Spray Boom Lateral Displacement for Turf Swath Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing turf sprayers face challenges in precisely applying liquids to large areas without using automatic steering systems, leading to missed or overlapped areas, which decreases productivity and requires operators to manually adjust nozzle positions.
Innovation Solution
A sprayer with a laterally and angularly displaceable spray boom assembly, controlled by a system using GPS or vision-based navigation, to maintain a reference point on a desired path, ensuring precise alignment and perpendicular orientation of the spray boom relative to the vehicle's path, allowing for continuous operation without shutting off nozzles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If automatic steering systems are used to control the vehicle path, then spray alignment precision is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a中介 device - the laterally displaceable spray boom assembly with actuator - that acts as an intermediary between the vehicle's steering system and the spray nozzles. Instead of controlling the vehicle path precisely, the boom assembly is laterally displaced to compensate for path deviations, thereby achieving precise spray alignment without requiring complex automatic steering systems
Solution Approach 2:
The spray boom assembly is made dynamically adjustable through lateral displacement capability. The boom can move laterally relative to the vehicle during operation, allowing real-time compensation for path deviations. This dynamic adjustment mechanism replaces the need for complex automatic steering control while maintaining spray precision
2Manufacturing precision
If the operator manually turns off the nearest nozzle to prevent double spraying, then overlap errors are reduced, but productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service operation where the spray boom assembly automatically adjusts its lateral position to maintain precise swath alignment. This automatic adjustment eliminates the need for operator intervention to turn off nozzles, allowing all nozzles to remain active and maintain full productivity while achieving precise spray coverage
Solution Approach 2:
The lateral displacement mechanism provides continuous feedback control of the spray boom position relative to the vehicle path. By monitoring and adjusting the boom's lateral position, the system automatically compensates for path deviations, ensuring precise swath matching without requiring operator intervention and maintaining maximum productivity
3Manufacturing precision
If the operator tries to slightly overlap swaths to prevent missed areas, then coverage completeness is improved, but double spraying increases
Solution Approach 1:
The lateral displacement system provides real-time feedback control that precisely manages swath overlap. By continuously adjusting the boom's lateral position based on vehicle path deviations, the system maintains optimal swath matching with minimal or precise overlap, preventing both missed areas and excessive double spraying of liquid
Data Source
AI summary
A turf sprayer comprises a transport vehicle that carries a laterally extending spray boom assembly. The spray boom assembly is both laterally displaceable and angularly displaceable relative to the transport vehicle. A controller uses a defined path represented by GPS coordinates to control the operation of various actuators to automatically maintain a reference point on the spray boom assembly on the desired path and to automatically maintain the spray boom assembly perpendicular to the desired path.