Fluid sprinkling – spraying – and diffusing – Processes
Patent
1994-07-08
1996-04-16
Weldon, Kevin P.
Fluid sprinkling, spraying, and diffusing
Processes
239167, 239 73, B05B 120
Patent
active
055074359
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for crop spraying utilizing an articulated boom-type sparaying apparatus.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present application discloses improvements and modifications of the method and apparatus for crop spraying disclosed in prior International publication number WO92/00670 published on 23 Jan. 1992.
It is convenient to summarise here some of the more important aspects of the disclosure in WO92/00670 as follows: lodged crops;
The droplegs are mounted for lateral floating movement on carriages.
There is mentioned on page 5 of the description the control of boom height and tilt by sensors on the boom which contact the soil surface and operate electrical actuators to level the boom.
The present application seeks to provide improvements in relation to several of the above-mentioned aspects of the disclosure in WO92/00670, as follows.
For purposes of disclosure I hereby incorporate the entire description and drawings of WO92/00670 into the present application as part of the disclosure thereof.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
Investigations have shown that an effective system for boom height and tilt control is needed. It is not sufficient to base boom height and tilt control on tractor attitude. One reason for this is that tractor attitude can change almost instantaneously during field operations when, for example, a tractor wheel drops into a rut. Third party prior proposals for boom height and tilt sensing based on non-contact systems such as radar, infra-red or ultrasonic height sensing have proved ineffective due to the variability of the operating conditions caused by the presence of growing crop between the sensor and the ground. In short, it has proved impossible to develop effective height sensing based on such non-contact systems.
Equally however, ground contact sensors as proposed in a general way in WO92/00670 are in practice difficult to implement, particularly with certain row crops such as potatoes, where it is difficult to see where such a ground contact sensor could be located without becoming entangled in the crop (when the crop has grown beyond a certain stage), or without interfering with the function of the spraying droplegs as disclosed in WO92/00670.
According to this aspect of the present invention there is provided a method and apparatus for crop spraying as defined in the relevant ones of the claims hereof (relating to boom height and tilt sensing).
In a preferred embodiment, a method and apparatus for crop spraying provides droplegs, generally as disclosed in WO92/00670. Some of the droplegs are employed for spraying purposes, generally as there disclosed. One or more of these droplegs or of an additional but similar dropleg is employed for boom height and/or tilt sensing purposes. Sensing means is associated with the mounting of the relevant one or ones of these sensing droplegs, whereby signals are generated to enable a control system to control the boom height and attitude. An example of such a sensor is a potentiometer.
By using the actual spraying droplegs, or a similar one or ones, there is provided a means of ground-contact height sensing which directly and reliably determines the height of the boom at the location of the dropleg, thereby eliminating the uncertainties of non-contact height sensing systems, and which takes advantage of the crop-penetration systems disclosed in WO92/00670 so that the ground-contact sensor is able to operate reliably and effectively.
By using an actual crop spraying dropleg, this second function of height sensing is conveniently and economically provided without in any way interfering with the crop spraying function of the dropleg.
If, for any reason, it were preferred not to employ a dropleg for both the spraying and height sensing functions, then this can be readily achieved by providing an additional dropleg at either or both of the outer opposite ends of the boom, to perform the height sensing function.
It will be understood that tilt sensing necessarily involves the use
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Benest Engineering Limited
Weldon Kevin P.
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