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An agricultural sprayer (1) with a pump (20), a plurality of nozzles, a valve arrangement (28) associated with the nozzles and a feed conduit (25). The valve arrangement (28) selectively connects the feed conduit (25) to a bypass conduit (26) or to the nozzles. A return conduit (32) branches off fro

An agricultural sprayer (1) with a pump (20), a plurality of nozzles, a valve arrangement (28) associated with the nozzles and a feed conduit (25). The valve arrangement (28) selectively connects the feed conduit (25) to a bypass conduit (26) or to the nozzles. A return conduit (32) branches off from the feed conduit (25). A regulation valve (30) applies a variable degree of throttling to the fluid flowing through the return conduit. A pressure sensor (41) provides a signal for fluid delivered to the valve arrangement. A flow sensor (42) provides a signal representing the flow in the feed conduit (25). A controller (50) is in receipt of the sensor signals, receives instructions from an operator and controls the regulation valve (30) using the instructions from the operator and available measured signals using feedback control loops combined with a feed forward signal.

대표청구항 ▼

1. An agricultural crop and field sprayer (1), said sprayer (1) comprising: a sprayer fluid tank (10);a positive displacement pump (20), the inlet of the pump being in fluid communication with said tank (10);a boom (15) divided in a plurality of boom sections (16) and each boom section being provide

1. An agricultural crop and field sprayer (1), said sprayer (1) comprising: a sprayer fluid tank (10);a positive displacement pump (20), the inlet of the pump being in fluid communication with said tank (10);a boom (15) divided in a plurality of boom sections (16) and each boom section being provided with a plurality of spray nozzles;a valve arrangement (28) having a plurality of ports;a feed conduit (25) for establishing fluid communication between an outlet of said pump (20) and said valve arrangement (28);wherein one port of the valve arrangement (28) is connected to the feed conduit (25), another port of said valve arrangement (28) is connected to a by-pass conduit (26) and one or more of the plurality of further ports of said valve arrangement (28) are individually connected to each one of the plurality of boom sections (16);said valve arrangement (28) being configured for selectively connecting the feed conduit (25) to either the bypass conduit (26) or to one or more of the plurality of boom sections (16);a return conduit (32) branching off from the feed conduit (25);a regulation valve (30) in said return conduit (32), said regulation valve (30) applying a variable degree of throttling to the fluid flowing from said feed conduit (25) through said return conduit (32), said variable degree of throttling depending on the position of said regulation valve (30); anda controller (50) configured to receive instruction signals from an operator, and configured to receive other measured signals;wherein said controller (50) determines an anticipated correct setpoint for the regulation valve (30) for creating a feed forward signal on the basis of changing conditions that are registered via the received signals;wherein said controller (50) uses instruction signals from the operator, and a signal representing the ground speed of the sprayer, and uses a signal indicating changes in the position of section valves (29) in said valve arrangement (28) for creating a feed forward signal on the basis of changing conditions that are registered via the received signal;wherein the instruction signals from the operator are selected from the group consisting of spray ON, spray OFF, desired application rate (volume per area), number of nozzles selected, sprayer velocity (m/s), pump rotational speed (RPM). 2. An agricultural field sprayer (1) according to claim 1, wherein said feedback loop or loops use signals representing the pressure of the fluid delivered to the valve arrangement (28) and representing the flow rate of the fluid delivered to the valve arrangement (28). 3. An agricultural field sprayer (1) according to any one of claim 1, wherein said controller (50) comprises a setpoint calculation component for the regulation valve (30), said setpoint calculation component receives said feed forward signal and is able to start or speed up movement of the relatively slow regulation valve (30) in response to registered changing conditions. 4. An agricultural field sprayer (1) according to claim 1, wherein said controller (50) is further in receipt of a signal indicative of the position of the regulation valve (30). 5. An agricultural field sprayer (1) according to claim 1, further comprising: a pressure sensor (41) for providing a signal representing the pressure of the fluid delivered to said valve arrangement (28), anda flow sensor (42) for providing a signal representing the flow in said feed conduit (25) to said valve arrangement (28),said controller (50) being in receipt of the signal from the pressure sensor (41), and in receipt of the signal from the flow sensor (42), andsaid controller (50) being configured to estimate the restriction to flow of the active spray nozzles using the signal from said pressure sensor (41) and said flow sensor (42). 6. An agricultural crop and field sprayer (1) according to claim 5, wherein said controller (50) is configured to determine a desired setting for said regulation valve (30) using said estimated restriction to flow. 7. An agricultural field sprayer (1) according to claim 5, wherein said controller (50) is further configured to use amongst other inputs the estimated restriction to flow through the active nozzles to determine an expected position for the regulation valve (30) that corresponds to a desired application rate. 8. An agricultural field sprayer (1) according to claim 7, wherein said controller (50) is configured to use said expected position for the regulation valve (30) in a feed forward controller the regulation valve (30). 9. An agricultural crop and field sprayer (1) according to claim 5, wherein said controller (50) is informed of the number of boom sections (16) and spray nozzles that are active, and wherein said controller (50) is configured to determine the overall restriction to flow of the active spray nozzles, and wherein the controller (50) is configured to determine the restriction to flow of the individual spray nozzles. 10. An agricultural crop and field sprayer (1) according to claim 5, wherein said controller (50) is in receipt of a signal representing the actual position of said regulation valve (30), and said controller (50) is configured to control the position of said regulation valve (30) using the signal representing the actual position of the regulation valve (30). 11. An agricultural crop and field sprayer (1) according to claim 5, wherein said controller (50) is in receipt of a signal indicative of the sprayer speed, and in receipt of an instruction signal indicative of the desired application rate of the spraying fluid, and wherein said controller (50) is configured to control the position of said regulation valve (30) to obtain a pressure and flow rate of the fluid delivered to said valve arrangement (28) that is optimized for the desired application rate and the actual type of spray nozzle. 12. An agricultural crop and field sprayer (1) according to claim 5, wherein said controller (50) is configured to assume that a previously obtained information on the nozzle type (50) is still valid unless a spraying activity has been interrupted for a period of time exceeding a predetermined value. 13. An agricultural crop and field sprayer (1) according to claim 5, wherein said controller (50) is configured to assume that the restriction to flow is a predetermined relatively large restriction to flow when said predetermined period of time without spraying has lapsed, and said controller (50) being configured to adapt the position of the regulation valve (30) accordingly to said predetermined relatively large restriction to flow. 14. An agricultural field sprayer (1) according to claim 1, wherein said controller (50) is in receipt of a velocity signal indicative of the actual ground speed of the sprayer (1), said controller (50) is configured to control the position of said regulation valve (30) during spraying operation and during non-spraying operation, andsaid controller (50) is configured to command the regulation valve (30) during non-spraying to move in the closing direction in response to the velocity signal when the ground speed of the sprayer (1) is increasing. 15. An agricultural field sprayer (1) according to claim 14, wherein said controller (50) is configured to command the regulation valve (30) during non-spraying to move in the opening direction in response to the velocity signal when the ground speed of the sprayer (1) is decreasing. 16. An agricultural crop and field sprayer (1) according to claim 14, wherein said controller (50) is configured to command the regulation valve (30) during non-spraying to move in the closing direction at the highest rate possible, in response to the velocity signal when the ground speed of the sprayer (1) is increasing. 17. An agricultural field sprayer (1) according to claim 1, wherein said controller (50) is further configured to control said valve arrangement (28) and said controller (50) is configured to issue a control signal to said valve arrangement (28) to connect the feed conduit (25) to said bypass conduit (26) when the controller (50) receives instructions not to spray, and said controller (50) being configured to issue a control signal to said valve arrangement (28) to connect one or more of said boom sections (16) to said feed conduit (25) when the controller (50) receives instructions to spray. 18. An agricultural field sprayer (1) according to claim 16, wherein said controller (50) is configured to command the regulation valve (30) during non-spraying operation to move towards a setpoint that corresponds to the setpoint with the actual ground speed of the sprayer (1) in spraying operation. 19. An agricultural field sprayer (1) according to claim 1, wherein: said valve arrangement (28) includes a plurality of electronically controlled section valves (29) and whereby a boom section (16) is associated with each of said section valves (29),said controller (50) is configured to control said section valves (29) and said controller (50) being configured to issue a control signal to selectively connect and disconnect specific boom sections (16) to said feed conduit,said controller (50) is configured to command the regulation valve (30) to move in an opening direction when any of said section valves (29) is in the process of disconnecting a boom section (16) from said feed conduit (25), andsaid controller (50) is configured to command the regulation valve (30) to move in a closing direction when any of said section valves (29) is in the process of connecting a boom section (16) to said feed conduit (25). 20. An agricultural crop and field sprayer (1) according to claim 19, wherein said controller (50) is configured to command the regulation valve (30) to move in the opening direction at the highest rate possible when any of said section valves (29) is in the process of disconnecting a boom section (16) from said feed conduit (25). 21. An agricultural crop and field sprayer (1) according to claim 19, wherein said controller (50) is configured to command the regulation valve (30) to move in the closing direction at the highest rate possible when any of said section valves (29) is in the process of connecting a boom section (16) to said feed conduit (25). 22. A method for controlling agricultural crop and field sprayer (1), said sprayer (1) comprising: a sprayer fluid tank (10),a positive displacement pump (20), the inlet of the pump being in fluid communication with said tank (10),a boom (15) divided in a plurality of boom sections (16) and each boom section being provided with a plurality of spray nozzles,a valve arrangement (28) having a plurality of ports;a feed conduit (25) for establishing fluid communication between an outlet of said pump (20) and said valve arrangement (28);wherein one port of the valve arrangement (28) is connected to the feed conduit (25), another port of the valve arrangement (28) is connected to a by-pass conduit (26) and one or more of the plurality of further ports of the valve arrangement (28) are individually connected to each of said plurality of boom sections (16),said valve arrangement (28) being configured for selectively connecting the feed conduit (25) to either said bypass conduit (26) or to one or more of the boom sections (16),a return conduit (32) branching off from the feed conduit (25),a regulation valve (30) in said return conduit (32), said regulation valve (30) applying a variable degree of throttling to the fluid flowing from said feed conduit (25) through said return conduit (32), said variable degree of throttling depending on the position of said regulation valve (30),said method comprising receiving instruction signals from an operator, and a signal representing the ground speed of the sprayer, and receiving a signal indicating changes in the position of section valves (29) in said valve arrangement (28) andusing the instructions from the operator and the signal representing the ground speed of the sprayer, and the signal indicating changes in the position of section valves (29) in said valve arrangement (28), anddetermining an anticipated correct setpoint for the regulation valve (30) for creating a feed forward signal on the basis of changing conditions that are registered via the received signals;wherein the instruction signals from the operator are selected from the group consisting of spray ON, spray OFF, desired application rate (volume per area), number of nozzles selected, sprayer velocity (m/s), pump rotational speed (RPM). 23. An agricultural crop and field sprayer (1), said sprayer (1) comprising: a sprayer fluid tank (10) for holding spraying fluid;a positive displacement pump (20), the inlet of the pump being in fluid communication with said tank (10);a boom (15) divided in a plurality of boom sections (16) and each boom section being provided with a plurality of spray nozzles;a valve arrangement (28) having a plurality of ports;a feed conduit (25) for establishing fluid communication between an outlet of said pump (20) and said valve arrangement (28);wherein one port of the valve arrangement (28) being connected to the feed conduit (25), another port of said valve arrangement (28) being connected to a bypass conduit (26) that leads to said sprayer fluid tank (10) and one or more of the plurality of further ports of said valve arrangement (28) being individually and fluidly connected to each one of said plurality of boom sections (16);said valve arrangement (28) being configured for selectively connecting the feed conduit (25) to either said by-pass conduit (26) or to one or more of said boom sections (16);a return conduit (32) branching off from the feed conduit (25);a regulation valve (30) in said return conduit (32), said regulation valve (30) applying a variable degree of throttling to the fluid flowing from said feed conduit (25) through said return conduit (32), said variable degree of throttling depending on the position of said regulation valve (30);a pressure sensor (41) for providing a signal representing the pressure of the fluid delivered to said valve arrangement (28);a flow sensor (42) for providing a signal representing the flow in said feed conduit (25) to said valve arrangement (28);a controller (50) in receipt of the signal from the pressure sensor (41) and from the flow sensor (42), said controller (50) being configured to: either estimate a restriction to flow of the spray nozzles using the signal from said pressure sensor (41) and said flow sensor (42); orto receive instruction signals by an operator indicating the restriction to flow of the spray nozzles;said controller (50) being configured to receive instruction signals in the form of job inputs, said job inputs comprising a requested application rate of said spaying fluid, instructions to spray, instructions not to spray, and a ground speed of the sprayer (1);said controller (50) being configured being configured to issue a control signal to said valve arrangement (28) to connect said feed conduit (25) to said bypass conduit (26) when the controller (50) receives instructions not to spray;said controller (50) being configured to issue a control signal to said valve arrangement (28) to connect one or more of said boom sections (16) to said feed conduit (25) when the controller (50) receives instructions to spray;said controller (50) being configured to determine an anticipated correct setpoint for the regulation valve (30) using said requested spraying fluid application rate, said estimated restriction to flow of the spray nozzles and said ground speed of the sprayer (1);said controller (50) being configured to calculate a desired pressure setpoint for the pressure in said feed conduit (25);said controller (50) comprising a feedback loop comparing said calculated desired pressure setpoint with said signal from said pressure sensor (41);said controller (50) is configured to control the position of said regulation valve (30) using said feedback loop when said valve arrangement (28) connects one or more of said boom sections (16) to said feed conduit (25); andsaid controller (50) is configured to control the position of said regulation valve with said anticipated correct setpoint for the regulation valve (30) as a feed forward signal when said valve arrangement (28) connects the feed conduit (25) to said bypass conduit (26).