The invention relates generally to ground working equipment, such as agricultural equipment, and more specifically, to a system and method for controlling wing tool bars of an agricultural implement.
Generally, fertilizer application implements are towed behind a tractor or other work vehicle via a hitch assembly secured to a rigid frame of the implement. These fertilizer application implements typically include one or more ground engaging tools or openers that form a path for fertilizer deposition into the soil. The openers are used to break the soil, thereby enabling injection nozzles (e.g., positioned behind the openers) to deposit fertilizer at a desired depth beneath the soil surface. In certain embodiments, the implement may include knives (e.g., positioned behind the openers), instead of the injection nozzles, to flow the liquid fertilizer into respective trenches formed by the openers and the knives. Using such implements, fertilizer may be distributed throughout a field, either before or after planting, to facilitate enhanced crop development.
A fertilizer application implement may have various folded and/or unfolded positions to facilitate operation, transportation, and/or storage. For example, the fertilizer application implement may include a working position in which a tool bar of the implement is unfolded for applying fertilizer throughout the field. As another example, the fertilizer application implement may include a transport position in which the tool bar of the implement is folded for transportation and/or storage of the implement. Moreover, the fertilizer application implement may include a lifted position in which the tool bar is lifted so that ground engaging tools are removed from the soil, such as for turning the fertilizer application implement at the end of a row.
A current trend for fertilizer application implements, and other implements, is to increase the working position span. Increasing the span of a fertilizer application implement may facilitate distribution of fertilizer over a wider swath of soil, thereby distributing the fertilizer throughout a field at a faster rate. Unfortunately, as the span of the working position of the fertilizer application implement increases, lifting and/or folding the tool bar of the fertilizer application implement may become more difficult.
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