METHOD FOR A SPRAY DEVICE

Abstract

A method for monitoring and/or adjusting an active agent concentration in a spray liquid to be deployed via a spray device for agricultural purposes, an active agent and a carrier liquid being fed to a mixing unit of the spray device in order to blend the spray liquid. The method includes: receiving a first property signal including a piece of property information of the blended spray liquid detected using a first sensor unit, to ascertain an actual value of the property information of the spray liquid; receiving a second property signal including the piece of property information of the supplied carrier liquid detected using a second sensor unit of the spray device to ascertain a base value of the property information of the carrier liquid; and outputting an information signal to a display unit and/or a control signal to a delivery unit of the spray device.

Claims

1-17. (canceled)

18. A method for monitoring and/or adjusting an active agent concentration in a spray liquid to be deployed using a spray device, for agricultural purposes, an active agent and a carrier liquid being supplied to a mixing unit of the spray device to blend the spray liquid, the method comprising the following steps: receiving a first property signal including a piece of property information of the blended spray liquid detected using a first sensor unit, to ascertain an actual value of the property information of the spray liquid, an active agent concentration in the spray liquid being ascertainable using the property information; receiving a second property signal including a piece of property information of the supplied carrier liquid detected using a second sensor unit of the spray device, to ascertain a base value of the property information of the carrier liquid; and outputting an information signal to a display unit and/or a control signal to a delivery unit of the spray device, the information signal and/or the control signal being output as a function of the ascertained actual value of the property information of the spray liquid, and as a function of the ascertained base value of the property information of the carrier liquid, to monitor and/or to adjust the active agent concentration in the blended spray liquid.

19. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising the following step: receiving a third property signal including property information of the supplied active agent detected using a third sensor unit of spray device, to ascertain a base value of the property information of the active agent and to monitor and/or adjust the active agent concentration in the blended spray liquid further as a function of the base value of the property information of the active agent.

20. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the step of outputting the information signal to the display unit and/or the control signal to the delivery unit is carried out regardless of an active agent concentration in the carrier liquid.

21. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the step of outputting the information signal to the display unit and/or the control signal to the delivery unit is carried out under an assumption that the carrier liquid contains no active agent.

22. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein in the step of outputting the information signal and/or the control signal, the actual value of the property information of the spray liquid is compared with a setpoint value of the property information of the spray liquid, and the outputting of the information signal to the display unit and/or the control signal to the delivery unit is a function of the comparison.

23. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein the setpoint value of the property information of the spray liquid is ascertained as a function of the base value of the property information of the carrier liquid and as a function of a predefined setpoint value of the active agent concentration in the spray liquid.

24. The method as recited in claim 23, wherein the setpoint value of the property information of the spray liquid is further ascertained as a function of the base value of the property information of the active agent.

25. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein the actual value and/or the setpoint value of the property information of the spray liquid is ascertained using a temperature of the spray liquid detected using the first sensor unit and/or the base value of the property information of the carrier liquid is ascertained using a temperature of the carrier liquid detected using the second sensor and/or the base value of the property information of the active agent is ascertained using a temperature of the active agent detected using the third sensor unit.

26. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the delivery unit includes a liquid delivery unit which is configured to feed the carrier liquid from a liquid tank to the mixing unit in a defined manner, and an active agent delivery unit which is configured to feed the active agent from an active agent tank to the mixing unit in a metered manner, to adjust the active agent concentration in the blended spray liquid.

27. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the actual value of the property information of the spray liquid located in a spray liquid tank situated downstream from the mixing unit is ascertained, the blended spray liquid being deployed from the spray liquid tank.

28. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein in the outputting step, the control signal is output to the delivery unit, the delivery unit being overridden in a targeted manner to more rapidly adjust the active agent concentration in the spray liquid located in the spray liquid tank.

29. The method as recited in claim 28, wherein an additional actual value of the property information of the spray liquid located in front of the spray liquid tank is further ascertained, the active agent concentration in the spray liquid o be deployed being adjusted further as a function of the additional actual value of the property information.

30. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the detected pieces of property information include one of more of the following: an electrical property including electrical conductivity or permittivity, a visual property, an absorption property, an emission property, fluorescence, a sound velocity.

31. A control unit configured to monitor and/or adjust an active agent concentration in a spray liquid to be deployed using a spray device, for agricultural purposes, an active agent and a carrier liquid being supplied to a mixing unit of the spray device to blend the spray liquid, the control device configured to: receive a first property signal including a piece of property information of the blended spray liquid detected using a first sensor unit, to ascertain an actual value of the property information of the spray liquid, an active agent concentration in the spray liquid being ascertainable using the property information; receive a second property signal including a piece of property information of the supplied carrier liquid detected using a second sensor unit of the spray device, to ascertain a base value of the property information of the carrier liquid; and output an information signal to a display unit and/or a control signal to a delivery unit of the spray device, the information signal and/or the control signal being output as a function of the ascertained actual value of the property information of the spray liquid, and as a function of the ascertained base value of the property information of the carrier liquid, to monitor and/or to adjust the active agent concentration in the blended spray liquid.

32. A spray device for deploying a spray liquid for agricultural purposes, comprising: a mixing unit configured to blend a spray liquid from a carrier liquid supplied to the mixing unit using a liquid delivery unit, and an active agent supplied using an active agent delivery unit; a first sensor unit configured to detect a piece of property information of the blended spray liquid, an active agent concentration in the spray liquid being ascertainable using the property information; a second sensor unit configured to detect a piece of property information of the supplied carrier liquid; and a control unit configured to monitor and/or adjust the active agent concentration in the spray liquid to be deployed, the control device configured to: receive a first property signal including the piece of property information of the blended spray liquid detected using the first sensor unit, to ascertain an actual value of the property information of the spray liquid; receive a second property signal including the piece of property information of the supplied carrier liquid detected using the second sensor unit of the spray device, to ascertain a base value of the property information of the carrier liquid; and output an information signal to a display unit and/or a control signal to the delivery unit of the spray device, the information signal and/or the control signal being output as a function of the ascertained actual value of the property information of the spray liquid, and as a function of the ascertained base value of the property information of the carrier liquid, to monitor and/or to adjust the active agent concentration in the blended spray liquid.

33. A non-transitory machine-readable memory medium on which is stored a computer program for monitoring and/or adjusting an active agent concentration in a spray liquid to be deployed using a spray device, for agricultural purposes, an active agent and a carrier liquid being supplied to a mixing unit of the spray device to blend the spray liquid, the computer program, when executed by a computer, causing the computer to perform the following steps: receiving a first property signal including a piece of property information of the blended spray liquid detected using a first sensor unit, to ascertain an actual value of the property information of the spray liquid, an active agent concentration in the spray liquid being ascertainable using the property information; receiving a second property signal including a piece of property information of the supplied carrier liquid detected using a second sensor unit of the spray device, to ascertain a base value of the property information of the carrier liquid; and outputting an information signal to a display unit and/or a control signal to a delivery unit of the spray device, the information signal and/or the control signal being output as a function of the ascertained actual value of the property information of the spray liquid, and as a function of the ascertained base value of the property information of the carrier liquid, to monitor and/or to adjust the active agent concentration in the blended spray liquid.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0055] The present invention is explained by way of example in greater detail below with reference to the figures.

[0056] FIG. 1 schematically shows a representation of one exemplary embodiment of the spray device.

[0057] FIG. 2 schematically shows a representation of the control unit.

[0058] FIG. 3 shows a diagram of the active agent concentration profile when the pumps are overridden.

[0059] FIG. 4 shows a flow chart of a method for monitoring and/or adjusting the active agent concentration.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

[0060] In the following description of preferred exemplary embodiments of the present invention, identical or similar reference numerals are used for elements which are represented in the various figures and act similarly, a repeated description of the elements being omitted.

[0061] A schematic representation of a spray device is depicted in FIG. 1, which is provided in its entirety with reference numeral 10.

[0062] Spray device 10 includes a liquid tank 12 including a carrier liquid 14 and an active agent tank 16 including an active agent 18. Carrier liquid 14 is water 14.

[0063] Spray device 10 further includes a static mixing unit 20. Static mixing unit 20 is fluidically connected to liquid tank 12 via a liquid line 22. A liquid delivery unit 24 is situated in liquid line 22 in order to be able to feed or conduct carrier liquid 14 to static mixing unit 20. Liquid delivery unit 24 in this case includes a delivery pump 26 and a volumetric flow meter 28. Similarly, static mixing unit 20 is further connected to active agent tank 16 via an active agent line 30. In turn, an active agent delivery unit 32 is situated in active agent line 30, in order to be able to feed or conduct active agent 18 to static mixing unit 20. Acting agent delivery unit 32 in this case includes a metering pump 34. Accordingly, active agent 18 is intermixed with carrier liquid 14 with the aid of static mixing unit 20 to form a spray liquid 36.

[0064] In order to achieve a greater metering bandwidth with a higher metering accuracy, a spray liquid tank 40 is situated in a spray liquid line 38 downstream from static mixing unit 20. Spray liquid tank 40 in this case is designed as a buffer tank 40. Spray liquid tank 40 or buffer tank 40 is situated and designed in such a way that spray liquid 36 is poured from static mixing unit 20 into spray liquid tank 40, in order to then be conducted from spray liquid tank 40 to a nozzle system 42 including spray nozzle units 44. Each of spray nozzle units 44 includes a spray nozzle 46 for deploying spray liquid 36 and a valve 48 for controlling or regulating the deployed quantity of spray liquid.

[0065] To adjust the spray pressure at the spray nozzle units 44, spray device 10 further includes a spray liquid delivery unit 50, which is designed to feed spray liquid 36 from spray liquid tank 40 under pressure or under a defined pressure to nozzle system 42, or to spray nozzle units 44. Spray liquid delivery unit 50 in this case includes a constant pressure source including a pump 52.

[0066] In order to then be able to monitor and/or adjust the active agent concentration in spray liquid 36, spray device 10 further includes a first sensor unit 54, a second sensor unit 56 and a third sensor unit 58 and a control unit 60. First sensor unit 54 is situated in spray liquid line 38 downstream from mixing unit 20. First sensor unit 54 is designed in this case to detect a piece of property information of blended spray liquid 36. Second sensor unit 56 is situated in liquid line 22 downstream from liquid tank 12. Second sensor unit 56 is designed in this case to detect a piece of property information of carrier liquid 14. Third sensor unit 58 is situated in active agent line 30 downstream from active agent tank 16. Third sensor unit 58 is designed in this case to detect a piece of property information of active agent 18. In FIG. 2, it is explained below how the monitoring and adjustment or regulation of the active agent concentration with the aid of control unit 60 takes place.

[0067] As is more readily apparent from FIG. 2, control unit 60 is configured to receive a first property signal 62 including a piece of property information 64 of spray liquid 36 detected with the aid of first sensor unit 54 of spray device 10. Control unit 60 is further configured to receive a second property signal 66 including a piece of property information 68 of carrier liquid detected with the aid of second sensor unit 56. Control unit 60 is also configured to receive a third property signal 70 including a piece of property information 72 of active agent 18 detected with the aid of third sensor unit 58 of spray device 10. The pieces of property information 64, 68, 72 in this case each include an electrical conductivity and a temperature. Accordingly, sensor units 54, 56, 58 each include one sensor for detecting the electrical conductivity and one sensor for detecting the temperature. Control unit 60 is also configured to output an information signal 74 to a display unit 76 and a control signal 78 to delivery unit 24, 32 as a function of the pieces of property information 64, 68, 72, in order to monitor and/or adjust the active agent concentration in spray liquid 36. In this case, control unit 60 is configured to carry out the calculations with the aid of a processing unit 80 and to activate delivery units 24, 32 accordingly. Control unit 60 further includes a memory unit 82 for storing the values of the pieces of property information 64, 68, 72.

[0068] FIG. 3 shows the active agent concentration profile in the case of a defined overriding of delivery units 24, 32 for adjusting the active agent concentration in spray liquid 36 in spray liquid tank 40. The active agent concentration is represented in % (y-axis) over time units (x-axis), dashed line 84 representing the setpoint active agent concentration and line 86 representing the adjusted active agent concentration of spray liquid 36 in spray liquid tank 40. In the example shown, spray liquid tank 40 is filled within 20 time units, the desired final concentration of 0.01% being achieved already after 11 time units.

[0069] FIG. 4 shows a flow chart of a method 100 for monitoring and/or adjusting an active agent concentration in a spray liquid 36 to be deployed with the aid of a spray device 10, in particular, for agricultural purposes, an active agent 18 and a carrier liquid 14 being fed to a mixing unit 20 of spray device 10 in order to blend spray liquid 36. Method 100 includes a step 102 of receiving a first property signal 62 including a piece of property information 64 of blended spray liquid 36 detected with the aid of a first sensor unit 54 of spray device 10, in order to ascertain an actual value of property information 64 of spray liquid 36, an active agent concentration in spray liquid 36 being ascertainable using property information 64. Method 100 also includes a step 104 of receiving a second property signal 66 including property information 68 of supplied carrier liquid 14 detected with the aid of a second sensor unit 56 of spray device 10, in order to ascertain a base value of property information 68 of carrier liquid 14. Finally, method 100 includes a step 108 of outputting an information signal 74 to a display unit 76 and/or a control signal 78 to a delivery unit 24, 32 of spray device 10 as a function of the ascertained base value of property information 68 of carrier liquid 14, in order to monitor and/or adjust the active agent concentration in blended spray liquid 36. Method 100 optionally also includes a step 106 of receiving a third property signal 70 including property information 72 of supplied active agent 18 detected with the aid of a third sensor unit 58 of spray device 10, in order to ascertain a base value of property information 72 of active agent 18, and further to monitor and/or adjust the active agent concentration in blended spray liquid 36 as a function of the base value of property information 72 of active agent 18

[0070] If an exemplary embodiment includes an and/or linkage between a first feature and a second feature, this is to be read in the sense that the exemplary embodiment according to one specific embodiment includes both the first feature and the second feature, and according to another specific embodiment, either only the first feature or only the second feature.