Large sprinkler with height-adjustable nozzle

Abstract

The invention discloses a large sprinkling machine with adjustable nozzle height. The large sprinkling machine comprises a truss, a nozzle height adjusting system, a crop height pre-measuring device, a nozzle, a main tower vehicle and a nozzle height controller, a plurality of main tower cars are mounted at the bottom end of the truss; the multiple nozzles are connected with the truss through nozzle hoses, and the truss is provided with a nozzle height adjusting system to achieve automatic adjustment of the heights of the nozzles. A crop height pre-measuring device is installed on the truss, in the advancing process of the sprinkling machine, the height of a crop canopy in front is measured in advance, the measuring result is fed back to the spray head height controller, the spray head height controller controls the spray head height adjusting system to act, and real-time spray head height adjustment based on the canopy is achieved. In the running process of the sprinkling machine, the height of the front crop canopy can be judged in real time, the height of the spray head is automatically adjusted through the spray head height adjusting system, and the distance between the spray head and the crop canopy is always kept within the optimal sprinkling range.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of sprinkler irrigation machines, in particular to a large-scale sprinkler irrigation machine with adjustable sprinkler head height. Background Art

[0002] As a modern irrigation technology carrier with a high degree of intensive modern agricultural water-saving and efficient irrigation technology equipment, large-scale sprinkler irrigation machines will play a significant role in the development of intensive and large-scale agricultural production and ecological farmland construction in my country with their advantages of good irrigation quality, wide application range and high degree of automation.

[0003] There are two common large-scale sprinklers: pointer-type large-scale sprinklers and translation-type large-scale sprinklers. Large pointer-type sprinklers are also called center-pivot sprinklers. They are equipped with sprinklers on a bracket that can move automatically. When working, the machine rotates around the center point with a water supply system while sprinkling. Because its movement is like the pointer of a clock, it is called a pointer sprinkler, also known as a center-pivot sprinkler or a circular sprinkler. Large translation-type sprinklers are sprinkler systems composed of branch pipes, sprinklers, travel wheels and trusses, and move in the direction of vertical branch pipes. Its branch pipes are supported on the automatic walking trusses like the hour-pin sprinkler system. But the trusses move in a straight line, sprinkling while walking. Generally, the height of the truss from the ground is usually 2 to 3 meters, and the span of the truss is usually 30 to 65 meters. A sprinkler can be composed of more than 10 spans.

[0004] Farmland irrigated by sprinklers usually adopts a crop rotation method, with different crops replaced every planting season. The production heights of different crops vary greatly. For example, in a wheat-corn rotation farmland, the height of wheat is between 0.6 and 1m, while the height of corn is between 1 and 3m. Due to the low truss and low nozzle, it is difficult for sprinklers to irrigate corn in the past. Figure 1 shown.

[0005] The current sprinkler heads are all at fixed heights, and there are no sprinklers that can automatically adjust the height of the sprinkler heads. In order to adapt to the planting of taller crops such as corn, the overall sprinkler height needs to be increased. When the sprinkler heads are raised, when irrigating short crops such as wheat and in the early stages of crop growth, the time from the irrigation water being sprayed out of the sprinkler heads to the ground is prolonged, which increases the evaporation loss of the irrigation water and reduces the efficiency of irrigation water utilization.

[0006] Therefore, how to improve a large-scale sprinkler with adjustable sprinkler head height has become a technical problem that technicians in this field urgently need to solve. Summary of the invention

[0007] In view of this, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a large-scale sprinkler with adjustable nozzle height, which can realize real-time judgment of the height of the crop canopy in front during the operation of the sprinkler, and use the nozzle height adjustment system to realize automatic adjustment of the nozzle height, so that the distance between the nozzle and the crop canopy is always maintained within the optimal spraying range.

[0008] The present invention solves the technical problem by adopting the following technical solution:

[0009] A large-scale sprinkler with adjustable sprinkler head height, comprising: a truss, a sprinkler head height adjustment system, a crop height pre-measurement device, a sprinkler head, a main tower vehicle and a sprinkler head height controller;

[0010] Among them, multiple main tower cars are installed at the bottom end of the truss; multiple sprinklers are connected to the truss through sprinkler hoses respectively, and a sprinkler height adjustment system is installed on the truss to realize automatic adjustment of the sprinkler height; a crop height pre-measurement device is installed on the truss. During the movement of the sprinkler, the height of the crop canopy in front is measured in advance, and the measurement result is fed back to the sprinkler height controller. The sprinkler height controller controls the action of the sprinkler height adjustment system to realize real-time adjustment of the sprinkler height based on the canopy.

[0011] Furthermore, the nozzle height adjustment system includes a driving mechanism, a slide rail and a length adjustment mechanism; the slide rail is installed on the truss through a fixed rod, the driving mechanism is installed at one end of the slide rail, and the driving mechanism is respectively connected to multiple groups of length adjustment mechanisms for driving the length adjustment mechanism to move horizontally along the slide rail, and the nozzle hose is wrapped around the length adjustment mechanism.

[0012] Furthermore, the driving mechanism includes a stepping motor, a reduction gear and a lead screw; the output shaft of the stepping motor is transmission-connected to the lead screw via the reduction gear.

[0013] Furthermore, each group of the length adjustment mechanism includes a slider, a movable pulley, two fixed pulleys and a nozzle counterweight; the lead screw passes through the slider and cooperates with the slider thread, one side of the slider is slidably set on the slide rail, and the other side is fixedly connected to the movable pulley, and the two fixed pulleys are installed on the upper and lower sides of the truss through a fixing rod, one end of the nozzle hose is connected to the truss, and the other end is connected to the nozzle by bypassing the fixed pulley, the movable pulley, and the fixed pulley in turn, and a nozzle counterweight is installed at the position of the nozzle hose close to the nozzle.

[0014] Furthermore, the length adjustment mechanism also includes a low limit switch and a high limit switch, and the low limit switch and the high limit switch are both installed on the slide rail and located on both sides of the movable pulley.

[0015] Furthermore, the crop height prediction device includes a camera and an image processing module. The camera is provided with a first camera and a second camera. The first camera and the second camera are electrically connected to the image processing module respectively. The first camera and the second camera send the collected canopy image in front of the sprinkler to the image processing module, and the canopy height is obtained through calculation and processing of the image processing module.

[0016] Furthermore, the nozzle height controller includes a main control chip, a stepper motor drive unit and a position control unit; the image processing module, the stepper motor drive unit and the position control unit are all communicatively connected to the main control chip; the image processing module sends the canopy height data to the main control chip, the main control chip controls the operation of the stepper motor through the stepper motor drive unit, and the position control unit controls the position of the movable pulley by recording the number of rotations of the stepper motor.

[0017] Beneficial effects of the present invention:

[0018] The large-scale sprinkler with adjustable nozzle height of the present invention can adjust the nozzle height in real time according to the height of the crop canopy during operation, so that a certain relative height is always maintained between the nozzle and the crop canopy. This not only meets the demand for sprinkler irrigation of tall crops such as corn, but also reduces the distance that irrigation water falls to the ground during the seedling stage of the crops, thereby reducing evaporation losses.

[0019] The present invention adopts a first camera and a second camera with different shooting angles to simultaneously obtain the canopy image in front of the sprinkler, and obtains the height of the canopy in front through image processing. Compared with the method of vertically obtaining the height of the canopy below, this method can predict the height of the crop canopy in front, thereby making the adjustment of the sprinkler height faster and more accurate. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the spraying range when the spraying distance is too close;

[0021] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the spraying range of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the local structure of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 5 This is a working principle diagram of the crop height prediction device of the present invention.

[0025] Among them, in the figure:

[0026] 1-truss; 2-nozzle height adjustment system; 3-crop height pre-measurement device; 4-nozzle; 5-main tower car; 6-nozzle height controller; 7-nozzle hose; 8-stepping motor; 9-reduction gear; 10-screw; 11-slider; 12-movable pulley; 13-fixed pulley; 14-nozzle counterweight; 15-low limit switch; 16-high limit switch; 17-image processing module; 18-first camera; 19-second camera; 20-fixed rod. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solution in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0028] Considering that the height of crops increases continuously during their growth process, the distance between the sprinkler head and the crops changes continuously. When the sprinkler head is too close to the crops, the spray distance of the sprinkler head is affected, resulting in a decrease in the uniformity of sprinkler irrigation. Therefore, the present invention aims to achieve an ideal sprinkler irrigation state, such as Figure 2 As shown, the ideal sprinkler irrigation state is that when the crops grow to a certain height, the sprinkler head always maintains a constant distance from the crop canopy for irrigation, which can ensure the uniformity of sprinkler irrigation and reduce the evaporation of water during the sprinkler irrigation process.

[0029] refer to Figure 3 The present invention provides a large-scale sprinkler with adjustable sprinkler head height, comprising: a truss 1, a sprinkler head height adjustment system 2, a crop height pre-measurement device 3, a sprinkler head 4, a main tower vehicle 5 and a sprinkler head height controller 6;

[0030] Among them, multiple main tower vehicles 5 are installed at the bottom end of the truss 1; multiple sprinklers 4 are connected to the truss 1 through sprinkler hoses 7 respectively, and a sprinkler height adjustment system 2 is installed on the truss 1 to realize automatic adjustment of the sprinkler height; a crop height prediction device 3 is installed on the truss 1. During the movement of the sprinkler, the height of the crop canopy in front is measured in advance, and the measurement result is fed back to the sprinkler height controller 6. The sprinkler height controller 6 controls the action of the sprinkler height adjustment system 2 to realize real-time adjustment of the sprinkler height based on the canopy.

[0031] The large sprinkler with adjustable nozzle height of the present invention realizes automatic adjustment of nozzle height by using a nozzle height adjustment system capable of adjusting the nozzle hose length. The crop height pre-measurement device is used to measure the height of the crop canopy to be irrigated in front of the sprinkler. The nozzle height control target is calculated by using a nozzle height controller, and finally the nozzle height is automatically adjusted by using the nozzle height adjustment system, so as to realize that the nozzle and the crop canopy always maintain an optimal distance for different crop varieties, different growth periods and different growth conditions.

[0032] refer to Figure 4 The nozzle height adjustment system 2 includes a driving mechanism, a slide rail and a length adjustment mechanism; the slide rail is installed on the truss 1 through a fixing rod 20, the driving mechanism is installed at one end of the slide rail, and the driving mechanism is respectively connected to multiple groups of length adjustment mechanisms for driving the length adjustment mechanism to move horizontally along the slide rail, and the nozzle hose 7 is wound around the length adjustment mechanism.

[0033] The driving mechanism comprises a stepping motor 8 , a reduction gear 9 and a lead screw 10 ; the output shaft of the stepping motor 8 is drivingly connected to the lead screw 10 via the reduction gear 9 .

[0034] Each set of the length adjustment mechanism includes a slider 11, a movable pulley 12, two fixed pulleys 13 and a nozzle counterweight 14; the lead screw 10 passes through the slider 11 and is threadedly matched with the slider 11, one side of the slider 11 is slidably set on the slide rail, and the other side is fixedly connected to the movable pulley 12, and the two fixed pulleys 13 are installed on the upper and lower sides of the truss 1 through a fixed rod 20, one end of the nozzle hose 7 is connected to the truss 1, and the other end is connected to the nozzle 4 by passing through the fixed pulley 13, the movable pulley 12, and the fixed pulley 13 in sequence, and the nozzle counterweight 14 is installed at the position of the nozzle hose 7 near the nozzle 4. The nozzle height adjustment system uses the rotation of the lead screw to drive the slider installed on the lead screw to move back and forth to realize the movement of the movable pulley position. The rotation of the lead screw is controlled by a stepping motor passing through a reduction gear. Multiple sets of length adjustment mechanisms can be installed on one lead screw to control the adjustment of multiple nozzle heights at the same time.

[0035] The nozzle height adjustment system adjusts the nozzle height by controlling the bending of the nozzle hose. The bending of the nozzle hose is achieved through two fixed pulleys and a movable pulley that can move back and forth with the slide rail. The nozzle hose is wound around the fixed pulley and the movable pulley to form an S-shaped bend. By adjusting the position of the movable pulley, the bending degree of the nozzle hose is adjusted, and the nozzle height is adjusted. A nozzle counterweight is installed above the nozzle. When the movable pulley and the fixed pulley are close to each other, the gravity of the nozzle counterweight is used to stretch the nozzle and lower the height of the nozzle.

[0036] To further optimize the technical solution, the length adjustment mechanism also includes a low limit switch 15 and a high limit switch 16, which are both installed on the slide rail and located on both sides of the movable pulley 12. The low limit switch and the high limit switch serve as the starting point for the movable pulley movement control and safety protection. The sprinkler height controller first initializes the movable pulley movement process, runs the movable pulley to the low limit, and serves as the starting point for sprinkler height control. By obtaining the crop height data in front of the sprinkler calculated by the crop height prediction device, the number of rotations of the stepper motor is calculated to control the up and down movement of the sprinkler.

[0037] The method for controlling the nozzle height of the present invention can calculate the direction and number of revolutions that the stepper motor needs to rotate by using Formula 1, and can be realized by controlling the rotation of the stepper motor by a stepper motor drive unit.

[0038]

[0039] Wherein, k is the number of revolutions required, when k is a positive number, it is forward rotation, when it is a negative number, it is reverse rotation; h1 is the height of the current sprinkler head from the ground; h is the measured canopy height in front; h' is the distance between the sprinkler head and the crop canopy; s is the pitch of the screw.

[0040] refer to Figure 5 The crop height prediction device 3 includes a camera and an image processing module 17. The camera is provided with a first camera 18 and a second camera 19. The first camera 18 and the second camera 19 are electrically connected to the image processing module 17 respectively. The first camera 18 and the second camera 19 send the collected canopy image in front of the sprinkler to the image processing module 17, and the canopy height is obtained through calculation and processing by the image processing module 17.

[0041] The nozzle height controller 6 includes a main control chip, a stepper motor drive unit and a position control unit; the image processing module 17, the stepper motor drive unit and the position control unit are all connected to the main control chip for communication; the image processing module 17 sends the canopy height data to the main control chip, the main control chip controls the stepper motor 8 through the stepper motor drive unit, and the position control unit controls the position of the movable pulley 12 by recording the number of revolutions of the stepper motor.

[0042] The first camera and the second camera in the crop height prediction device of the present invention simultaneously capture the canopy image in front of the sprinkler, and the image processing module calculates and processes the canopy height in the following way: using one of the photos as a reference for judgment, obtaining the length of the longitudinal overlap between the other photo and the reference image by image feature adaptation, and calculating the ratio of the overlapped part to the non-overlapped part in the reference image. The canopy height in front of the sprinkler is calculated by the following method:

[0043] Assume that the height of the first camera from the farmland ground is H, the distance from the crop canopy is h1, the shooting angle with the ground is θ1, and the distance from the second camera to the crop canopy is h1+h c ,h c is the vertical distance between the first camera and the second camera, the angle between the second camera and the ground is θ2, and the viewing angles of the two cameras in the forward direction of the sprinkler are both θ. Then, the distance S1 between the first camera position and the near end of the image, the distance S2 between the first camera position and the far end of the image, and the distance S3 between the second camera position and the near end of the image can be obtained by formula (2), formula (3) and formula (4).

[0044] S1=h1tanθ1 (2)

[0045] S2=h1tan(θ1+θ) (3)

[0046] S3=(h1+h c )tanθ2 (4)

[0047] The ratio of the non-overlapping portion of the photo taken by the first camera to the overlapping portion of the photo taken by the second camera is k, and formula (5) can be obtained.

[0048]

[0049] Substituting S2, S2, and S2 into formula (5), we can get the calculation formula (6) for h1, and the crop canopy height h can be calculated using formula (7).

[0050]

[0051]

[0052] The large sprinkler with adjustable nozzle height of the present invention can adjust the nozzle height in real time according to the height of the crop canopy during operation, so that a certain relative height is always maintained between the nozzle and the crop canopy, thereby satisfying the needs of sprinkler irrigation of tall crops such as corn, and reducing the distance of irrigation water falling to the ground during the seedling stage of the crop, thereby reducing evaporation loss. The present invention uses a first camera and a second camera with two different shooting angles to simultaneously obtain the canopy image in front of the sprinkler, and obtains the height of the canopy in front through image processing. Compared with the method of vertically obtaining the height of the canopy below, this method can predict the height of the crop canopy in front, thereby making the adjustment of the nozzle height faster and more accurate.

[0053] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or make equivalent replacements for some of the technical features therein. However, these modifications or replacements do not deviate the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A large-scale sprinkler with adjustable sprinkler head height, characterized in that: include: Truss (1), nozzle height adjustment system (2), crop height pre-measurement device (3), nozzle (4), main tower vehicle (5) and nozzle height controller (6); A plurality of main tower vehicles (5) are installed at the bottom end of the truss (1); a plurality of sprinklers (4) are connected to the truss (1) through sprinkler hoses (7), respectively; a sprinkler height adjustment system (2) is installed on the truss (1) to achieve automatic adjustment of the sprinkler height; a crop height prediction device (3) is installed on the truss (1) to measure the crop canopy height ahead in advance during the movement of the sprinkler, and to feed back the measurement result to the sprinkler height controller (6); the sprinkler height controller (6) controls the sprinkler height adjustment system (2) to achieve real-time adjustment of the sprinkler height based on the canopy.

2. A large-scale sprinkler with adjustable sprinkler head height according to claim 1, characterized in that: The nozzle height adjustment system (2) comprises a driving mechanism, a slide rail and a length adjustment mechanism; the slide rail is mounted on the truss (1) via a fixing rod (20); the driving mechanism is mounted on one end of the slide rail, and the driving mechanism is respectively connected to a plurality of groups of length adjustment mechanisms for driving the length adjustment mechanisms to move horizontally along the slide rail; the nozzle hose (7) is wound around the length adjustment mechanism.

3. A large-scale sprinkler with adjustable sprinkler head height according to claim 2, characterized in that: The driving mechanism comprises a stepping motor (8), a reduction gear (9) and a lead screw (10); the output shaft of the stepping motor (8) is transmission-connected to the lead screw (10) via the reduction gear (9).

4. A large-scale sprinkler with adjustable sprinkler head height according to claim 3, characterized in that: Each set of the length adjustment mechanism comprises a slider (11), a movable pulley (12), two fixed pulleys (13) and a nozzle counterweight (14); the lead screw (10) passes through the slider (11) and is threadedly engaged with the slider (11); one side of the slider (11) is slidably arranged on a slide rail, and the other side is fixedly connected to the movable pulley (12); the two fixed pulleys (13) are mounted on the upper and lower sides of the truss (1) through a fixing rod (20); one end of the nozzle hose (7) is connected to the truss (1), and the other end is connected to the nozzle (4) by passing through the fixed pulley (13), the movable pulley (12), and the fixed pulley (13) in sequence; and a nozzle counterweight (14) is mounted on the nozzle hose (7) at a position close to the nozzle (4).

5. A large-scale sprinkler with adjustable sprinkler head height according to claim 4, characterized in that: The length adjustment mechanism further comprises a low limit switch (15) and a high limit switch (16), wherein the low limit switch (15) and the high limit switch (16) are both mounted on the slide rail and located on both sides of the movable pulley (12).

6. A large-scale sprinkler with adjustable sprinkler head height according to claim 5, characterized in that: The crop height prediction device (3) comprises a camera and an image processing module (17), wherein the camera is provided with a first camera (18) and a second camera (19), wherein the first camera (18) and the second camera (19) are electrically connected to the image processing module (17) respectively, and wherein the first camera (18) and the second camera (19) send the collected canopy image in front of the sprinkler to the image processing module (17), and the canopy height is obtained through calculation and processing by the image processing module (17).

7. A large-scale sprinkler with adjustable sprinkler head height according to claim 6, characterized in that: The nozzle height controller (6) comprises a main control chip, a stepper motor drive unit and a position control unit; the image processing module (17), the stepper motor drive unit and the position control unit are all connected to the main control chip for communication; the image processing module (17) sends the canopy height data to the main control chip, the main control chip controls the stepper motor (8) to work via the stepper motor drive unit, and the position control unit controls the position of the movable pulley (12) by recording the number of revolutions of the stepper motor.

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