Agricultural Sprayer Circulating Circuit for Active Substance Mixing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Direct feed systems in agricultural sprayers experience significant delays in active substance delivery to dispensing nozzles, leading to incorrect active substance concentration and reduced yields due to misapplication.
Innovation Solution
A method where the liquid active substance mixture circulates in a separate circuit connected to dispensing elements, allowing for pre-mixing of the desired concentration before application, and includes operating modes to adjust active substance ratios dynamically, ensuring homogeneous mixing and minimizing latency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a direct feed system is used to mix active ingredient with carrier liquid, then the system structure is simple, but the active substance delivery delay causes incorrect concentration and misapplication
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary mixing of the active ingredient with a portion of the carrier liquid in a dedicated mixing chamber before the mixture enters the main carrier liquid stream. This pre-mixing action ensures that the active substance is thoroughly combined with some carrier liquid in advance, eliminating delivery delays and concentration inaccuracies that would occur with direct feed systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system divides the carrier liquid flow into two separate streams: one stream goes to the mixing chamber to be combined with the active ingredient, while the other stream bypasses the mixing chamber. This segmentation allows independent control of the mixing process and enables precise adjustment of the active substance concentration by controlling the ratio of the two streams when they recombine.
2Ease of operation
If the active substance feed is switched on and off to adjust concentration, then the control is simple, but the mixing delay leads to incorrect application and reduced yields
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the concentration of active substance by continuously varying the flow rate ratio between the pre-mixed stream (containing active ingredient) and the bypass stream (pure carrier liquid). This dynamic control mechanism allows real-time concentration adjustment without the delays associated with switching feeds on and off, maintaining both ease of operation and high productivity.
3Volume of stationary object
If the circulating circuit includes the reservoir for carrier liquid, then the system is compact, but active substance mixes back into the reservoir causing concentration errors
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts the mixing function from the main carrier liquid reservoir by creating a separate mixing chamber that receives carrier liquid from the reservoir through a dedicated line. The pre-mixed active ingredient-carrier liquid mixture is then injected back into the main stream downstream, preventing any back-mixing of concentrated active substance into the reservoir and maintaining reservoir liquid composition stability.
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 approach prevents misapplication by ensuring the active substance mixture is uniformly distributed and available at dispensing elements quickly, reducing delays and maintaining accurate concentration, thus enhancing application efficiency and yield.
Implementation Method 1
a circulation pump (24) for circulating the liquid active substance mixture in the circulating circuit (16)
Implementation Method 2
a mixing chamber (34) for mixing the carrier liquid with the active substance to form a liquid active substance mixture
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for applying a spray liquid with an agricultural sprayer, comprising the steps of: directing a carrier liquid from a reservoir for the carrier liquid into a circulation circuit which can be fluidly connected to several application elements, generating a liquid active ingredient mixture by mixing the carrier liquid with an active ingredient, preventing backflow from the circulation circuit into the reservoir for the carrier liquid and circulating the liquid active ingredient mixture in the circulation circuit, while preventing backflow from the circulation circuit into the reservoir for the carrier liquid.