Vesco Agricultural Technologies is a wholly owned subsidiary of Clean Seed Capital Group, a Company that is at the forefront of an ecological movement that strives to balance productivity with sustainability.

 

Clean Seed is uniquely positioned to contribute to and benefit from a rapidly emerging market opportunity in the sustainable agricultural sector.

 

Electronic or Mechanical Metering

If the opener and opener assemblies represents the heart of the the Vesco No-Till system, then the metering device is clearly the brain!  Seeds and fertilizer are accurately fed to the openers through our proprietary metering system.  OUr metering system embodies the concepts of gentle product handling through its unique delivery system avoiding any unnecessary stress on the seeds and accurate seed rate delivery along with complete control of relevant operating parameters.  Product flow to the openers and in-row placement of seeds is controlled by the metering device in conjunction with a ground drive or electronic drive control unit.

 

 

The set seed flow rate is maintained regardless of the speed of the equipment, resulting in precise seed spacing that is either set by the farmer prior to seeding or can be adjusted “on the fly”.  The metering unit is modular in design.  Multiple metering units can be driven from a single control unit for larger machines.  The Company’s metering control unit provides the Terra-Glide machines with the capability to individually control simultaneous placement of up to three different types of seed/fertilizer/liquid products.

Foreign objects, often found with seed, will generally pass through the unit and not impair or damage the mechanism.  Additionally, in the electronic version, should a large hard object enter the device the metering will simply stop and an alarm activates notifying the operator of a problem.  Stalling the device will not damage the electronics or the actuator.

The Vesco metering unit has the unique capability to handle a complete range of seed sizes – from the smallest vegetable or grass seed to the largest bean seed. This versatility will benefit farmers who plant a variety of crops, enabling them to plant all of their crops with a single machine, thereby enjoying a reduction in capital expenditure on additional equipment.

 

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Electronic Control Systems

At present, the electronics for the control of the Terra-Glide metering system is comprised of the following features:

Ground speed detection – Ground speed is detected at two points symmetrical to the tow point and uses these signals to determine the speed of travel, the metering rate of product flow and whether the machine is cornering. While cornering (turning), the rate of product flow is adjusted to each unit, keeping the seed delivery within the set parameters. When straight travel resumes, the resynchronization circuitry will reset the metering units for proper row spacing.  The use of the cornering and or resynchronization is optional and under operator control.

 

Operator Cab Controls – The cab controls contain the set up inputs for configuration of the controls.  They also contain the rate setting thus allowing the operator to adjust the rate “on the fly” to compensate for local soil conditions.

 

Input integration – The integration electronics combines the ground speed input with the cab rate setting to determine the correct speed to turn the metering unit thereby setting the product flow.

 

Enable logic – The enable logic detects the control set-up (from the cab unit) and the ground speed circuitry signals to control the applied speed to each individual metering unit.  This circuit also disables all seeding if the machines ground speed is outside acceptable limits.

 

Control signal generation – The control signal generation circuits can generate an independent rate signal for each metering unit as required (i.e. - during cornering if selected). When not cornering, all units metering a common product will be driven by the master signal.

 

Signal routing – Signal routing ensures that the selected signal is supplied to the correct units and that the levels are correct under all operating conditions.  This reduces the possibility of “cross talk” under all conditions by controlling signal level and source impedance.

 

Actuator drive – There are individual power controllers for each actuator.  Their close proximity to the actuator ensures controlled operating conditions.

 

Cornering distribution control – The cornering detector, if enabled causes the seeder to run each metering unit at the rate that most closely maintains correct seed distribution as the machine corners.

 

Resynchronization – The resynchronization circuits when enabled cause the individual metering units to come back into proper alignment after cornering, and at the start of a seed run.

 

Not all of the described features are required for any individual crop.  They have been built into the concept to increase the versatility of the equipment.  Future enhancements mandate the inclusion in the fundamental design.  Selected crops also require detailed placement information and crop yield statistics in order to allow future crop yields to be maximized.