Patent Application
20190373816
The invention relates to a device and method for introducing high voltage into a substrate which contains biological material.
The standard method presented in many patents for using electrical high voltage (tension with at least 1,000 V) consists in killing plants that are defined as weeds. In this context, electrical current is introduced into the foliage of the weed with an applicator with the objective of killing it including the roots. In order to close the circuit through the leaf, root and ground, contact is made with the ground using a second applicator. Both applicators may also contact the leaves of different plants, and the destruction of both plants is then brought about by closing the circuit through the roots.
Unlike the preceding method, in the method described here, which will be referred to in the following as the ElektroBioMod method, target-specific applicators are used for transmitting electrical high voltage and energy, not for the purpose of killing plants as weeds, but for contacting cultivated plants, parts of cultivated plants, other organisms or parts of organisms selectively at certain parts of the organism with high voltage in order to systematically achieve desired effects not intended to kill weeds, but rather to induce a specific structural change in them or parts functionally associated therewith to which the high voltage is applied. The consequence of this structural change in the substrate is the agronomic stimulation of the cultivated plants, their yield, harvest quality, the quality of the agricultural by-products or the usability of treated materials in subsequent process steps.
This differing objective according to the invention demands a novel applicator type and a way to control the system for metered delivery which has the following basic properties and is then of variously designed geometry corresponding to the respective individual applications in order to achieve the delivery of electrical high voltage appropriate to the objective.
The applicator units, which are each implemented in pairs or multiples, must be arranged in a defined relationship and usually next to one another so that they are effective only in the desired area, which is often not located in the foliage area which draws current well, but very frequently on the better insulating trunks and/or fresh branches located there. In most cases, a non-specific return circuit of the current through the ground is not possible because in most cases the roots must not be affected. The applicators must be well insulated from each other. The output of the individual applicator units must be deliverable in precisely measured quantities and limited, and consequently must not be influenced by contacts and resistances from other objects coming into contact with the system as a whole. It must be possible to operate a large number of individual applicators in parallel, so that correspondingly high total area outputs can be made available to the system.
If the trunk is sufficiently conductive, the whole plant is structurally changed in the area of application, but in the case of woody trunks the current only flows through and changes the fresh, unlignified water sprouts, side branches or other vegetation in the same position directly on the trunk until the surface conductivity of the better insulated trunk is altered intentionally with abrasive applicators.
The device serves as an electrophysical alternative method for non-systemic broadleaf herbicides and other herbicides with non-systemic action and sprout inhibiting agents whose use is subject to increasing prohibitions, and as an electrophysical alternative to mechanical methods which do not produce adequate results by the nature of their function or are too expensive or energy-intensive.
In order to deliver the power, one control and transformation module is used for each applicator unit, that is to say two applicators or multiple applicators, on each mounting unit with closely co-located individual applicators, which module is designed to deliver high voltage in a range from 1,000 to 40,000 V and from 10 to 10,000 W of power. The respective working range is adjusted automatically in accordance with an implemented work characteristic depending on the substrate resistance, wherein to the extent possible not a single working point but a working range with the highest possible output is selected by processor-controlled power-optimisation. The processor controller also allows sensor-based or other data-driven control influences up to pattern detection and artificial intelligence for parameter optimisation.
In order to solve the object, a base applicator consisting of two or more adjacent individual applicators with simultaneously opposite polarities is used. These applicator units may be powered by alternating current (phase to 0 or two opposite phases) or direct current (+, −, wherein one pole has near-earth absolute potential).
The applicator units with opposite polarities are separated from each other by an insulating intermediate layer 0.5 to 10 cm wide. This intermediate layer may have similar mechanical properties to the applicators with regard to flexibility and durability, for example. The task of the intermediate layer is to prevent direct flashovers between the applicators by means of labyrinthine separation and to keep plant parts out of the intermediate area, so that no bridging short circuits occur inside the applicator. For this purpose, densely arranged plastic bristles, plastic straps, plastic ridges or elastic plastic plates are used which have the same shape and size as is used for the metal applicators. The units may then be expanded by adding further applicators with alternating polarity. Depending on the application, laminated circular brushes with and without a drive unit may also be used, and the orientation of the units is adapted to the respective plants. Only with a well defined substrate thickness are the adjacent poles replaced with opposing poles.
The object of the device is to improve the related art significantly for the purposes of a number of applications. This involves replacing more expensive and more time-consuming and energy-intensive mechanical methods. But in particular, chemical methods that lead to a partial destructuring of individual plant parts are replaced with a non-chemical, non-toxic method which leaves no residue.
A first area of application is whole plant drying and conversion into biogas. If biomass is to be converted into process gas, a water content from 10-15% is necessary, such as is naturally present in straw, whereas all other biomass materials have to predried separately or at the start of the gasification process, with considerable expenditure of energy. This process significantly reduces the efficiency of the methods. At the same time, the high moisture content also presents storage problems and an undesirable degradation of the biomass there. Previously, the material had to be cut, although it then lies more densely and dries out poorly, particularly in unstable weather conditions, or begins to rot. Since this means that it is therefore technically not possible to dry biomass in the field, until now the material was used in biogas plants with liquid gasification by bacteria, which however raises significant problems and entails digestion of the cellulose, for example, and is less efficient overall.
The state of the art regarding selective ripening: For harvesting very many arable crop types, it is important that ripening is even, as much moisture as possible is removed from the crops and that the green vegetation parts of the crop and any weeds present are largely dried out. If this is not the case, harvesting becomes massively more difficult and more expensive, results in a lower yield, the ability of the crop to be stored is impaired, and the harvesting process takes longer. In the past, this problem—which is often weather-related—was most often solved by spraying the plants with chemical agents (desiccation herbicides) to dry them out. The agents used can leave residues behind in the crop and the environment, and in some application cases bans or strict regulation thereof are becoming more widespread.
In order to encourage microbial recovery in the plants, many digestion processes are available which are intended to render the plants more easily reusable after mechanical shredding or in the liquid phase by enzymatic or physical methods (grinding, ultrasound, etc.). Other options are the expensive extraction of primary components, fermentation, microbial removal of secondary components, e.g., fibre recovery (flax, hemp, etc.), fermentation optimisation.
The ElektroBioMod method provides the capability of initiating internal cell breakdown with relatively low energy input and without any additional medium or agents by introducing targeted energy, thereby rendering subsequent mechanical or other digestion steps considerably easier and more effective, and because of its cellular effect strongly encouraging bacterial access and hydrolysis.
The use of large quantities of fungicides and copper preparations to minimise plant diseases such as fungal infections has a huge impact on the environment, which however is often essential in order to combat downy mildew. The infected vine leaves and severed branches remain in the vineyard, and the spores which survive the winter can quickly cause re-infection, particularly as a result of splash water and the spread of dust from the exposed soil (weed control and digging in of vine leaves).
Treating the vine foliage which has been cut off immediately after cutting during and after the season reduces the formation of resting spores, firstly because the leaves quickly give off any remaining tartaric acid due to cell destruction according to the ElektroBioMod method and for the same reason they also decay and decompose faster, which means their availability as a host for the fungus is reduced and more antagonists come into contact with the fungus on the leaves or in the humus substrate.
The advantages of the ElektroBioMod method reside in that it interrupts contamination chains through a reduction of the use of herbicides, fungicides, and increased carbon sequestration in the soil.
Another area of use is water sprout removal. Lignified plants and trees, and particularly grafted plants such as many grapevines for example, but also roadside trees have considerable growth of undesirable side shoots, usually called water sprouts. Ideally, these must simply be removed gently and with minimum injury to the plant. Besides mechanical pruning, there are methods with brushes and chemical processing with defoliants in low concentrations. The chemical methods require a great deal of experience and exact dosing, which is often difficult, more and more chemical agents are being restricted or banned, mechanical pruning is time-consuming and expensive, the mechanical removal of the water sprouts with brushes causes undesirable injuries, which then lead to infections.
With the ElektroBioMod method, a long-bristle brush (bristle length 100-400 mm) with smooth or only slightly roughened, loosely distributed electrically conductive bristles (preferably polymer) are passed over the trunk, preferably at an angle of least 90° to the trunk. The brush rotates upwards from the bottom on the side of the trunk so that the water sprouts are not ripped off. In the simple version, the water sprouts are touched with only one pole. The very low strength current drains through the much thicker trunk without doing any damage. In the two-pole version, the middle of the brush is passed upwards/along the trunk. In this process, the bottom ends of the water sprouts are exposed to the opposite polarity to the polarity applied to the upper areas. This reduces the current flow in the main trunk to an absolute minimum.
The water sprouts remain on the trunk and dry up. No open wounds are created on the trunk and no chemicals have to be used. The method can be automated and may be performed efficiently with autonomous devices. Depending on the nature of the water sprouts, an un-modified vine stem cleaner is used and only has to move further upwards.
Another area of use relates to selective stressing and root reduction: In many cases, it is possible to divert an increasing proportion of the photosynthesis output of plants to the harvest elements by pruning the roots and shoots. This is normally done by usually mechanical pruning of roots to reduce the growth of shoots and increase the fruit portion. The loss of some of its roots induces a stress reaction in the plant, which either triggers a mild drought stress or infestation stress reaction directly, or is interpreted indirectly as such by the plant. This is particularly effective when the roots are pruned without shoot reduction. But shoot reduction too induces increased investment in the fruit for many plants.
According to the invention, electrical current is introduced into the intermediate areas of the cultivated plants on the surface or via depth electrodes in such a way that some of the roots of the plant die off or are at least damaged. Many plants interpret this as stress, which inhibits cellulose production (more branches, leaves) generally results in increased investment in fruit and sugar. In this way, for example, the sugar content in sugar cane can be raised, or the lengthwise growth of fruit tree branches may be limited, benefiting the fruit and the water consumption.
The method according to the invention involves at least substantially less interference with the soil structure, if any, and often reduces competition from weeds at the same time. All biological and technical disadvantages associated with soil disruption are avoided. In this way, for example, it is also much easier to avoid damaging irrigation systems, because the ground area undergoes less mechanical intervention, or none at all.
Another area of use is the killing of harmful organism stages in plant parts: In commercial crop growing, the pests can often be dealt with using systemic insecticides. But this entails considerable expense, and in the private sector and the public sector (roadside trees etc.) it is prohibited or very strictly regulated. Accordingly, often the only remaining option is to isolate the fallen leaves that contain the hibernating organism stages as completely as possible and burn them. Other forms of waste disposal from domestic garbage to composting very often result in the pathogens being propagated further.
According to the invention, the fallen leaves are treated electrophysically immediately after they have been collected, and the pest stages are eliminated thereby. For this, the leaves may be exposed to high-frequency high voltage by passing them between the two electrodes for a specified residence time on a continuous or discontinuous conveyor system.
This treatment on site enables the infected leaves to be treated in groups of the same kind, which means they are treated more efficiently and do not have to be diverted on special paths afterwards for further reuse, and this in turn reduces logistical and disposal costs. Consequently, private individuals or other owners of the infected foliage may also be able to render them harmless by using the Electroherb technology, at considerably less expense than would be possible by disposal as domestic waste or special incineration. The foliage can then even remain at the site and be used as normal fertiliser.
In a first embodiment, applicator units touch the plants with both applicator polarities from the side and from the side just above the ground to interrupt the flow of water in the trunk. Depending on the plant, contact from one side may be sufficient or it may be necessary to touch as much of the circumference of the trunk as possible with a contacting or abrasively acting applicator (metal brush (stationary or rotating), scraping sheet metal ends or cutting metal) if the steles can only be reached directly from the outside and are to be damaged extensively (lignified structures).
The applicator units in the individual rows travel under guidance by a main transport module or autonomously with their own drive system and power supply. Besides the applicators described here, other applicators of different types or devices with physical/mechanical operating principles may be attached particularly in the region close to the ground.
Besides static units, i.e. units which function only by spring force or material resilience (rubber, plastic, metal as base), are flexible and otherwise immobile, the following actively moving applicator units may also be used:
Straight unit (brush/bar): After the signal indicating approach to the obstruction, the unit rotates actively and rapidly around the obstruction, if possible in contact with the obstruction, to return to its starting position with the leading tip facing outwards after brushing the entire region around the obstruction.
Tri-wing unit: This unit also rotates around the object in the same way as described for the straight unit, but with the advantage that a smaller rotation is needed, and the device may therefore be driven generally more quickly.
Two brushes arranged one above the other with horizontal axis of rotation and horizontal movement detect the trunk, also under the control of sensors in the lower region.
A sensor-controlled brush having one pole in the middle and the opposite pole in the peripheral area travels up the trunk under sensor control and in so doing contacts water sprouts and other more conductive branches on an effectively insulating trunk with electrical current, to render them barren.
Depending on the application case, it may be appropriate to partially damage the roots in order to trigger certain responses in the plants. Then, the same applicators as in the device described previously are used, the only difference being that the trunk is only contacted by one pole and in a smaller area, and this only disrupts some of the water-bearing structures. Optionally, a soil applicator acting on the surface or cutting into the topsoil may be used, or the electrical circuit is closed by a nearby plant. In this case, the output must be limited according to the specific plant by use of individually controlled power supply units.
Various embodiments are represented in the drawing and will be described in greater detail in the following text. In the drawing:
Drum applicator 120 has a different polarity 122, 123 on hanging single contacts 121. In the embodiment shown, these single contacts 121 are curved, and are weighted at the top end 124 or brought into a favourable starting position for deep, low-friction insertion into the matted plant layer by spring force. Drum applicator 120 is rotated actively during the pass,
In a further embodiment of the apparatus, two or more quasilinear applicators with different or alternating polarities touch the same plant in as many places as possible above the ground to bring about the structural destruction of many cells without directing current to the roots or other subsurface organs. The application may be carried out either from above or from the side.
This improves biodegradability and encourages breakdown by bacteria, fungi and enzymes in the field or in biotechnological methods rapid drying of the leaf portions, in the case of ground crops such as potatoes, cereals, legumes for example.
In a further embodiment, the high voltage is introduced into isolated portions of diseased plants or into plants which have been sown to attract harmful organisms. This is carried out by means of rollers, conveyor belts etc. to structurally destroy the highly conductive structures in the plant sections very quickly. The highly conductive structures to be destroyed may be plant parts, fungi, eggs, caterpillars, snails, nematodes or bacteria. The horizontal feed with a conveyor belt serves either as a cantilever for the two applicator rollers, or the conveyor belt itself serves as applicator. In the case of vertical feed, the two applicator rollers are positioned opposite one another. In all cases, the narrowest areas between the applicators are permanently separated (horizontal double roller), or if there is no substrate in the device by an elastic, brush-like insulating layer to prevent flashovers.
In the case of compacted substrate layers, the applicators are drawn through the substrate in alternating polarities in form of a cutter blade, and the intermediate space in the areas that contain no substrate are held apart by a brush-like insulator.
The result is a thorough structural destruction of the sequestered, treated plant material, improved control of plant diseases by deactivation of the pathogens, greater susceptibility to rapid biodegradability in the ground, in composting facilities, and also in biogas plants, and improved extraction capability of useful contents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2016 014 057.7 | Nov 2016 | DE | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/DE2017/000403 | 11/27/2017 | WO | 00 |
