Patent Application
20240040979
This application claims the benefit of European Patent Application 22188466.1, filed Aug. 3, 2022. The entire disclosure of the application referenced above is incorporated by reference.
The present disclosure relates to agricultural machines, particularly to agricultural sprayers and more particularly to a system and a method of identifying a nozzle, mounted on a spray boom assembly of the agricultural sprayer, in active position and its characteristics.
To increase agricultural yield, chemical substances such as fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides etc. are periodically and/or selectively sprayed on targets in a field. Although, use of chemical substances is viewed as beneficial, it can also responsible for many undesirable effects, including crop damage due to toxins, environmental pollution and human illnesses. Environmental pollution includes contamination of soil, water and air.
The chemical substances sprayed over a field can stay in the soil for years or decades and continue to harm soil health due to overuse. Also, the chemical substances used for treating plants and soil can reach surface water or nearby waterbodies through runoff. In many areas, contamination of water by pesticides is widespread. Air pollution comes mainly in the form of ammonia (NH3), which enters the air as a gas from heavily fertilized fields and livestock waste. In general, during spraying operations in the field, the presence of wind causes uncontrolled drifting of the chemical substances over the entire field which can cause pollution. Even the use of an approved amount of chemical substances can have undesirable side effects.
In order to minimize the pollution, governments have set up regulations for use of spraying material and respective documentation of the same with respect to type and/or quantity of the chemicals and the type of nozzle and/or pattern. Thus, it is important to calculate the amount of spraying material spread over the field during spraying operations and to have the correct nozzle in an active position. Therefore, one object of the present disclosure is to facilitate spraying operation in compliance with said government regulations.
The background description provided here is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
An agricultural machine with a system for or implementing a method of identifying which nozzle mounted on a spray boom assembly of the agricultural machine, is in an active position and its characteristics, is disclosed. The mentioned agricultural machine may be a self-propelled, trailed or mounted agricultural sprayer.
Further, the agricultural machine includes a chassis, a liquid tank, a spray boom assembly with a center frame, laterally extendable right and left booms and a conduit defining a liquid flow path associated with the spray boom assembly.
Furthermore, at least one nozzle body is placed at a bottom side of the boom. The nozzle body may include stationary and/or respectively non-rotating portions and a rotatable nozzle turret on which a plurality of nozzles are mounted. The plurality of nozzles mounted to the nozzle turret may include two or more nozzles. Further, the plurality of nozzles may include flat tapered fan, flat even fan, deflect, anvil/flood, full cone or hollow cone, twin spray, single or multiple streams and air-induced spray patterns nozzles or combinations thereof. These nozzles may be used to discharge chemicals like liquid/granular fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, desiccants and any such variants thereof. Also, these nozzles may be capable of discharging extremely fine chemicals to extremely coarse chemicals. The nozzles may be made up of engineered plastic (e.g., polyacetal), polypropylene, ceramic, stainless steel, soft metals like aluminum or brass, or of any other known types materials or combinations thereof. Moreover, each nozzle is configured to be placed into an active position by rotation of the nozzle turret. There may be one or more than one nozzle that is configured to be placeable into the active position. The nozzles in the active position may be in arranged in a consecutive, alternate, opposed and/or diagonal manner. The rotation of the nozzle turret, to place the nozzles into active position, may be achieved automatically with the help of a motor operable from an operator station or remotely and/or manually by an operator.
Further, a transponder tag is placed on each nozzle of the nozzle body. The transponder tag may be a passive radio frequency identification (RFID) tag. Alternatively, the transponder tag may include semi-passive RFID, active RFID, low frequency, high frequency, or ultra-high frequency tags. Moreover, the tag comprises specific information including characteristics of the respective nozzle, wherein, the specific information of the nozzle includes type of the nozzle, size of the nozzle and spray angle.
Further, a reader assembly includes an antenna and a controller. The reader assembly is configured to emit electromagnetic waves through the antenna to receive information from a particular transponder tag. Furthermore, the transponder tag is configured to receive the electromagnetic waves and generate a signal back to the reader assembly with the specific information for the respective nozzle. The reader assembly is placed at a location on the spray boom assembly so as to be in range of communication with the respective transponder tag of the respective nozzle when the nozzle is placed into the active position. In various implementations, the reader assembly is placed on a stationary portion of the nozzle body such that the tag enters a range of communication with the respective transponder tag of the respective nozzle when the respective nozzle is placed in the active position. Alternatively, the reader assembly may be placed on the boom or on components attached to the boom, which may be a predetermined distance from the tag.
Further, the controller is configured to receive the specific information from the respective transponder tag to identify characteristics of the respective nozzle being placed by rotation into the active position. The controller may be configured to vary sprayer settings based on the identified nozzle in the active position, the nozzle's characteristics and the specific spraying requirements. The sprayer settings may include one or more of boom height, spray pressure, sprayer speed, spray drift and combinations thereof.
Moreover, the controller may store and retrieve data related to the specific spraying requirements. The agricultural machine may comprise a global positioning system (GPS) which may store positioning data of the agricultural machine at a field location. The controller may store and retrieve the positioning data and utilization of the appropriate nozzle as per crop requirement at a particular position. This data may be used as historic data in future agricultural machine operations.
A method of identifying a nozzle mounted on a spray boom assembly of an agricultural machine is in an active position and the characteristics of the nozzle is disclosed. The method includes placing the nozzle into an active position by rotation, thereby placing a respective transponder tag in communication range with a reader assembly; emitting primary electromagnetic waves through an antenna of the reader assembly; and receiving the primary electromagnetic waves by the respective transponder tag. The respective transponder tag is energized upon receiving the primary electromagnetic waves in order to generate secondary electromagnetic waves based on specific information for the respective nozzle. Secondary electromagnetic waves are emitted by the respective transponder tag and the secondary electromagnetic waves are received by the reader assembly. Identifying, by the controller, the nozzle in the active position and its characteristics based on the secondary electromagnetic waves. The method may further include storing and retrieving, by the controller, data related to specific spraying requirements. Further, the method may also include varying sprayer settings by the controller based on the identified nozzle in the active position and its characteristics and the specific spraying requirements.
Further areas of applicability of the present disclosure will become apparent from the detailed description, the claims and the drawings. The detailed description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.
The present disclosure will become more fully understood from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings.
In the drawings, reference numbers may be reused to identify similar and/or identical elements.
Referring now to
As shown in
A method includes placing a nozzle 28 into an active position 44 via rotation of the nozzle turret 42. The rotation of the nozzle turret 42 may be achieved automatically with the help of a motor operable from an operator station or remotely. For example, six nozzles may be mounted in a circular fashion on the nozzle turret 42, out of which two opposed or consecutive or alternate nozzles 28 may be placed in the active position 44 by the rotation of the nozzle turret 42. The placement of the nozzle 28 in the active position 44 brings the transponder tag 30 of the nozzles 28 in the active position 44 into range of communication with the reader assembly 34. The reader assembly 32 emits primary electromagnetic waves 38 through the antenna 34. These primary electromagnetic waves 38 are received by the respective transponder tag 30 of the nozzle 28 in the active position 44. Upon receiving the primary electromagnetic waves 38, the respective transponder tag 30 gets energized and in turn generates secondary electromagnetic waves 40 based on specific information for the respective nozzle 28. Further, the respective transponder tag 30 emits the secondary electromagnetic waves 40 which contain specific information for the respective nozzle 28. Then, the reader assembly 32 receives the secondary electromagnetic waves 40 that are based on specific information for the respective nozzle 28. Based on the secondary electromagnetic waves 40 along with the specific information for the respective nozzle 28, the controller 36 identifies the nozzle 28 in the active position 44 and its characteristics. The controller 36 and the antenna 34 together may form the reader assembly 32 as a single or integral device. Alternatively, a separate controller 36 and a separate antenna 34 may form the reader assembly 32. Further, the controller 36 may adjust settings of the sprayer based on the identified nozzle 28 in the active position 44, its characteristics and the specific spraying requirements. The sprayer settings may include one or more of boom height, spray pressure, sprayer speed, spray drift and combination thereof.
The controller 36 may store and retrieve data related to specific spraying requirements. The agricultural machine 10 may include a global positioning system (GPS) which may store positioning data of the agricultural machine at a field location. The controller 36 may store and retrieve the positioning data and utilization of the appropriate nozzle 28 as a per crop requirement at particular positions. This data may be used as historic data in future operations of agricultural machines.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22188466.1 | Aug 2022 | EP | regional |
