices;   wherein the metering bulkhead is associated with the inlet region of the disk of the insulation chamber, the metering bulkhead being arranged over the rotatable metering disk such that a lower portion of the metering bulkhead is coplanar with the receiving surface of the rotatable metering disk.   
     
     
         13 . The monitoring system of  claim 11 , wherein the metering sensor comprises at least one of an optical sensor, ultrasonic sensor, microwave sensor, capacitive sensor, proximity sensor, or contact sensor. 
     
     
         14 . A monitoring method for the metering of fertilizers, small seeds, and chemicals, comprising:
 monitoring a material receiving surface of a metering means with a metering sensor positioned over the receiving surface and rotatably after a metering bulkhead positioned adjacent to the metering means to delimit a maximum height of material to be metered;   generating a status signal of the metering means;   processing the status signal of the metering means; and   transmitting the status signal of the metering means to a monitoring and control center.   
     
     
         15 . The monitoring method of  claim 14 , wherein generating the status signal of the metering means comprises generating a signal representative of a volumetric proportion in an interior of the metering means. 
     
     
         16 . A system for monitoring clogging in an output of a meter for fertilizer, small seeds, and chemical products, comprising:
 a housing defined by a base, a side wall portion, and an upper inlet portion, the housing defining a loading chamber;   a means of material metering positioned at least partially in the loading chamber;   a discharge nozzle comprising an upper aperture for receiving a particulate material, a lower aperture for delivery of the particulate material, and an overflow aperture;   a closure cap of the overflow aperture associated with the discharge nozzle;   a clogging sensor associated with the closing cap of the overflow aperture; and   a circuit associated with the clogging sensor, the circuit comprising processing and data transmission means.   
     
     
         17 . A method of monitoring clogging in an output of a meter for fertilizer, small seeds, and chemicals, comprising:
 monitoring, through a clogging sensor associated with a closing cap of an overflow aperture of a discharge nozzle, a state of the closure cap of the overflow aperture;   generating a status signal of the closure cap of the overflow aperture;   processing a status signal of the closure cap of the overflow aperture; and   transmitting the status signal of the closure cap to a monitoring and control center.   
     
     
         18 . A maintenance system for a meter for fertilizers, small seeds, and chemical products, comprising:
 a housing defined by a base, a side wall portion, and an upper inlet portion, the housing defining a loading chamber;   a counterbase positioned blow the housing by at least one fixation mechanism; and   at least one closure mechanism configured to block passage of material into the loading chamber.   
     
     
         19 . The maintenance system of  claim 18 , wherein the fixation mechanism comprises:
 two ears comprising oblong apertures arranged in a housing;   at least one shoulder in the counterbase comprising an aperture; and   a rod passing through the apertures of the ears and the aperture of the at least one shoulder.   
     
     
         20 . The maintenance system of  claim 18 , wherein the at least one closure mechanism comprises at least one moving plate. 
     
     
         21 . A meter system for particulate farming products, comprising:
 a meter for particulate farming products, comprising:
 a housing defined by a base, a side wall portion, and an upper inlet portion, the housing defining a loading chamber; and 
 a rotatable metering disk comprising metering orifices for receiving particulate farming products from the loading chamber; and 
   a density gauge configured to measure a density of material entering or within the loading chamber.   
     
     
         22 . The meter system of  claim 21 , wherein the density gauge is integrated to an inlet region of the loading chamber and comprises a housing of predetermined volume and at least one load cell, and wherein the density gauge is operatively coupled with a processing and metering control center.