1. A system to reduce vertical acceleration experienced by seed meters of an agricultural planter during planting operations, said system comprising:
in an agricultural planter having a plurality of spaced row units, each row unit mounted to a transverse toolbar of the planter main frame independently vertically movable relative to said transverse toolbar, each row unit having a lower bracket operably supporting a furrow opening assembly and a rearwardly extending upper support member disposed above said lower bracket and operably supporting a seed meter;
a suspension system for each of said row units, said suspension system disposed to operably vertically support said upper support member vertically movable independently of said lower bracket of each of said row units;
whereby each of said spaced row units is vertically independently movable relative to said transverse toolbar and each of said upper support members is vertically independently movable relative to said lower brackets of each of said spaced row units.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein said suspension system includes a slide system and a spring system.
3. The system of claim 2 wherein said slide system comprises a substantially vertically disposed rod supported by said lower bracket of said row unit frame;
at least one linear bearing slidably disposed on said vertically disposed rod, said at least one linear bearing operably mounted to a forward end of said upper support member.
4. The system of claim 2 wherein said spring system includes:
an air spring operably mounted to said lower bracket and to said upper support member;
an air reservoir in fluid communication with said air spring and a pressurized air source;
a valve to regulate air in said spring system;
a cam supported by said slide system mounted to said row unit frame;
a cam follower lever that contacts said cam, said cam follower lever supported by said upper support member;
a port on said valve for venting air in said spring system to atmosphere.
5. The system of claim 4 further including a dampener, said dampener comprising an orifice disposed in the spring system between said air spring and said reservoir to reduce air flow between said spring and said reservoir.
6. The system of claim 2 wherein said spring system includes:
an air spring disposed between said row unit frame and said upper support member;
an air source in fluid communication with said air spring; and
a valve system to regulate air in said air spring.
7. The system of claim 6 further including a dampener, said dampener comprising an orifice disposed between said air spring and said air source to reduce air flow between said spring and said air source.
8. The system of claim 1 wherein said suspension system includes a parallel linkage.
9. The system of claim 8 wherein said suspension system further includes a spring system, said spring system comprising:
an air spring disposed between said lower bracket and said upper support member;
an air source in fluid communication with said air spring; and
a valve system to regulate air in said air spring.
10. The system of claim 9 further including a dampener, said dampener comprising an orifice disposed between said air spring and said air source to reduce air flow between said spring and said air source.
11. A planter, comprising:
a mobile main frame having a transverse toolbar;
a plurality of row units operably supported at spaced intervals along said transverse toolbar, each row unit having a row unit frame comprising an upper support member operably supporting a seed meter and a lower bracket operably supporting a furrow opening assembly, said lower bracket disposed below said upper support member; and
a suspension system disposed to isolate said upper support member from said lower bracket to reduce vertical motion experienced by said row unit frame during planting operations as the planter traverses a ground surface.
12. The planter of claim 11 wherein said suspension system includes:
a substantially vertically disposed rod operably supported by said lower bracket; and
at least one linear bearing slidably disposed on said substantially vertically disposed rod, said at least one linear bearing operably mounted to a forward end of said upper support member.
13. The planter of claim 12 wherein said suspension system further includes:
an air spring disposed between said lower bracket and said upper support member;
an air source in fluid communication with said air spring; and
a valve system to regulate air in said air spring.
14. The planter of claim 13 further including a dampener, said dampener comprising an orifice disposed between said air spring and said air source to reduce air flow between said spring and said air source.
15. The planter of claim 11 wherein said suspension system includes a parallel linkage.
16. The planter of claim 15 wherein said suspension system further includes a spring system, said spring system comprising:
an air spring disposed between said lower bracket and said upper support member;
an air source in fluid communication with said air spring; and
a valve system to regulate air in said air spring.
17. The planter of claim 16 further including a dampener, said dampener comprising an orifice disposed between said air spring and said air source to reduce air flow between said spring and said air source.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A valve control system comprising a valve control device, and a hand-held actuating apparatus for triggering operating actions within the valve control device, the hand-held actuating apparatus including a magnet arrangement, and the valve control device including a magnetic field sensor arrangement adapted to the magnet arrangement of the hand-held actuating apparatus, wherein the magnet arrangement includes two or more magnets and an actuating means, the magnetic fields of the magnets being individually variable by the actuating means without movement of the hand-held actuating apparatus relative to the magnetic field sensor arrangement, wherein the actuating means includes buttons, each magnet being coupled to a button such that a depression of the button causes the magnet to be shifted.
2. The valve control system according to claim 1, wherein the magnets are adapted to be individually shifted from a first position to a second position.
3. The valve control system according to claim 2, wherein in the first position, the distance of the magnets from a housing side of the hand-held actuating apparatus is greater than in the second position.
4. The valve control system according to claim 1, further including a pretensioning mechanism which pretensions the button contrary to a shifting direction.
5. The valve control system according to claim 2, further including a locking mechanism which causes the button to lock when the magnet reaches the second position.
6. The valve control system according to claim 1, further including a holder in which the hand-held actuating apparatus can be stably held at a defined distance and in a defined arrangement relative to the magnetic field sensor arrangement.
7. The valve control system according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic field sensor arrangement is designed such that it can detect the presence of the magnetic fields of the magnets individually.
8. The valve control system according to claim 7, wherein the magnetic field sensor arrangement is designed such that it can also detect one of the quantitative field strength and the direction of the magnetic fields.
9. The valve control system according to claim 1, wherein the hand-held actuating apparatus includes a display on which one of the following is displayed: information for operation of the valve control device, information on the current status of the valve control device.
10. The valve control system according to claim 4, further including a locking mechanism which causes the button to lock when the magnet reaches the second position.