Nozzle control system and method

• US 9,781,916 B2
• Filed: 10/17/2014
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Raven Industries Incorporated (CNH Industrial N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Raven Industries Incorporated (CNH Industrial N.V.)
• Inventors: Preheim, John D., Driesen, Brent A., Kocer, Jared Ernest
• Primary Examiner(s): Novosad, Christopher J.
• Application Number:
  US15/029,935
• Publication Number:
  US 20160227755A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,089 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A01M 7/0089 Regulating or controlling systems the delivery being related to the movement of a vehicle B05B9/06
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 12/08 responsive to condition of liquid or other fluent material to be discharged, of ambient medium or of target ; responsive to condition of spray devices or of supply means, e.g. pipes, pumps or their drive means

Abstract

A system for nozzle control includes an overall system pressure valve, configured to adjust the pressure of an agricultural product within a boom. A master node is configured to receive an overall system flow rate measurement, an overall target flow rate, and an overall system pressure measurement, the master node configured to adjust the overall system pressure valve to control the pressure of the agricultural product. A plurality of smart nozzles are configured to dispense the agricultural product, the plurality of smart nozzles each having an electronic control unit (ECU) and one or more individual nozzles, the smart nozzle is configured to control a nozzle flow rate of the associated one or more individual nozzles.

Claims

1. A method of controlling nozzle flow rate of an agricultural product on an agricultural sprayer having a master node and a plurality of smart nozzles, each one of the smart nozzles having an independent electronic control unit (ECU) and one or more individual nozzles, comprising:

determining a speed of the agricultural sprayer, an overall target flow rate of the plurality of smart nozzles, and a yaw rate of the agricultural sprayer;

controlling a pressure of the agricultural product of the agricultural sprayer using the master node;

determining, with each respective smart nozzle ECU, a target nozzle flow rate for each smart nozzle using at least one of the speed, the overall target flow rate, and the yaw rate;

controlling with each respective smart nozzle ECU, the nozzle flow rate of the associated one or more individual nozzles based on the target nozzle flow rate for the respective smart nozzle and an error correction; and

calculating the error correction with the master node, including;

obtaining the target nozzle flow rate of each of the smart nozzles,

summing the target nozzle flow rate of each of the smart nozzles,

comparing the sum to an actual overall system flow rate to determine the error correction, and

providing the error correction to each of the smart nozzles.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the target nozzle flow rate for each smart nozzle includes determining at each of the smart nozzles the target nozzle flow rate for the respective smart nozzle.

3. The method of claim 1 comprising:

calculating a boom section flow rate, the boom section including a portion of the plurality of smart nozzles, based on at least one of the speed, the overall target flow rate, and the yaw rate; and

controlling the boom section flow rate.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising controlling the nozzle flow rate of each of the smart nozzles to dispense the agricultural product at individual rates according to the location of each of the smart nozzles or individual nozzles on a field map.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the pressure of the agricultural product is performed independent of controlling the target nozzle flow rate for each of the smart nozzles.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the nozzle flow rate includes determining an on/off state of one or more of the plurality of smart nozzles.

7. A system for controlling nozzle flow rate of an agricultural product on an agricultural sprayer, comprising:

an overall system pressure valve or pump, configured to adjust the pressure of an agricultural product within a boom;

a master node configured to receive an actual overall system flow rate measurement, an overall target flow rate, and an overall system pressure measurement, the master node configured to adjust the overall system pressure to control the pressure of the agricultural product and configured to determine an error correction;

a plurality of smart nozzles configured to dispense the agricultural product, each of the plurality of smart nozzles having an independent electronic control unit (ECU) and one or more individual nozzles, wherein each smart nozzle ECU is configured to determine and control a nozzle flow rate of the associated one or more individual nozzles based on at least the overall target flow rate and the error correction; and

wherein the master node is configured to calculate the error correction, including;

obtaining a target nozzle flow rate of each of the smart nozzles,

summing the target nozzle flow rate of each of the smart nozzles,

comparing the sum to the actual overall system flow rate measurement to determine the error correction, and

providing the error correction to each of the smart nozzles.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein each ECU is configured to receive at least one measurement of the agricultural sprayer from the master node including a speed of the boom, an overall system flow rate, and a yaw rate of the agricultural sprayer.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein each ECU is configured to calibrate a duty cycle curve of the respective smart nozzle based on an actual smart nozzle performance.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein each ECU is configured to adjust the smart nozzle flow rate of the agricultural product dispensed at each associated individual nozzle according to a difference between the overall target flow rate and the overall system flow rate measurement.

11. The system of claim 7 comprising a master flow meter to provide the overall system flow rate measurement.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the actual overall system flow rate measurement is determined at the master node as a sum of the nozzle flow rate of each smart nozzle.

13. The system of claim 7, further comprising a locating module including one or more location fiducials associated with the system, the one or more location fiducials configured to mark the location of one or more of the plurality smart nozzles on a field map.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the flow rate of the agricultural product dispensed from the plurality of smart nozzles is controlled according to the one or more location fiducials.

15. A system for controlling nozzle flow rate of an agricultural product on an agricultural sprayer having a master node coupled to a plurality of smart nozzles, each one of the plurality of smart nozzles having an independent electronic control unit (ECU) and one or more individual nozzles, comprising:

an overall system pressure valve or pump, configured to adjust the pressure of the agricultural product within the agricultural sprayer;

a pressure transducer for measuring the overall system pressure;

a flow meter for measuring the overall system flow rate;

a master node configured to receive the overall system flow rate measurement from the flow meter and the overall system pressure measurement from the pressure transducer, the master node configured to adjust the overall system pressure to control the pressure of the agricultural product;

wherein each smart nozzle ECU is configured to control the dispensing the agricultural product from the one or more associated individual nozzles at an individual rate based on nozzle characteristics of the one or more associated individual nozzles; and

wherein the master node is configured to calculate an error correction, including;

obtaining the target nozzle flow rate of each of the smart nozzles,

summing the target nozzle flow rate of each of the smart nozzles,

comparing the sum to the overall system flow rate measurement to determine the error correction, and

providing the error correction to each of the smart nozzles.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the nozzle characteristics vary with one or more of a smart nozzle or an individual nozzle position on a boom, length of the boom, an individual or smart nozzle spacing, yaw rate of the boom, target flow rate for the system, yaw rate of the agricultural sprayer, speed of the agricultural sprayer, the overall system pressure, agricultural product characteristics.

17. The system of claim 15, comprising one or more location fiducials associated with the system, the one or more location fiducials configured to mark the location of one or more smart nozzles of the plurality of smart nozzles on a field map.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein each of the smart nozzles is configured to dispense the agricultural product at individual rates according to the location the one or more smart nozzles of the plurality of smart nozzles on the field map.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the ECU is configured to control a collective nozzle flow rate of the smart nozzles based on the nozzle characteristics of the associated individual nozzles based on the nozzle characteristics.