Cnh Industrial America LLC

Tim Stombaugh

John Henry Posselius

Yongbo Wan

By injecting a chemical fluid and a carrier fluid directly at each nozzle, and by then mixing the fluids at each nozzle to produce a mixed fluid, an improved spray system may be provided which does not contaminate the tank or distribution system with chemical fluid and which allows improved spraying with minimal delay. Accordingly, a system is provided on a field sprayer for independently controlling the flow rate of concentrated chemical fluid to individual spray nozzles using a high pressure chemical distribution rail or loop routed to each nozzle and solenoid injection valves to control the flow of chemical fluid to each nozzle independently.

Independent nozzle injection control system for sprayers

A system for metering liquids at very low flows for use with agricultural sprayers is provided. The system may utilize two electronically controlled solenoid valves in series with a storage chamber in between. The flow may be a function of the PWM control of each of the valves, the phase relationship between the control signals, the storage chamber in between, the pressure difference across the metering device, and the fluid being metered.

Self-propelled sprayer

With the use of a low cost microphone mounted at each nozzle, a sound signature of the nozzles may be captured and stored to be used as a continuous indicator of any changes in the flow rate of the nozzles. By measuring changes in sound at each nozzle, it is possible to determine the change in flow before a change in pressure manifests into a problem in the system. The change in sound will oftentimes be significant for plugged nozzles, or nozzles that have excessive wear and flow at too high of a rate. The invention has the advantage of being relatively low cost with ceramic microphones, for example, and with little or no moving parts required. A closed loop control system may be included to compensate for nozzle degradation.

The present inventors have recognized that a spinner spreader system may be augmented with an air assist system in which an air current is generated to engage particles after they have left the spinner spreader system to thereby enhance the trajectory of the particles. In one aspect, one or more fans with appropriate ductwork may be added below one or more spinning disks to direct jets or curtains of air in the direction of the broadcast pattern of particles leaving the one or more disks. The directed air stream should preferably be faster than the particles leaving the one or more disks, thereby adding additional acceleration to the particles compensating opposing forces.

Air assist system for spinner spreaders

With the use of electromagnetic radiation sources, such as lasers emitting light, and corresponding detectors, spray patterns from spray nozzle assemblies can be sampled and compared to one or more calibration patterns to determine if nozzles of spray nozzle assemblies are worn out. A unique calibration pattern could be used to compare for each spray nozzle assembly, and/or a single calibration pattern could be used to compare for multiple spray assemblies. In one aspect, detectors can be arranged near sources to detect electromagnetic radiation reflected by spray patterns. In another aspect, detectors can be arranged opposite of sources to detect electromagnetic radiation transmitted through a spray pattern.

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Nicholasville, KY, United States of America

Tim Stombaugh