Sectional Control Technology

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Seed Hawk sectional control technology is an innovative way to eliminate overlaps and save on input costs. It works in conjunction with onboard GPS to lift openers when previously seeded ground is encountered, and shut down metering of seed and fertiliser, which reduces ground disturbance and doubling up of inputs.

Farmer-inspired innovation

Sectional Control Technology (SCT) was developed from the desire to eliminate misses and overlaps common when seeding around obstacles and in odd-shaped fields. Seed Hawk was the first to bring this innovation to market. Today, it is offered as a standard feature on all Precision Delivery Air Cart and Seed Hawk Air Seeders combinations with iCon Wireless Control

SCT works in conjunction with an independent, toolbar mounted GPS system to control the meters and openers. When the toolbar encounters previously seeded ground, SCT predictively stops the roller rotation and product flow, which reduces input costs. SCT also lifts the openers to avoid disturbing the precision seed and fertiliser placement already completed.

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Eliminate overlaps and save on input costs

Sectional Control Technology delivers the precision to reduce seeding costs by 10% or more depending on the width of your toolbar, the variability of your land and moisture conditions.

•Save on seed and fertiliser costs

•Reduce overlaps on headlands and when seeding around water, potholes and brush

•Reduce soil disturbance by lifting openers on seeded ground

•Prevent plugging by lifting openers on overlaps in tight turns around potholes

•Finish your final pass with less overlap

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More uniform fields

While input savings are a big advantage of using Sectional Control Technology for variable rate seeding, another great benefit to SCT is more uniform plant stands because overlaps and misses are virtually eliminated, which in turn, results in:

•Even maturity, which makes swathing easier and reduces crop shattering

•More uniform harvest by eliminating green or lodged areas due to over-fertilised headlands

•Increased yield by eliminating the double seeding of overlaps

•Easier seeding next year by eliminating over-fertilised areas that lodge and plug the seeder

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Lookahead times

Lookaheads are used by the system to compensate for real world conditions that cause non-ideal behaviour. This includes the time it takes for product to travel down the seed tube and the time it takes for the openers to fully engage.

Engage Lookaheads
Engage lookaheads compensate for the amount of time between when a section is engaged and when product begins to hit the ground. They can be configured from 0 to 30 seconds, however in most cases they will be less than 10. Larger lookahead values cause the sections to begin applying product earlier yielding more overlap.

Once a section has begun to engage, it cannot be disengaged until its lookahead period has expired. For
example, if a section with an engage lookahead of 15 seconds begins to engage, but then encounters seeded area, it will remain engaged for at least 15 seconds. The only exception to this rule is that a section may disengage early if it leaves the field boundary.

Disengage Lookaheads
Disengage lookaheads compensate for the amount of time between when a section is engaged and when product stops hitting the ground. They can be configured from -30 to 30 seconds, however in most cases they will be less than 10. Larger disengage lookahead values cause the
sections to disengage later yielding more overlap.

Product vs. Opener Lookaheads
There are two main sources of mechanical delay that engage/disengage lookaheads account for:
• the time it takes for the openers to get into the ground
• the time it takes for the product to flow from the tank to the openers.

The iCon system accounts for each of these seprately. The user may set unique lookahead values for the
openers and each of the product tanks.

Note: Look ahead times are the responsibility of the operator and can vary due to machine, product and environmental conditions.

 

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SCT Lookahead examples

1. In example one, the engage lookaheads are set to 6 seconds and the disengage lookaheads are set to -4 seconds. The sections engage 6 seconds early, yielding possible overlap as the lines fill. The sections also disengage 4 seconds before the headland yielding a possible two second miss where no product is applied.

2. In example two, the engage lookaheads are set to 3 seconds and the disengage lookaheads are set to -2 seconds. This yields a possible 3 second miss as lines fill going into the pass, there should be little overlap as the lines clear out going into the headland.

3. In example three, the engage lookaheads are set to 0 seconds and the disengage lookaheads are set to 0 seconds. This yields 6 seconds of possible miss entering the pass and two seconds of overlap at the end of the pass.

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Flexible and versatile

Sectional Control Technology brings hands-free operations to controlling seed and fertiliser application. The system automatically starts and stops at the headlands when turning, with virtually no flipping of switches or moving levers. Best of all, it can be used with all types of fertiliser; liquid, granular or anhydrous ammonia. Now, wide toolbars are as versatile and flexible as small drills. A 25.6-meter (84’) toolbar can be shut down in 3 m (10’) wide sections.

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We introduced SCT. Now we’ve made it better

Now, the original SCT is even better. Reaction time is greatly reduced with the electric drive meter on all Seed Hawk seeding systems with Fenix III metering. Plus, you can compensate for variable section size and virtually eliminate overlaps, using the improved field boundary workflow and new obstacle creation.

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