US 5,348,226 AGranted

Spray boom system with automatic boom end height control

AssigneeRHS Fertilizing/Spraying Systems

InventorsRichard W. Heiniger, Troy C. Kolb, Kent D. Funk

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Abstract

A spray boom system for mounting on a vehicle with opposite sides includes a pair of boom assemblies with proximate and distal ends. The boom assemblies are mounted on the vehicle and are swingable between laterally-extending field positions and folded travel positions generally alongside the vehicle. Hinged connector assemblies are attached to the boom assembly proximate ends for permitting the swinging movement of the boom arms and also permit the boom arms to be independently raised and lowered by a pair of hydraulic cylinders which are also connected to the boom assembly proximate ends. The operation of the cylinders for raising and lowering the boom assemblies is controlled by a height control system which utilizes ultrasonic signals for determining heights of the boom assemblies above a field or crop surface. A liquid dispensing system includes a tank for mounting on the bed of the vehicle, a pump, spray nozzles mounted on the boom assemblies and tubing interconnecting the liquid dispensing system components.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A control system for a boom sprayer including a center frame mounted for vertical movement on a mobile support, a pair of laterally extending opposite cantilever sprayer booms with a plurality of sprayer means spaced therealong and pivotally connected to said center frame for vertical movement of said booms with said center frame and for pivoting relative to said center frame about respective horizontal boom axes substantially parallel to a direction of travel of said mobile support, said control system comprising:

(a) reversible center frame motor means engaged between said center frame and said mobile support and operable to set a height of said center frame relative to said mobile support;
(b) a pair of boom motor means associated respectively with said booms, each boom motor means being engaged between the associated boom and said center frame and operable to cause said pivoting movement therebetween;
and
(c) automatic boom control means including:
(1) energy transducer means mounted on each sprayer boom in spaced radial relation to the associated boom axis and operative to transmit an energy toward a sprayer target and receive reflections of said energy from said target;
(2) boom end height set means operable to position each boom to a desired boom end height between an end of said boom and said target;
and
(3) boom end height control circuit means coupled to said transducer means, said boom end height set means, and the associated boom motor means;
said control circuit means being operative to measure an echo time interval between transmitting and receiving said energy which is proportional to an actual boom end height, to compare said echo time interval with a set time interval proportional to said desired boom end height, and to activate the associated boom motor means in such a direction as to minimize a difference between said echo time interval and said set time interval.

6 more elements

A method for controlling the height of a plurality of sprayers above sprayer targets, said sprayers being mounted in spaced relation along a pair of laterally extending cantilever sprayer booms pivotally connected to a center frame which is mounted for vertical movement on a mobile support, center frame motor means being engaged between said center frame and said mobile support, and boom motor means being engaged respectively between said booms and said center frame, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) manually activating said boom motor means to position an end of each boom at desired heights above said targets;
(b) automatically measuring a height of an end of each boom above said targets to derive a reference height for each boom;
(c) thereafter, periodically measuring said height of said end of each boom above said targets to derive a current height for each boom;
(d) automatically comparing said current height with said reference height for each boom to derive a height error for each boom;
and
(e) automatically activating said boom motor means to move each boom in such a manner as to minimize said height error for the associated boom.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.