GPS-Controlled Sprayer Buffer Zone Compliance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Farmers face challenges in ensuring precise application of crop protection agents near water bodies to comply with legal distance requirements, leading to potential environmental damage or harvest losses due to insufficient or excessive pesticide application.
Innovation Solution
A method using GPS navigation to control spraying devices, which adjusts the application of crop protection agents based on predetermined distance requirements from water bodies, automatically switching to edge nozzles or shutting off sections to prevent pesticide drift into protected areas, ensuring compliance with legal distances.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If visual inspection and experience are used to ensure pesticide application distance from water bodies, then farmers can operate without complex equipment, but precise compliance with legal distance requirements cannot be guaranteed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual visual inspection with an electronic control system that uses GPS satellite navigation to automatically determine the vehicle's position and calculate distance to water bodies. The control unit receives location data from GPS receivers and compares it with stored water body coordinates to electronically enforce buffer zone requirements, eliminating the need for manual distance estimation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a computer control unit as an intermediary between the pesticide application system and the operator. This control unit processes GPS location data, determines compliance with buffer zone requirements, and automatically controls the pesticide application system accordingly, serving as a mediator that ensures precise distance maintenance without requiring direct operator judgment.
2Manufacturing precision
If GPS-controlled section control is used to apply pesticide only to specific areas, then application precision is improved, but system complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates multiple functions into a single computer control unit that handles GPS data processing, buffer zone calculation, section control activation, and pesticide application regulation. This multi-functional approach achieves precise application control while consolidating system complexity into one manageable unit rather than requiring separate systems for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the GPS navigation system, water body location data storage, distance calculation algorithms, and pesticide application control into an integrated system. The control unit merges location determination, compliance verification, and application control functions to achieve precise pesticide placement while reducing the number of separate components the operator must manage.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If buffer zones are enforced to protect water bodies, then environmental protection is improved, but untreated field margins may exceed legal distances causing crop losses
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses dynamic control of pesticide application based on real-time GPS positioning. The system continuously monitors the vehicle's location relative to water bodies and automatically adjusts application rates or shuts off nozzles when buffer zone boundaries are approached, ensuring environmental protection while minimizing unnecessary untreated areas through precise boundary detection.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback control by continuously comparing the vehicle's actual position (from GPS) with the predetermined buffer zone boundaries (from stored water body coordinates). When the vehicle approaches the boundary, the control unit receives feedback about proximity and automatically adjusts pesticide flow rates or activates/deactivates nozzles to maintain compliance while optimizing field coverage.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method enables precise and automatic compliance with legal distance specifications, preventing environmental pollution and minimizing harvest losses by ensuring accurate application of pesticides up to the required distance from water bodies.
Implementation Method 1
location data of the vehicle are recorded, in particular by means of a satellite navigation system
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention provides a method for applying plant protection products to an agricultural field (1) using a spraying device attached to a self-propelled vehicle or a vehicle designed as a trailer, wherein, during the application of plant protection products, location or position data of the vehicle are recorded, in particular by means of a satellite navigation system, and transmitted to a computer unit (2), preferably designed as an on-board computer, wherein location or position data of at least one body of water (3a, 3b) are also stored in the computer unit (2), and wherein, upon reaching or falling below a predetermined distance (a) to the body of water (3a, 3b), the operating mode of the spraying device is controlled or regulated by the computer unit (2) in such a way that an adapted and/or reduced application of plant protection products is carried out in order not to pollute the body of water (3a, 3b) with plant protection products.