CROP SPRAYERS TECHNICAL FIELD

The presented invention allows the precise application of pesticides in agriculture, enabling the pesticide to reach the plant better, as well as reducing the release by drift into the environment, thus preventing the use of excessive pesticides and preserving the environment. The presented invention is a system that is not previously used in crop sprayer and instantly changes the nozzle position angle, which is a new term that emerges for the first time. Via this invention, the orientation angle of the nozzle could be change in the opposite direction to the wind and depending on the wind speed. The system can be adapted to all crop sprayers’ boom construction. PRIOR ART

The pesticide application requires precision to get better product quality and efficiency. In general, during the application pesticide in windy conditions, the sprayed droplets could be move beyond the target. By this way, off target droplets can be mixed to water, air and soil. In addition, there can be residues in the crops that grow in the soils also contain pesticides, the residual foods can be carried to all living creatures in the food chain. The approaches of reducing the drift on crop sprayers that presented to the market are; shielded boom sprayer usage, preferring air induction nozzle, air- assisted crop sprayers and electrostatic spraying etc. Although these techniques are known to reduce drift, the accommodation of these techniques to standard crop sprayers often increase the cost of standard crop sprayers by up 5 to 10 times. Besides, excluding low-drift potential nozzle equipment, shield usage etc. makes often reduces the manoeuvrability of the sprayer. The shield usage makes the weight of the construction heavier and inside the shield, the droplets can hit the interior side of the shield wall and runoff droplets from the shield surface cause phytotoxicity on the plant. On the other hand, the air assisted system can increase the weight of the crop sprayer’s construction with high operation costs because of air need while electrostatic method also increases in sprayer costs and has health risks for the operator. THE BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention which is designed to prevent the drift, can work independently from the operator. The program of the invention which can calculate and change the orientation angle of the nozzle instantaneously according to the data that was transmitted from the wind speed sensor and wind direction sensor. By the aid of the program, the orientation angle of the crop sprayer’s nozzles can change their positions opposite to wind direction instantaneously. Thanks to the invention, pesticides can be applied precisely, so that the droplets can reach target better and the drift effect may be decrease. Therefore, with less drift, the excessive usage of the pesticides can be decrease. To summarize, via the application of the pesticide precisely, the drift which is influenced by the wind, can be reduced, as a result of this the pesticide can be apply more efficiently and cost of pesticide can be decreased. Thus, uncontrolled chemical release to the environment can be avoided. Hence the residual chemical on the product may effect human life less than before.

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Isometric View of the Invention

Figure 2. Front View of the Invention (the rear of the crop sprayer)

Figure 3. The Orientation Angle Change of the Invention According to the Wind

Direction (the near side of the crop sprayer)

The equivalents of the numbering given in the figures are:

1. Wind Speed Sensor

2. Wind Direction Sensor

3. Crop Sprayer Boom

4. Pesticide Entrance Hose

5. Pesticide Hose

6. Servomotor Power and Data Line

7. Servomotor

8. Nozzle

9. Connection Element DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention includes wind speed sensor (1 ), wind direction sensor (2), crop sprayer boom (3), pesticide entrance hose (4), pesticide hose (5), servomotor power and data line (6), servomotor (7) nozzle (8) and connection element (9).

In the present invention; an automation system, which can give the orientation angle in the opposite direction to the wind direction to the spraying nozzles (8) connected to the pesticide hose (5) of the standard type crop sprayers, has been developed. The nozzle orientation angle (a) is the angle that the nozzles located on the boom of the crop sprayer make with the ground plane and drift is reduced by providing changes in the kinematics of the droplets leaving the spray nozzle (8) with changing this angle in the opposite direction with respect to the wind direction (Figure 3). There is no known precedent of this study in the crop of agricultural pesticides in the literature. Thanks to the invention, the operator is able to self-control the adverse effects of wind on drift with the help of a wind speed measuring system on the spray boom without interfering with nozzle positions. This developed module can be easily mounted on all standard crop sprayers due to its simple structure. The wind speed measurement system provides data via the wind speed sensor (1 ). The wind speed data acquired through the wind speed sensor (1 ) is combined with the wind direction data from the wind direction sensor (2) and interpreted by sending them to a computer via an electronic data card with a CORTEX A9 processor. The movement of the servo motors (7) in the opposite direction of the wind is performed by sending commands over the same card. This command, which is developed in a computer software, includes information on how much the angle of the servo motor controlled spray nozzles (8) may change with the ground plane. Therefore, the orientation angle of the spray nozzle (8) with the ground plane changes in the opposite direction of the wind, eliminating the possible negative effects of the wind and minimizing the drift potential of the sprayed pesticide. In the laboratory studies, it was proven that the negative effects of drift (drift of the pesticide out of the target area) were statistically reduced by changing the orientation angle in the opposite direction to the wind via the Instantaneous Adjusting System of Nozzle Orientation Angle Adjusting System in Crop Sprayers.

A further advantage of the invention is that it could be adapted to the spray booms all available crop sprayers on the market sprayer that does not have this capability is able to perform the corresponding function by means of the wind speed sensor (1 ), the wind direction sensor (2), the servomotors (7) and the spray nozzles (8) which are capable of angular movement to be placed on the spray booms.