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US 10,881,095 B2Granted
Precision herbicide applicator for hole punch equipment
AssigneeUniversity of Florida Research Foundation, Inc.
InventorsNathan S. Boyd, Arnold W. Schumann
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Various examples are discussed for creating punched holes into a plastic mulch covering a top soil bed and precisely spraying herbicide for a limited time into each of the punched holes and on the top soil located directly below each of the punched holes in a plasticulture vegetable production operation.
Claims20
An apparatus for selectively applying herbicide to a plastic mulch covered soil bed, the apparatus comprising:
- a mobile vehicle;
- and
- an applicator system mechanically coupled to the mobile vehicle, the applicator system comprising:
- a spiked wheel including a plurality of spikes having respective spike tips oriented radially outward from an axis of rotation of the spiked wheel, the plurality of spikes being configured to punch one or more holes in plastic mulch of the plastic mulch covered soil bed during a rotation of the spiked wheel;
- and
- a sprayer comprising a nozzle, the sprayer being configured to selectively spray the herbicide from the nozzle into the one or more holes.
3 more elements
A method for selectively applying herbicide, the method comprising:
- determining, via at least one computing device, a speed of a movement of a spiked wheel of the applicator apparatus over a plastic mulch covered soil bed, the movement of the spiked wheel causing a rotation of a plurality of spikes of the spiked wheel along an axis of rotation of the spiked wheel;
- determining, via the at least one computing device, an occurrence of a tip of one of the plurality of spikes being rotated piercing through plastic mulch covering the plastic mulch covered soil bed to create a punched hole in the plastic mulch;
- determining, via the at least one computing device, an occurrence of when a nozzle of a sprayer of the applicator apparatus is located directly above the punched hole;
- and
- in response to determining that the nozzle of the sprayer is located directly above the punched hole, spraying herbicide for a limited time duration from the nozzle into the punched hole and onto top soil of the plastic mulch covered soil bed directly below the punched hole.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.