Agricultural chemical spray work vehicle

Abstract

To provide an agricultural chemical spray work vehicle that sprays agricultural chemical widely by a spray device mounted in a travel vehicle body, the agricultural chemical spray work vehicle being capable of reducing deviation of agricultural chemical spray density caused by wind blown in an agricultural field.SOLUTION: In an agricultural chemical spray work vehicle, a spray device 16 that sprays mist of agricultural chemical is mounted in a vehicle body 1. A wind direction and speed meter 46 that detects wind blown around the vehicle body 1 is provided. A spray intensity of the spray device 16 and a travel speed of the vehicle body 1 are controlled according to the wind direction and the wind intensity detected by the wind direction and speed meter 46.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a pesticide spraying vehicle for spraying pesticides on farmland. [Background technology]

[0002] As described in Patent No. 4192474, a pesticide spraying vehicle is equipped with a spraying device on the traveling vehicle body, and performs pest control work by spraying pesticides on crops while traveling within farmland. When the spray width and spray concentration are set, this pesticide spraying vehicle displays the optimal traveling speed, and when traveling at that speed, it is possible to spray at the desired spray concentration. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 4192474 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, wind blows in agricultural fields, and when sprayed, the mist of pesticide tends to be carried away by the wind, resulting in a high spray density downwind.

[0005] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to reduce bias in pesticide spray density caused by wind blowing across farmland in a pesticide spraying vehicle that widely sprays pesticides using a spraying device mounted on the running vehicle body. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The above object of the present invention can be achieved by the following technical means.

[0007] The invention of claim 1 is a pesticide spraying vehicle having a spray device 16 mounted on a vehicle body 1 for spraying pesticide in a mist form, characterized in that a wind vane anemometer 46 is provided for detecting the wind blowing around the vehicle body 1, and the spray intensity of the spray device 16 and the traveling speed of the vehicle body 1 are controlled based on the wind direction and wind strength detected by the anemometer 46.

[0008] The invention of claim 2 is directed to the agricultural chemical spraying vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that the traveling speed is increased when the anemometer 46 detects a headwind, and the traveling speed is decreased when the anemometer 46 detects a tailwind.

[0009] The invention of claim 3 is a pesticide spraying work vehicle equipped with a spraying device 16 on the vehicle body 1 that sprays pesticide by extending side booms 44, 44 with spray nozzles 45 on the left and right sides of the vehicle body 1, characterized in that when wind is detected to the left or right of the vehicle body 1, the upwind side boom 44 reduces the amount of pesticide sprayed or dilutes the concentration of the pesticide.

[0010] The invention of claim 4 is directed to the agricultural chemical spraying vehicle according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that the wind vane and anemometer 46 is a LIDAR sensor 63. Effect of the Invention

[0011] In the invention of claim 1, the pesticide sprayed from the spraying device 16 tends to be blown away by the wind blowing around the vehicle body 1 and flow in large amounts downwind, but by detecting the direction and strength of the wind with an anemometer 46 and controlling the spray intensity of the spraying device 16 or the traveling speed of the vehicle body 1 so that the sprayed pesticide is uniform, the concentration of the sprayed pesticide on the downwind side can be prevented from becoming high, and the spray density can be made uniform.

[0012] In the invention of claim 2, if the wind blowing around the vehicle body 1 is a headwind, the traveling speed is increased to prevent the pesticide from flowing too far to the rear of the vehicle body 1, and if the wind is a tailwind, the traveling speed is decreased to prevent the pesticide from flowing too far to the front of the vehicle body 1, thereby making the concentration of the pesticide sprayed uniform.

[0013] In the invention of claim 3, in a pesticide spraying vehicle that sprays by extending side booms 44, 44 with spray nozzles 45 on the left and right sides of the vehicle body 1, when wind is blowing left or right relative to the vehicle body 1, the amount of pesticide sprayed on the upwind side is reduced or the pesticide concentration is diluted, so that the concentration of sprayed pesticide on the downwind side does not become too high.

[0014] In the invention of claim 4, if the wind direction and speed meter is a lidar sensor 63, it detects the density and distance of the pesticide sprayed in mist form, making it easier to control the spraying method appropriately and reliably making the concentration of the sprayed pesticide uniform. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a side view of a chemical spraying work vehicle according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of the chemical spraying vehicle. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of the main controller and pest control machine controller of the chemical spraying vehicle. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 shows a side view of a chemical spraying vehicle with a chemical spraying device attached to the front, and Fig. 2 shows a plan view of the chemical spraying device. In this specification, the left and right directions when facing the forward direction of the chemical spraying vehicle are referred to as left and right, respectively.

[0017] The body 1 of the chemical spraying work vehicle supports an axle housing that mounts the front wheels 12 and rear wheels 13 in a rolling manner. The front wheels 12 are steered by rotating a steering wheel 14 supported by a handle post 59, and the vehicle is driven by an engine (not shown) under a bonnet 15. A chemical tank 18 is detachably mounted on the body 1 and is formed to surround both the left and right sides of the rear of the driver's seat 17, and a pest control pump 20 is provided below the driver's seat 17 of the body 1 for pressure-feeding the chemical liquid in the chemical tank 18 to a spraying boom 19 provided at the front.

[0018] A recess S large enough for one operator to get on and off is provided on the left side of the liquid tank 18, which is located below the left side of the cockpit 17 and above the floor 54, and a tank-side step 50 is provided on the bottom surface of the recess S. A machine-side step 53 is provided below the outer side of the tank-side step 50. The machine-side step 53 is located such that an upper surface 53A is at approximately the same height as the floor 54 and the bottom surface of the liquid tank 18.

[0019] Below the machine-side step 53, a ladder member 55 is provided suspended from the floor 54. The ladder member 55 has any number of steps, for example, two steps. The ladder member 55, the machine-side step 53, and the tank-side step 50 are arranged at a predetermined interval. With this configuration, the operator can safely and easily reach and enter the cockpit 17 by climbing up the steps of the ladder member 55, the machine-side step 53, and the tank-side step 50, in that order.

[0020] A gate-shaped safety frame 62 is provided behind the driver's seat 17 when viewed from above, and a LIDAR sensor 63 is provided on the upper part of the frame to monitor the surroundings of the vehicle body 1 and detect the spraying direction and concentration distribution of the pesticide sprayed from the spraying device 16. Since the LIDAR sensor 63 is provided in a high position on the vehicle body 1, it can detect the direction and wind strength of the sprayed pesticide blown by the wind blowing around the vehicle body 1. Note that since the LIDAR sensor 63 is expensive, the wind direction and speed may also be measured with a thermal anemometer or vane anemometer.

[0021] In a self-propelled chemical spraying vehicle that has a chemical tank 18 mounted on the floor 54 of the vehicle, the chemical tank 18 protrudes forward to the vicinity of the vehicle's dash panel 56. The chemical tank 18 also has a roughly U-shaped structure that completely encloses the operator's feet when viewed from above. This structure increases the tank capacity without increasing the height of the chemical tank 18, and ensures visibility when reversing. In addition, by lengthening the chemical tank 18 forward, the movement of the vehicle's center of gravity caused by the displacement of the water volume in the chemical tank is kept small, stabilizing the vehicle's balance during chemical spraying operations and improving driving performance, and preventing the vehicle from tilting backward and sinking.

[0022] In addition, although the upper surface of the liquid chemical tank 18 is illustrated in FIG. 2 as being substantially U-shaped, it is not limited thereto and may be any shape as long as it has a tank step. The shape of the tip of the liquid chemical tank 18 is formed so as to be in close contact with the inclined portion 51 that is curved so as to rise upward at the front of the floor 54. Therefore, the liquid chemical tank 18 can be moved from the rear to the front and stopped by matching it with the inclined portion 51. This structure can prevent interference between the tire and the liquid chemical tank 18 due to the lateral swing of the front wheel 12, etc., and can improve the contact of the liquid chemical tank 18 with the floor 54 of the machine and the stability of the tank 18.

[0023] A lift link 3 supported on both the left and right sides of the bonnet 15 is attached to the front of the vehicle body 1. The lift link 3 is configured in the form of a parallel link, with an upper link 24 and a lower link 25 arranged in parallel with each other and connected at their front ends by a hitch bracket 4 and with their rear ends journalled to an upright support 23, and the tip of this parallel link can be raised and lowered by lifting cylinders 27, 27 to adjust the chemical spray height of the spray boom 19.

[0024] A center boom 43 extending in the left-right direction of the machine body is attached to the lower end of the hitch bracket 4. In addition, cylinder mounting struts 26 protruding upward are provided on the left and right ends of the center boom 43, and the upper end of the cylinder mounting strut 26 is attached to the upper end of an up-down cylinder (rolling cylinder) 29, which is a rolling cylinder that expands and contracts via a solenoid valve 28 with a hydraulic tank that is electrically controlled, and a side boom 44 is rotatably attached to the lower end of the up-down cylinder 29. Therefore, the side boom 44 is raised and lowered by the expansion and contraction of the up-down cylinder 29. When the side boom 44 is stored on both sides of the machine body, it is supported by the machine body by side boom receivers 40.

[0025] The spray boom 19 is composed of a center boom 43 and side booms 44 that are foldably connected to the outside of the center boom 43, and spray nozzles 45 (45a, 45b) for spraying chemicals are arranged at regular intervals on each side boom 44.

[0026] The side boom 44 is attached to the center boom 43 via the cylinder mounting strut 26, and is opened and closed by the opening and closing cylinder 30 provided on the center boom 43. In addition, since the tractor boom receivers 40 (FIG. 1) are provided on both sides of the machine body, the side boom 44 is placed on the boom receivers 40 when not in use.

[0027] The indicator rod 52 (FIG. 1) is a rod that protrudes vertically upward from the area near the center of the center boom 43. A lamp such as an LED is attached to the upper end of the indicator rod 52, and the lamp is turned on at the same time as the automatic leveling control operation described later starts. The lower end of the indicator rod 52 may be configured to rotate during automatic leveling control in conjunction with an operating mechanism or the like. This configuration allows the operator to recognize the control state of the booms 43, 44, prevents erroneous operation of the booms 43, 44, and prevents the nozzle 45b at the tip of the long boom (side boom 44) from coming into contact with the crops and being damaged when the automatic leveling switch is forgotten to be turned on during spraying work.

[0028] Here, automatic horizontal control operation refers to controlling the side booms 44, 44 to be horizontal to the ground when the opening / closing cylinders 30, 30 open the side booms 44, 44 in the horizontal direction (left and right in the traveling direction of the machine) on the extension line of the center boom 43 and the rolling cylinders, which are the up and down cylinders 29, 29, are fully extended. Specifically, even if the side booms 44 of the chemical spraying boom 19 are open while traveling on a slope, one side boom 44 is lifted by the up and down cylinders 29 and the other side boom 44 is lowered so that the open side boom 44 becomes parallel to the slope and does not collide with the ground.

[0029] Next, the control unit of the chemical spraying work vehicle configured as described above will be described. As shown in the control block diagram of Figure 3, the machine controller 100 includes a steering changeover switch, a horizontal relationship switch (the horizontal relationship switch includes an automatic switch, a parallel switch, and a manual switch, and the automatic switch is horizontal control for maintaining the booms 43, 44 horizontal to the horizon of the earth, the parallel switch is parallel control for maintaining the parallel position of the booms 43, 44 to the field scene, and the manual switch can manually change and control the position of the booms 43, 44 to any inclination position), a vehicle speed sensor 6, a steering angle sensor 7, a flow rate sensor 74, a control lever sensor (chemical Connected to these are a lever sensor for turning spraying on and off, a lift arm sensor, a stroke sensor, a slope sensor, an input circuit for receiving signals from a GPS antenna (receiver) 81, etc., and connected to the solenoid of the steering system (consisting of a handle 14, hydraulic cylinders for steering the wheels and solenoids for operating the cylinders, etc.) (the chemical spraying vehicle in this embodiment is equipped with FWS, 4WS and RWS, and all four wheels are operated by hydraulic cylinders), a lift solenoid (for cylinder 29), a horizontal solenoid (for cylinder 30), a buzzer, an output circuit to the display, etc.

[0030] Furthermore, a wind direction and speed meter 46 such as a lidar sensor 63 is connected, and the direction and speed of the wind blowing against the vehicle body 1 are input.

[0031] As shown in Fig. 4, the controller of this embodiment is made up of a machine controller 100 of the chemical spraying work vehicle, and a pest control machine controller 101 of the pest control machine B which is made up of the chemical tank 18, the chemical spraying booms 43, 44, the chemical hoses 61, 66, etc., and their flow control valves 73, etc., and a GPS receiver 81 is connected to the machine controller 100. The GPS receiver 81 receives signals from a plurality of GPS satellites and stores them as the machine's current position data, while calculating the travel distance while updating the current position data at predetermined intervals measured by a clock circuit, and the speed, i.e., the vehicle speed, is calculated at predetermined intervals measured by the clock circuit by vehicle speed calculation means 5 in the machine controller 100. The machine controller 100 also receives an input from a vehicle speed sensor 6 which detects the number of rotations of the axle.

[0032] In the pesticide spraying work vehicle of this embodiment, the spraying device 16 is mounted on the work vehicle and sprays the pesticide in conjunction with the vehicle speed, and the amount of pesticide sprayed is determined based on the pesticide concentration and the vehicle speed, etc., and the pesticide discharge amount of the pest control pump 65 is determined.

[0033] The speed data and position data from the GPS receiver 81 are received by the machine controller 100, the speed and position data are calculated by the vehicle speed calculation means 5, the obtained value is converted into a speed signal, and then transmitted to the pest control machine controller 101 via serial communication as the vehicle speed (first vehicle speed (VG)) calculated by the vehicle speed calculation means 5. The machine is also provided with a vehicle speed sensor 6 that measures the rotation speed of the axle using a vehicle speed pulse, and the vehicle speed (second vehicle speed (Vs)) can also be obtained from the vehicle speed sensor 6. In this way, the first vehicle speed (VG) based on the vehicle speed calculation means 5 obtained from the GPS receiver 81 and the second vehicle speed (Vs) obtained from the vehicle speed sensor 6 provided in the machine are calculated by the machine side controller 100, and the speed data is sent to the pest control machine controller 101 via CAN communication, and used for controlling the spraying of the chemical solution.

[0034] In the machine controller 100, when the anemometer 46 detects wind heading toward the vehicle body 1, the traveling speed is increased to compensate for the sprayed pesticides being blown too far backwards, and when a tailwind is detected, the traveling speed is decreased to compensate for the sprayed pesticides being blown too far forwards.

[0035] In addition, when the anemometer 46 detects that wind is blowing from right to left of the vehicle body 1, the amount of pesticide sprayed by the right side boom 44 is reduced or stopped, and conversely, when it detects that wind is blowing from left to right, the amount of pesticide sprayed by the left side boom 44 is reduced or stopped to prevent the pesticide spray concentration downwind from becoming too high.

[0036] Furthermore, by providing sub-booms with angle-adjustable spray nozzles at the tips of the left and right side booms 44, it becomes possible to adjust the concentration of pesticide sprayed in response to winds moving left and right.

[0037] In addition, when driving through farmland where pesticides have been sprayed by the wind, diluting the pesticide concentration can prevent overspraying.

[0038] Also, if you estimate the amount of pesticide that has been blown away by the wind and spray it repeatedly, it is a good idea to dilute the concentration of the pesticide.

[0039] In addition, when the process proceeds from upwind to downwind against a crosswind, it is advisable to make the spray concentration on the windward side higher than normal at the start of the work process.

[0040] The concentration of the pesticide will be adjusted automatically by preparing a tank for the pesticide concentrate and a tank for water and changing the mixing ratio.

[0041] It is also a good idea to control the height and inclination of the boom so that the spray height can be changed according to the state of the chemical being sprayed.

[0042] In the above embodiment, the spray device 16 is provided with a center boom 43 and left and right side booms 44, 44. However, the present invention can also be implemented with a spray device provided with a vane sprayer at the rear of the vehicle body.

[0043] Next, some considerations regarding tractor operation will be given.

[0044] When creating ridges with a tractor, and creating a shape for adjacent ridges, if the adjacent ridges are wide, the tractor is controlled to move closer to the adjacent ridge. This is expected to eliminate uneven growth and make crops grow more uniform by creating ridges with high precision.

[0045] In addition, in the ridge-making operation by the tractor, when making ridges while forming adjacent ridge shapes, if the shape of the adjacent ridge is thin, the tractor is controlled so that it travels away from the adjacent ridge.

[0046] In addition, when a tractor is used to make ridges while forming adjacent ridges, if the width of the adjacent ridge is wide, the tractor is controlled to move closer to the adjacent ridge.

[0047] In addition, when soil clods are spilling out of the cultivation plate during ridge making work using a tractor, it is determined that there is excess soil, and the tilling depth is increased to make the amount of soil appropriate. [Explanation of symbols]

[0048] 1. Vehicle body 16 Spraying device 44 Side boom 45 Spray nozzle 46 Anemometer

Claims

1. This pesticide spraying work vehicle has a spray device (16) mounted on a vehicle body (1) for spraying pesticide in the form of a mist, and is characterized in that it is provided with an anemometer (46) for detecting wind blowing around the vehicle body (1), and the spray intensity of the spray device (16) and the traveling speed of the vehicle body (1) are controlled according to the wind direction and wind strength detected by the anemometer (46).

2. 2. The agricultural chemical spraying vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the traveling speed is increased when the anemometer (46) detects a headwind, and is decreased when the anemometer (46) detects a tailwind.

3. This pesticide spraying work vehicle is equipped with a spraying device (16) on the vehicle body (1) that sprays pesticides by extending side booms (44, 44) equipped with spray nozzles (45) on the left and right sides of the vehicle body (1), and is characterized in that when wind is detected in the left or right direction relative to the vehicle body (1), the windward side boom (44) reduces the amount of pesticide sprayed or dilutes the concentration of the pesticide.

4. 4. The agricultural chemical spraying vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the wind direction and speed meter (46) is a LIDAR sensor (63).

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