# US 10,368,538 B2 · Nozzle control system and method

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- Number: US 10,368,538 B2
- Document ID: US10368538B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/703,818
- Filed: 2017-09-13
- Published: 2018-02-15
- Granted: 2019-08-06
- Earliest claimed: 2013-10-17
- Assignees: Raven Industries, Inc.
- Applicants: Raven Industries, Inc.
- Inventors: John D. Preheim; Brent A. Driesen; Jared Ernest Kocer
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10368538B2

## CPC

- A01M 7/0089: {Regulating or controlling systems (the delivery being related to the movement of a vehicle B05B9/06)}
- 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}
- A01M: CATCHING, TRAPPING OR SCARING OF ANIMALS (appliances for catching swarms or drone-catching A01K57/00; fishing A01K69/00 - {A01K99/00}; biocides, pest repellants or attractants A01N); APPARATUS FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF NOXIOUS ANIMALS OR NOXIOUS PLANTS
- B05B: SPRAYING APPARATUS; ATOMISING APPARATUS; NOZZLES (spray-mixers with nozzles B01F25/72; processes for applying liquids or other fluent materials to surfaces by spraying B05D)

## Abstract

A system and method 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 associated with an electronic control unit (ECU) and one or more individual nozzle, the smart nozzle is configured to control a nozzle flow rate of the associated one or more individual nozzles.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A sprayer control system configured to control spray characteristics of spray nozzles, the sprayer control system comprising:
a master node configured for coupling with one or more of a system pressure valve or a system pump, the master node is configured to:
control the system pressure of a liquid agricultural product, and
determine an error correction, the error correction based on the difference between an actual system flow rate and a sum of target flow rates; and
a plurality of smart nozzles, each of the smart nozzles includes at least one control valve and an electronic control unit (ECU) in communication with the master node, the at least one control valve and the ECU are configured to control a component flow rate of liquid agricultural product through one or more spray nozzles, each smart nozzle is configured to:
determine the target flow rate for the one or more spray nozzles with the ECU,
determine a duty cycle for the one or more spray nozzles with the ECU, the duty cycle based on the target flow rate and the error correction, and
operate the at least one control valve to deliver the liquid agricultural product to the one or spray nozzles according to the duty cycle.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The sprayer control system of claim 1, wherein the master node is configured to control the system pressure of the liquid agricultural product independently relative to the duty cycle of each smart nozzle of the plurality of smart nozzles.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The sprayer control system of claim 1, wherein the master node is configured to control a spray droplet size of the liquid agricultural product from the plurality of spray nozzles according to control of the system pressure.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The sprayer control system of claim 1, where each ECU of each smart nozzle of the plurality of smart nozzles determines the target flow rate and the duty cycle independent of other ECUs of the plurality of smart nozzles.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The sprayer control system of claim 1, wherein each ECU is configured to receive at least one value from the master node including a speed of a sprayer boom, a target system flow rate, a yaw rate of the sprayer boom, or a location of the smart nozzle along the sprayer boom.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The sprayer control system of claim 5, wherein the target system flow rate is in units of volume per unit area, and the target flow rate is in units of volume per unit time.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The sprayer control system of claim 1, wherein each ECU is configured to determine the duty cycle based on at least the determined target flow rate, the error correction and one or more of speed of a sprayer boom, target system flow rate, a yaw rate of the sprayer boom, or a location of the smart nozzle along the sprayer boom.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The sprayer control system of claim 1, further comprising a locating module including one or more location fiducials, the one or more location fiducials are configured to mark the location of one or more of the plurality of smart nozzles.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The sprayer control system of claim 8, wherein the duty cycle for the one or more spray nozzles is determined based on one or more of the location or speed of one or more of the plurality of smart nozzles.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The sprayer control system of claim 1 comprising one or more of:
a master flow meter configured to measure the actual system flow rate,
the system pressure valve,
the system pump, or
the one or more spray nozzles.

### Claim 11

A method to control spray characteristics of spray nozzles in a sprayer system comprising:
controlling the sprayer system with a master node:
controlling a system pressure of a liquid agricultural product, the system pressure corresponds to a specified spray droplet size, and
determining an error correction based on the difference between an actual system flow rate and a sum of target flow rates;
controlling a plurality of duty cycles of a plurality of smart nozzles, controlling a duty cycle of the plurality of duty cycles for a smart nozzle of the plurality of smart nozzles includes:
determining the target flow rate for one or more spray nozzles with an electronic control unit (ECU) of a smart nozzle of the plurality of smart nozzles,
determining the duty cycle for the one or more spray nozzles with the ECU, the duty cycle based on the target flow rate and the error correction, and
operating at least one control valve with the ECU to deliver the liquid agricultural product to the one or more spray nozzles according to the duty cycle.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein determining the duty cycle with the ECU includes determining the duty cycle with the ECU independently from controlling the system pressure with the master node.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein controlling the system pressure includes maintaining a static system pressure with the master node corresponding to the specified spray droplet size, and
controlling the plurality of duty cycles includes changing the duty cycle while maintaining the static system pressure.

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11 comprising controlling a spray droplet size to the specified spray droplet size according to the controlling of the system pressure.

### Claim 15 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein determining the duty cycle includes independently determining the duty cycle relative to other determined duty cycles of the plurality of duty cycles.

### Claim 16 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein determining the target flow rate includes determining the target flow rate with the ECU based on one or more of a speed of a sprayer boom, a system target flow rate, a yaw rate of the sprayer boom, or a location of the smart nozzle along the sprayer boom.

### Claim 17 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein determining the target flow rate includes determining the target flow rate with the ECU based on a location of the smart nozzle along the sprayer boom.

### Claim 18 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein each smart nozzle includes the ECU, at least one control valve, and one or more spray nozzles in communication with the at least one control valve.