Patent Application
20100019485
The present invention relates to agricultural sprayers, and more specifically relates to a valve coupler arrangement for facilitating the transfer of fluid from a nurse tank to the sprayer.
It has recently become known to equip a sprayer vehicle and a nurse tank vehicle with a fluid coupler arrangement by which a fluid transfer conduit extending from the nurse tank can be manually or automatically connected to an intake fluid conduit leading to a sprayer tank. After making the connection, the operator opens a series of valves to establish a fluid path permitting fluid to flow from the nurse vehicle tank to the sprayer vehicle tank or tanks. Such a coupling arrangement is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/284,002, filed 30 Oct. 2002 and published under No. 20040084551 on 6 May 2004.
After the fluid tank or tanks of the sprayer vehicle have been refilled, the operator must close valves and disconnect the fluid coupler interconnecting the transfer and intake conduits in a manner which prevents or limits fluid chemicals from spilling onto the ground. One drawback of current large fittings and valves that are required for quickly transferring fluid chemicals from the nurse tank to the sprayer tank or tanks is that they permit significant spillage of the chemicals.
The problem to be solved then is to provide a coupler arrangement between the transfer and intake conduits of the nurse and sprayer vehicles which permits a relatively quick transfer of fluid chemicals while minimizing spillage of such chemicals.
According to the present invention, there is provided a coupler arrangement for selectively connecting a nurse tank fluid transfer conduit to, and disconnecting the transfer hose from, a sprayer fluid intake conduit.
An object of the invention is to provide a coupler arrangement including a first coupler section connected to an end of a nurse tank fluid transfer conduit, and a second coupler section connected to an end of fluid intake conduit of a sprayer, with the first and second coupler sections being designed for cooperating, during being coupled together and uncoupled from each other, so as to eliminate any significant spillage of fluid chemicals.
The foregoing object is achieved by a coupler arrangement wherein the first and second coupler sections each include a hollow body defining a fluid passage, with the fluid passage of the first coupler section including a discharge opening normally closed by a first poppet valve, which is spring loaded, and with the fluid passage of the second coupling section including an inlet opening normally closed by a second poppet valve which is loaded to its closed position by the spring acting on the first poppet valve when a cylindrical insert defined at the end of one of the first and second coupler sections is seated within a cylindrical receptacle defined at the end of another of the first and second coupler sections, with a remotely operable power actuator being located within the hollow body of the second coupler section and connected to the second poppet valve so that the actuator can be selectively operated to open the first and second poppet valves against the spring load. The coupler section which defines the insert includes an annular seal groove containing an inflatable seal which may be selectively inflated for preventing leakage and establishing a tight friction lock between the insert and the receptacle once the insert is property seated in the receptacle. A proximity device is provided which senses when the insert is properly located in the receptacle and sends a signal to the operator prior to the inflation of the seal. Once the seal is inflated, the actuator is actuated for effecting the opening of both poppet valves so as to establish an uninterrupted fluid path through which fluid can flow from the nurse vehicle to the sprayer vehicle.
Referring now to
In order to maximize the operation of the load pump 26 for each of different plumbing configurations that typically might be encountered when refilling from different nurse tanks, the operation of the pump 26 is monitored. Specifically, the operation of the load pump 26 is monitored by a tachometer 28 coupled to the pump drive shaft, a flow detector 30 located at the output of the pump, a vacuum detector 32 located at the input of the pump and an accelerometer 33 coupled to a housing location of the pump for sensing pump vibration. All of the sensed or monitored pump conditions provide information to an automatic control arrangement and/or to a visual display so that the control arrangement may automatically operate or the operator may intervene to reduce the displacement of the pump 26 in the event that the sensed or monitored pump conditions indicate an impending pump cavitation condition. Of course, pump displacement may be increased when no impending cavitation condition is monitored.
The nurse vehicle 40 may be of any variety of known configurations, but is here shown in the form of a trailer having front and rear sets of ground wheels 42 and 44, respectively, which are normally interconnected by a framework, not shown, which supports a trailer bed 46 on which is positioned a large nurse tank 48, which in many cases would contain a supply of water, and a smaller nurse tank 50 which would contain a concentrated chemical for being mixed with the water, for example. A fluid transfer conduit 52 is coupled directly to the nurse tank 48 and is coupled to the smaller nurse tank 50 by a branch conduit 54. The fluid transfer conduit 52 contains a first flow meter 56 located just downstream from the larger nurse tank 48, while a second flow meter 58 is located in the branch conduit 54, with the flow meters 56 and 58 acting to ensure that a correct mixture of the fluids from the tanks 48 and 50 is transferred to the sprayer vehicle tank 22.
As illustrated, the fluid intake conduit 24 of the spray vehicle 10 and the fluid transfer conduit 52 of the nurse vehicle 40 are interconnected by a coupler assembly 60 including first and second separable coupler components, namely a receptacle indicated generally at 62 and an insert indicated generally at 64. With reference to fluid flowing in a direction from the fluid transfer conduit 52 to the fluid intake conduit 24, the receptacle 62 is connected to a downstream end of the transfer conduit 52 while the insert 64 is connected to an upstream end of the intake conduit 24. Appropriate on-off valves (not shown) would be provided for respectively isolating the insert 64 from a remaining portion of the intake conduit 24, and isolating the receptacle 62 from a remaining portion of the transfer conduit 52 when the coupler arrangement 60 is separated.
As can be seen in
The receptacle 62 further includes a poppet valve 90 for sealing the flow passageway 68. Poppet valve 90 includes a stem 92 joined to a head 94 having a periphery defining a sealing surface including a leading cylindrical/pilot section 96 joined to a small diameter end of a frusto-conical section 98, with an o-ring seal 100 being located in a seal groove provided at a juncture of the two sections. The stem 92 is mounted for sliding axially within a bushing carried by a support member 102 fixed within the receptacle body 66. A coil compression spring 104 is received on the poppet valve stem 92 and acts between the support member 102 and the head 94 so as to normally bias the sealing surface of the poppet valve head 94 against a mating valve seat 106 at a discharge end of the passageway 68. An axial end face 108 of the poppet valve head 94 is a concave surface formed as a spherical segment and has an outer periphery which is substantially coplanar with the receptacle surface 86 when the poppet valve 90 is closed, as shown in
The insert 64 includes a generally cylindrical body 110 defining a flow passageway 112 there through. A downstream end region of the body 110 is defined by a mounting flange 114 having an axially facing mounting surface 116 on its downstream end disposed in confronting relationship to a mounting surface 118 of a mounting flange 120 located on the upstream end of an elongate, cylindrical body extension 122 including a downstream end section which is reduced in diameter and connected to the intake conduit 24. A circular support plate 124 has an outer annular region clamped between the flanges 114 and 120 by a plurality of screws 125 extending through axially aligned holes provided in the flange 120 and plate 124 and received in threaded holes provided in the flange 114. The support plate 124 is provided with a plurality of openings (not shown) for permitting the free flow of fluid from the downstream end of the passageway 112. The upstream end of the insert body 110 is defined by an annular plate 126 fixed to a remainder of the body 110 by a plurality of screws 128. The plate 126 cooperates with a reduced diameter portion of the body 110 to define an annular seal groove 130, with an inflatable seal 132 being received in the seal groove 130. An air fitting 134 is provided on the flange 114 of the insert body 110 and leads to air passage 136 which extends to the inflatable seal 132. A cylindrical shoulder 138 is provided between the seal groove 130 and the flange 114 and is sized to fit snuggly within the cylindrical wall 82 of the receptacle body 66 when the insert body 110 is received in the receptacle of the receptacle body 66, as shown in
The insert 64 further includes a poppet valve 140 for sealing flow through the flow passageway 112 and a remotely controlled poppet valve actuator 142 is provided for selectively opening and closing the poppet valve. The valve actuator 142 comprises a single-acting, extensible and retractable air cylinder 144 (alternatively a hydraulic or electric actuator could be used) disposed along a central axis of the body extension 122 and having a threaded tube 146 fixed to an upstream end cap, the tube 146 projecting through a hole provided centrally in the support plate 124 and receiving a nut 148 which is tightened against the plate 124 so as to fix the cylinder 144 to the support plate 124. The poppet valve 140 comprises a stem defined by a piston rod 150 of the air cylinder 144, and a head 152 screwed onto a threaded end of the piston rod. As considered relative to moving from an open position, illustrated in
An air supply/return conduit 164 is located within the insert body extension 122 and has opposite ends respectively coupled to an L-fitting 166 located adjacent one end of the cylinder 144 and a straight air fitting 168 extending through an end region of the insert body extension 122 adjacent the intake conduit 24. Located at an opposite end of the cylinder 144 from the fitting 166 is another fitting (not shown) which is coupled to an air line leading to atmosphere for permitting the exhaust and intake of air during extension and retraction of the piston rod 150 so that an air lock preventing free movement of the piston rod does not occur. It will be appreciated that a source of air pressure can be selectively coupled to an air line (not shown) joined to the fitting 166 in order to effect extension of the piston rod 150 and simultaneous movement of the poppet valve heads 94 and 152 from their seated closed positions, shown in
Referring now to
The control circuit 170 includes an electronic controller 172 to which is connected the tank level sensor 23, the proximity sensor(s) 139 and an indicator device 174, such as a display device located in the sprayer vehicle cab 18. An operator input device 175, which may include an activation switch, for example, is provided by which the operator can send a start signal for initially arming the controller 172 for the automatic filling operation, with automatic filling beginning once a signal is received from the proximity sensor(s) 139 indicating that the coupler assembly 60 is coupled. Also coupled to the controller 172 is an on board air system 176 having respective solenoid valves (not shown) for controlling the flow of air to air supply lines 178 and 180 respectively coupled to the inflatable seal 132 and to the pneumatic actuator 142. Additionally, the controller 172 is connected to a solenoid-operated hydraulic proportional valve arrangement 182, which, in turn is coupled to a displacement controller 184 of the variable displacement load pump 26. The pump condition monitoring components, specifically the tachometer 28, flow detector 30, vacuum detector 32 and accelerometer 33 are designated collectively as a pump condition monitoring arrangement 186 that is likewise coupled to the controller 172, with it to be understood that respective pump condition signals are generated by each of the components. Further, it is to be noted that not all of the condition monitoring components are required for acquiring sufficient information for a determination of impending pump cavitation.
Assuming an operator is performing a spraying operation, the operator will become aware of the need to refill the tank 22 by a signal sent by the fluid level sensor 23 which is sent to the indicator device 174 at the operators station. The operator will then shut down the sprayer pump and drive the sprayer vehicle 10 to the staging area where the nurse tank vehicle 40 has been previously parked for refilling the sprayer tank 22.
The operator will then arm the controller 172 for performing an automatic fill operation by hitting the activation switch of the input device 175. The operator then takes steps to bring the coupler insert 62 and receptacle 64 of the coupler assembly 60 into axial alignment with each other and to move them together, with the insert 62 being located within the receptacle 64. Upon the insert 62 becoming completely received in the receptacle 64, the proximity sensor(s) 139 will send a coupled signal to a sequencing logic arrangement of the controller 172 so as to initiate the automatic fill operation. The sequencing logic circuit first acts to send a lock signal to a first solenoid-operated air valve of the on board air system 176 for causing air to be automatically routed for effecting inflation of the seal 132, thereby locking the coupler insert 62 and receptacle 64 together. Following this, the sequencing logic circuit within the controller 172 sends an open signal to a second solenoid-operated air control valve of the onboard air system 176 for causing air to be automatically routed for effecting extension of the pneumatic actuator 142, and, thus, opening of the poppet valves 90 and 140. The sequencing logic contained in the controller 172 then acts to send a signal for actuating the appropriate solenoid of the proportional valve arrangement 182 for causing the latter to control the flow of hydraulic fluid to the displacement controller 184 of the pump 26 so as to ramp-up displacement of the pump 26 so that it begins to transfer fluid from the nurse vehicle 40 to the sprayer 10.
Pump operation is monitored by the tachometer 28, flow detector 30, vacuum detector 32 and the accelerometer, with these devices sending respective signals to the controller 172. In the event that the monitored or sensed operating condition of the pump 26 indicates that cavitation is impending, the controller 172 will send a signal to the proportional valve arrangement 182 for causing the latter to route a control fluid signal to the displacement controller 184 of the pump 26 to cause the displacement to be decreased sufficiently to avoid cavitaion.
Upon the sprayer tank 22 becoming filled, the fluid level sensor 23 will send a full signal to the controller 172 which then sends a ramp-down signal to the proportional valve arrangement 182 which sends a fluid control signal to the pump 26 to decrease its displacement to zero. Shortly thereafter, the sequencing logic section of the controller 172 will send a close signal to the second solenoid-operated air control valve of the on board air system so as to effect the venting of the air from the air line 180 so as to permit the springs 161 and 104 to act to close the poppet valves 140 and 190. Subsequently, the sequencing logic section of the controller 172 will send an unlock signal to the first solenoid-operated air control valve of the air system so as to vent the air from the inflatable seal 132. The indicator device 174 at the operator station will also receive the unlock signal and display the fact that the insert 62 and receptacle 64 of the coupler arrangement 60 are no longer locked together. The refill operation is then completed and the operator can drive the sprayer 10 away from the nurse vehicle 40 and return to the field to resume the spraying operation.
Thus, it will be appreciated that once the operator arms the control system for automatic refill operation and the controller receives a signal from the proximity sensor(s) 139 indicating that the insert 62 and receptacle 64 of the coupler arrangement 60 are coupled together, the remainder of the refill operation is automatic with a substantially leak-free coupling being established prior to the opening of the poppet valves 90 and 140. Further due to the poppet valve heads 94 and 152 being respectively biased against the valve seats 106 arid 160 by the springs 104 and 161, and due to the close fit of the valve head faces 108 and 162 with each other during flow through the coupler arrangement 60, no fluid escapes around, and no fluid is trapped between the valve heads when the poppet valves close immediately after ramp-down of the pump 26 after the sprayer tank 22 is filled, thus eliminating any spillage from this area when the coupler arrangement 60 is separated.
Having described the preferred embodiment, it will become apparent that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying claims.
