Sprayer

Abstract

The invention relates to a sprayer of the type comprising a turbine that generates an air current, a nozzle that channels the air current and an outlet of this current to the outside, carrying with it the product dosed by a series of nozzles arranged in the area of influence of the air current, the sprayer being special in that both the air outlet opening and the turbine can be configured and act in a coordinated manner to obtain the desired air flow for each type of crop and spray application, where the optimum air flow for each spray application and the configuration of the turbine and opening are determined by the actual sprayer by means of a processor and auxiliary means.

Claims

1. A sprayer comprising: a turbine for generating a volume of air currents within the sprayer, a turbine actuator connected to the turbine that adjusts the volume of the air currents, a nozzle disposed about the turbine through which said volume of the air currents is discharged from an outlet of the nozzle, wherein the nozzle is movable along a longitudinal axis of the sprayer; a deflector disposed adjacent the outlet of the nozzle so that the volume of the air currents are channeled to an opening defined in part by the nozzle and having an area that discharges the volume of the air currents from the sprayer at a speed; a nozzle actuator connected to the nozzle to adjust a longitudinal position of the nozzle toward and away with respect to the deflector so as to adjust the area of the opening and the speed of the air currents; a spray nozzle disposed adjacent the opening in operational communication with the air currents and configured to discharge a product into the air currents during a spraying operation; and an information entry system comprising an interface for data entry; a memory with stored data applicable to the spraying operation; a sensor disposed on the sprayer; and a connection for obtaining data from outside sources; a processor configured for determining a continuously adjustable coordinated configuration of the turbine and the area of the opening during the spraying operation including the volume and speed of the air currents to be discharged during the spraying operation.

2. The sprayer according to claim 1, wherein the turbine actuator comprises a gearbox coupled to the turbine.

3. The sprayer according to claim 1, wherein the turbine actuator comprises an electric motor coupled to a current variator that is connected to the turbine.

4. The SPRAYER according to claim 1, wherein the turbine actuator comprises adjustable vanes with an adjustable angle such that, taking as 0° the position in which the transverse axis of the vane is perpendicular to a rotation shaft of the turbine, and a turning angle of the vanes ranges from +89° to −89°, wherein, when the turbine is rotated in a single direction, the air currents are discharged into the nozzle and opening when the turning angle of the vanes is greater than 0° and the air currents are discharged into a suction channel grid when the turning angle of the vanes is less than 0°.

5. The sprayer according to claim 4, wherein a drum with a peripheral circular channel includes, disposed therein, eccentric shafts of the vanes, in which the turbine actuator and said drum are connected in order to adjust an angle of attack of the vanes.

6. The sprayer according to claim 1, wherein the processor for determining the configuration during the spraying operation comprises the memory and a library of predetermined airflows and predetermined coordinated configurations for each of the predetermined volume and speed of the air currents.

7. The sprayer according to claim 4, wherein the sensor includes a vane position sensor.

8. The sprayer according to claim 7, wherein the vane position sensor is disposed in the turbine actuator.

9. The sprayer according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is a nozzle position sensor.

10. The sprayer according to claim 9, wherein the nozzle position sensor is disposed in the nozzle actuator.

11. The sprayer according to claim 2, wherein the gearbox comprises a gear for inverting the rotation of the turbine.

12. The sprayer according to claim 3, wherein the current variator comprises an inverter of the rotation of the motor.

13. The sprayer according to claim 1, wherein the turbine includes vanes with an adjustable angle of attack such that, taking as 0° the position in which a transverse axis of the vane is perpendicular to a rotation shaft of the turbine, and a turning angle of the vanes ranges from +50° to −50°, wherein, when the turbine is rotated in a single direction, the air currents are discharged into the nozzle and opening when the turning angle of the vanes is greater than 0° and the air currents are discharged into a suction channel grid when the turning angle of the vanes is less than 0°.

14. The sprayer according to claim 1, wherein the turbine includes vanes with an adjustable angle of attack such that, taking as 0° the position in which a transverse axis of the vane is perpendicular to a rotation shaft of the turbine, and a turning angle of the vanes ranges from +45° to −45°, wherein, when the turbine is rotated in a single direction, the air currents are discharged into the nozzle and opening when the turning angle of the vanes is greater than 0° and the air currents are discharged into a suction channel grid when the turning angle of the vanes is less than 0°.

15. The sprayer accordingly to claim 1, wherein the sensor is a vehicle speed sensor and the sprayer configuration is determined based on a vehicle speed.

16. The sprayer accordingly to claim 1, wherein the sprayer configuration reduces energy consumption.

17. The sprayer accordingly to claim 1, wherein the stored data applicable to the spraying operation includes parameters selected from the group consisting of crop type, treatment type, pruning type, plant volume per unit area, treatment dose, weather conditions, vehicle speed and nozzle discharge.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

(1) FIG. 1 shows a cross-section of a possible embodiment where the variation in the airflow generated by the turbine is obtained by changing the vane angle, showing the main elements of the device such as the nozzle (1), spray nozzles (2), opening (3), deflectors (4) and (5), nozzle actuator (6), nozzle transmission (15), main suction channel grid (7), vanes (8), rotation shaft (9) of the vanes, eccentric shaft (10) of the vanes, peripheral circular channel (11) housing the end of the eccentric shaft of the vanes, turbine actuator (12), turbine transmission (13) and turbine shaft (14).

(2) FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation with the microprocessor (16), the connections to the actuators (17), the interface (18) for entering data, the memory (19), connections for obtaining data from external sources (20), sensors (21) arranged on the actual sprayer.

DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

(3) An embodiment of the invention is described by way of example and in a non-limiting sense, that the scope of protection shall extend to embodiments other than that described that share the technical solutions claimed herein.

(4) The device that is the subject matter of the invention is meant to optimise spraying operations by adjusting the airflow required in order to avoid product drifting or insufficient product penetration, configuring the sprayer such that each air flow required is obtained in an optimum manner with the resulting savings in energy.

(5) The sprayer used to explain an embodiment of the invention is of the type comprising at least one turbine, a nozzle, at least one deflector directing the air current to an outlet opening, and a series of spray-nozzles for dispensing the product arranged in the area of influence of the outgoing air flow.

(6) In the proposed sprayer, the determination of the necessary air flow is obtained using a processor and considering a number of parameters, and the air flow regulation is carried out by a combination of two elements of the sprayer, in this case the turbine configuration by controlling the position of the turbine vanes and the opening configuration which, acting jointly, provide accurate of the outlet air flow that disperses the product to be sprayed, and optimise energy use.

(7) However, the variation in the outlet air flow is not directly proportional to the variation in the opening size or the variation in the vane position, nor does it follow an arithmetic or geometric progression. Instead, for each required air flow, a specific configuration of the turbine and opening is needed in order for the sprayer to perform optimally.

(8) The intended device comprises:

(9) 1.—Means for determining the correct air flow, which in turn comprise:

(10) a) An information entry system, comprising: a. An interface (18) for manually entering data on the type of crop, treatment, pruning, plant volume per unit area, treatment dose, weather conditions, vehicle speed or spray-nozzle discharge among others. b. Means for retrieving parameters stored in the memory (19). c. Means for obtaining parameters from external sources (20), such as weather data. d. Sensors (21) arranged in the actual sprayer. b) Memory (19) for storing data. c) A processor (16) for running the air flow calculation processes, although in an alternative embodiment the air flow can be determined by consulting a data library. d) Means for retrieving, from the memory (19), data on optimum sprayer configurations for each air flow, although in an alternative embodiment the optimum configuration can be obtained via mathematical calculations.
2.—Turbine with adjustable vanes.
3.—Adjustable opening (3).
4.—Means for adapting the configuration of the sprayer to the configuration considered to be optimum, which comprise: Means for changing the position of the vanes, which in turn comprise: a. Turbine actuator (12). b. Peripheral circular channel (11). c. Vane eccentric shaft (10) d. Turbine transmission (13) Means for changing the size of the openings, which in turn comprise: e. Nozzle actuator (6) f. Nozzle transmission (15)
6.—Means for determining the position of the vanes, comprising position sensors placed on the turbine actuator (12) which are referred to as vane sensors, although in an alternative embodiment it is possible to determine the position of the vanes by a combination of data on their last known position and on the movement of the turbine actuator.
7.—Means for determining the size of the opening, comprising sensors placed on the nozzle actuator (6) which are referred to as opening sensors, although in an alternative embodiment it is possible to determine the size of the opening by a combination of data on their last known position and on the movement of the nozzle actuator.
8.—Means for coordinating the movement of the vanes and the nozzle in order to change the opening size, which comprise: a) A processor (16) for calculating the movement needed to take the vanes and the opening to the optimum configuration based on their initial positions. b) Connections to the actuators (17).

(11) The device comprising the specified elements behaves as follows:

(12) The interface (18) can be a tablet device or smartphone that allows data to be entered, as well as displaying data on the sprayer or the spraying process.

(13) The processor (16) is preferably located on the sprayer, in a protected area.

(14) Also on the sprayer, in a protected area, are the memory (19) for storing information, the means for retrieving from the memory data on the optimum configurations of the device for each air flow, and the means for coordinating the movement of the vanes.

(15) This is not the only option as it is technologically possible to connect several elements so that, for example, the data are stored in the cloud or in a device external to the sprayer, and the microprocessor can be located elsewhere and be connected to the remaining elements.

(16) The interface and the other means for entering information are used to enter the parameters required to calculate the air flow necessary for the specific spraying operation to be performed.

(17) After the processor (16) determines the required air flow, either by consulting a data library or by calculation with the appropriate formulas, the optimum sprayer configuration is calculated, i.e. the position of the vanes (8) which, in combination with the size of the opening (3), provides the desired air flow with the lowest consumption level.

(18) This is done by comparing the values of the required air flow to a configuration library until finding the one that corresponds to the required air flow.

(19) Alternatively, this could also be calculated, although it is considered safer to use data from previously confirmed tests.

(20) After determining the optimum configuration of the sprayer, it is necessary to adapt the sprayer to this configuration, for which the necessary movements are calculated based on the initial configurations of the vanes and nozzle.

(21) The initial positions of the vane and opening are known from the nozzle and turbine sensors, or can be calculated based on the last known position and the movements performed subsequently by the corresponding actuators.

(22) If sensors are used, they will not be placed on the vanes or the nozzle, but instead on the corresponding actuators in order to ensure the correct and lasting calibration thereof.

(23) After calculating the movements to be performed, the means for coordinating the movement of the vanes and nozzle that control the turbine and nozzle actuators will activate them until each reaches the predetermined optimum position.

(24) At any time during the spraying operation, the user can invert the air current to clean leaves and plant remains from the grating of the suction channel.

(25) The air current can be inverted without having to invert the rotation of the turbine, simply by changing the angle of attack of the vanes, which is a considerable advantage.