JPH10337146A - System for spraying pesticide - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system for spraying pesticide that can improve the working and energy efficiencies, in addition, can increase the degree of freedom on the starting and returning places for the spraying helicopter. SOLUTION: The ignition timing is detected by means of the ignition pulser coil 11, and the engine rotation calculator 632 calculates the rotation number of the engine for the unmanned helicopter as it receives the signals relating to the engine rotation output from the waveform shaping circuit. Then, the spray width calculator 633 judges whether the engine rotation is judged to be more than the moderate rotation or not. In the case that the rotation is more than the moderate one (judged that the unmanned helicopter has taken off from the ground and risen in the air), the motor 263 is allowed to rotate at high rotation to complete the preparation for the pesticide application by allow the motor 263 to rotate at a high speed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a medicine spraying system for spraying medicines such as pesticides in the air by an unmanned helicopter operated by remote operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When spraying pesticides such as pest control chemicals on a large area in a large area of forest or farmland, the chemicals are sprayed in the air using a small airplane or an unmanned helicopter on which a pilot rides. Has been done. However, the aerial dispersal of drugs by such manned vehicles has
It is difficult to apply to a small area, and there is a problem that a charter fee for an airplane or the like is expensive.
Therefore, in order to solve such a problem, as shown in FIG. 12, for example, a radiopharmaceutical helicopter (unmanned helicopter) 1 which can be remotely controlled by radio is attached with a medicine spraying device 2 and a worker uses the radio control helicopter using the remote control device. A medicine spraying system for spraying a medicine from the medicine spraying apparatus 2 in the air while remotely operating the apparatus 1 has been proposed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-163946).

In this medicine spraying system, every time the radio-controlled helicopter 1 moves along the movement paths R1, R2,... Above the spraying target area 100 where the medicine is to be sprayed, the medicine spraying device 2 sends the medicine with a spray width W0. Is the area 10 to be sprayed
Sprayed towards zero. Then, the operator remotely controls the radio-controlled helicopter 1 above the spraying target area 100 in accordance with a flight route (for example, a thick arrow in the drawing) planned in advance, thereby spraying the medicine on the entire spraying target area 100. You can do it.

[0004]

By the way, in the medicine spraying system described in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-163946, a medicine in a medicine tank is sent as a medicine spraying device to an atomizer that is driven to rotate by a pump, and the medicine is sprayed. Aerial spraying is used. In order to perform good medicine spraying by this medicine spraying apparatus, the pump is operated in a state where the atomizer is rotationally driven before the medicine is sprayed in the air and the rotation of the atomizer is stabilized (a state in which the preparation for medicine spraying is completed). Need to send the drug to the atomizer. Therefore, it is necessary to control the motor of the pump and the motor that rotationally drives the atomizer in synchronization with each other, and this motor control is performed by remote control by an operator. For this reason, every time the worker sprays the medicine, it is necessary to perform the work while paying attention to the synchronous control of these two motors, and this synchronous control has been one of the adverse effects in improving the working efficiency. .

Further, before flying the unmanned helicopter, the atomizer is started to rotate in advance to complete the preparation of the spraying of the medicine, and the pump of the pump is constantly rotated while the atomizer is stably rotating (preparation state of the spraying of the medicine). If only the motor is controlled by remote control, the working efficiency is improved, but the power loss is increased and the energy efficiency is reduced. In addition, starting and returning places of the unmanned helicopter are restricted because the atomizer is rotated on the ground. This is because, when the starting or returning place of the unmanned helicopter is, for example, grassy, grass is caught in the rotary drive atomizer, which may cause a failure of the medicine spraying device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and has been made in view of the work and energy efficiency of a medicine spraying system provided with a medicine spraying apparatus which requires preparation for spraying a medicine prior to spraying a medicine in the air. The objective is to increase the degree of freedom of starting and returning places of unmanned helicopters.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an unmanned helicopter in which a medicine spraying device is attached to a body of the unmanned helicopter, and the unmanned helicopter is caused to fly by a control device based on various commands given from a remote control device.
A drug spraying system for spraying a medicine from the drug spraying device in the air, and the drug spraying device requires a drug spraying preparation prior to the air spraying of the drug, and the remote control device in a state where the drug spraying preparation is performed. In order to achieve the above object under the condition that the medicine is sprayed in response to a medicine spraying instruction from the control device, the control device includes a detecting unit that detects an operation state of the unmanned helicopter, and the detecting unit. And a control unit for controlling the start and the cancellation of the preparation for spraying the medicine based on the detection result of the above.

According to the present invention, the detecting means detects the operation status of the unmanned helicopter and outputs the detection result to the control unit. Then, the start and the cancellation of the preparation for spraying the medicine are controlled based on the detection result.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, an engine detecting means for detecting an engine speed of the unmanned helicopter is used as the detecting means.

In the present invention, the engine detecting means functioning as the detecting means detects the operating speed of the unmanned helicopter by detecting the engine speed of the unmanned helicopter.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the control unit includes:
The medicine spray preparation is started when the engine rotation speed detected by the engine detection means is equal to or higher than a predetermined rotation speed, and the medicine spray preparation is canceled when the engine rotation speed is less than the rotation speed. doing.

According to the present invention, the preparation for spraying the medicine is started or canceled based on whether or not the engine speed of the unmanned helicopter is equal to or higher than the predetermined speed. That is, preparation for spraying the medicine is automatically controlled based on the engine speed of the unmanned helicopter.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the medicine spraying device comprises:
A medicine tank for storing a granular medicine, a rotating section rotatably provided around a rotation axis extending substantially parallel to the vertical direction, rotation driving means for driving the rotating section to rotate, And a medicine supply means for supplying the medicine to the rotating section along a medicine supply path, wherein the rotating section is rotationally driven by the rotation driving means in preparation for the spraying of the medicine, and the rotating section in the rotating state is provided. , And the medicine is diffused and dispersed in the outer circumferential direction of the rotating part by centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the rotating part.

According to the present invention, the preparation for spraying the medicine is performed by rotating the rotating portion by the rotating drive means.
The start and stop of the rotation drive of the rotation unit are performed according to the detection result of the detection unit.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A medicine spraying system according to the present invention selectively attaches one of two types of medicine spraying devices to a body of an unmanned helicopter which can be remotely controlled by a main remote control device. The medicine is sprayed from the medicine spraying device in the air while remotely controlling the unmanned helicopter by the operation device. In this embodiment, a liquid medicine (hereinafter referred to as “liquid medicine”) is used as the medicine spraying device.
) And a granule spraying device for spraying a granular medicine (hereinafter referred to as “granules”). Hereinafter, a configuration in which a liquid agent spraying device is attached to an unmanned helicopter to spray a liquid agent (liquid agent spraying process) and a configuration in which a granule spraying device is attached to an unmanned helicopter to spray liquid agent (particle spraying process). After the description, the electrical configuration of the entire system will be described, and an example of a specific procedure will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 is a view showing one embodiment of a medicine spraying system according to the present invention, and is a view showing a state where a liquid sprayer is mounted on an unmanned helicopter. As shown in the figure, the fuselage body 10 of the unmanned helicopter (indicated by a dashed line in the figure) is a conventional model radio-controlled helicopter that is remotely controlled by radio or is similar to the conventional model. A control device for controlling the entire body, the liquid spraying device 20, and the granule spraying device 30 (such as FIG. 4 described later) is disposed along with an engine for flying the body. The control device guides the liquid spraying device 20 attached to the body 10 to the main remote control device or the auxiliary remote device from the ground while controlling and flying the airframe freely by guiding the main remote control device from the ground. And spray the liquid. In addition, the control device not only controls the spraying of the liquid agent but also, when the granule spraying device 30 is attached, 40 (FIG. 9) or the auxiliary remote device 50 (FIG. 9) from the ground.
, The granule spraying device 30 is operated to spray the granules.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the liquid spraying device 20.
FIG. 3 is a plan view of the liquid spraying device 20 as viewed from above.
The liquid spraying device 20 has a pair of drug tanks 21 and 21 for storing the liquid, and can be attached to the body 10 of the unmanned helicopter by the mounting bracket 22. Then, when the mounting bracket 22 is mounted on the body 10, as shown in FIG.
1 and 21 are located on both sides of the body 10. Also, the liquid agent dispersing device 20 is configured such that the horizontal bar 24 extended in the horizontal direction by the mounting stay 23 is attached to the body main body 1.
0 can be attached. As described above, in this embodiment, the liquid material spraying device 20 is detachable from the body body 10 of the unmanned helicopter by attaching and detaching the mounting bracket 22 and the horizontal bar 24 to and from the body body 10. The configuration for attaching and detaching the spraying device 20 to and from the body 10 of the unmanned helicopter is arbitrary.

Further, each of the two ends of the horizontal bar 24 which can be attached to the body 10 as described above
The three nozzles 25, 25, 25 are continuously provided at regular intervals. These six nozzles 25 are connected to the medicine tanks 21 and 21 via a pressure feeding mechanism 26.
The pressure feeding mechanism 26 includes a piping system 261 for guiding the liquid agent from the chemical tanks 21 and 21 to the respective nozzles 25, and a pump 262 provided at an intermediate portion of the piping system 261 and for feeding the liquid agent toward the nozzle 25. Pump 26
When the second motor 263 is operated, the medicine tanks 21 and
The liquid agent stored in 1 is supplied to each nozzle 25 side,
The liquid agent is discharged downward from each nozzle 25. Thus, the liquid agent can be sprayed by the liquid agent spraying device 20.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a state in which the granule spraying device is mounted on an unmanned helicopter. FIG. 5 is a side view of the granule spraying device, and FIG. 6 is a plan view of the granule spraying device viewed from above. The granule dispersing device 30 includes the mounting bracket 3.
The mounting bracket 31 is configured to be detachable from the body 10 of the unmanned helicopter. In the granule spraying device 30, a pair of medicine tanks 3 for storing granules in the mounting bracket 31 is provided.
When the mounting bracket 31 is attached to the body 10 of the machine, the medicine tank 3 is fixed as shown in FIG.
2 and 32 are located on both sides of the body 10. In this mounted state, a rotating part (impeller) 33 is provided immediately below the body 10 of the unmanned helicopter.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are an enlarged plan view and an enlarged side view of the rotating portion 33, respectively. As shown in these figures, the rotating part 33 is provided rotatably around a rotating shaft 331 extending substantially parallel to the vertical direction. On the upper surface side of the rotating portion 33, three blade members 332 are provided substantially upright about the rotating shaft 331. For this reason, when the motor 34 connected to the rotation shaft 331 is driven, the rotation unit 33 rotates around the rotation shaft 331, and further, the medicine tank 32,
When the granules stored in 32 are supplied, the blade members 33
2 pushes the granules in the outer circumferential direction, and furthermore, the granules are diffused and scattered in the outer circumferential direction from the rotating unit 33 by the centrifugal force caused by the rotating motion of the rotating unit 33. Thus, in this embodiment, the rotating unit 3
3, so as to spray the granules.

In this embodiment, the medicine tank 3
As a medicine supply means for supplying the granules stored in the storage tanks 2 and 32, as shown in FIG.
A drug supply pipe 35 having a V-shape is provided, and granules in the drug tanks 32, 32 slide down along the longitudinal direction (drug supply path) of the drug supply pipe 35 and fall to the lowermost portion 351 of the drug supply pipe 35. get together. The lowermost portion 351 has an opening 3
52 is provided, and the granule can be supplied to the rotating unit 33 through the opening 352.

Further, a shutter 361 is arranged corresponding to the opening 352, and the amount of the granular material supplied to the rotating portion 33 through the opening 352 is controlled by controlling the opening and closing of the shutter 361 by the servo motor 362. You can do it. That is, in this embodiment, the rotating unit 3 is formed by the shutter 361 and the servomotor 362.
A supply amount adjusting means for adjusting the supply amount of the granules to the third agent is constituted.

Next, the electrical configuration of the medicine spraying system configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.

The main remote control device 40 is provided with an airframe operation unit 41 for remotely controlling the unmanned helicopter. The operator operates the airframe operation unit 41 to remotely control the unmanned helicopter. Control and fly an unmanned helicopter on a desired flight route. The main remote control device 40 has a spray main switch 42 for instructing whether or not the worker performs the spraying process, as a switch for the worker to control the spraying of the medicine.
A spray changeover switch 43 for changing the spray width in two stages, and a spray adjustment (WF, W
H) A switch 44 is provided. Therefore, while remotely operating the unmanned helicopter, the operator can operate these switch groups 42 to 44 as needed to spray the medicine. Note that the operation command given by the operator includes a machine operation unit 41, a scatter main switch 42, and a scatter switch 43.
The data is wirelessly transmitted to the machine body 10 by a transmitter 45 electrically connected to the spray adjustment switch 44.

Since remote control of the unmanned helicopter and remote control of the drug spraying devices 20 and 30 at the same time requires skill, the drug spraying device 2 is not required.
An auxiliary remote control device 50 for performing only remote control of 0 and 30 is separately provided. This auxiliary remote control device 50
Is the same as the main remote control device 40 except for the machine operation unit 41 and the spray adjustment switch 44, and the auxiliary worker instructs whether or not to perform the spraying process with the spray main switch 51,
The spray switch 52 can be switched in two stages (WF, WH), and the medicine spray command concerning the medicine spray given by the auxiliary worker is transmitted wirelessly to the machine body 10 by the transmitter 54. Sent.

In the body 10 of the unmanned helicopter,
The body main body 10 and a control device 60 for controlling the medicine spraying apparatuses 20 and 30 mounted on the body main body 10 are provided. The control device 60 receives a radio wave transmitted from the transmitter 45 and converts a machine operation command given by the worker through the main remote control device 40 and a medicine spraying command regarding medicine spraying into an electric signal, And a receiver 62 that receives a radio wave transmitted from the transmitter 54 and converts a medicine spraying command given by the worker through the auxiliary remote control device 50 to a medicine spraying into an electric signal. Then, the control device 60 controls each part of the body main body 10 based on the operation command signal output from the receiver 61 to cause the body main body 10 to fly. Since the control of the body 10 is already known, the description thereof is omitted here.

On the other hand, the control device 60 comprises receivers 61 and 62
Spraying device 2 based on a drug spraying command output from
Control 0,30. Here, the medicine spraying command among the commands received by the receiver 61 is a command given through the spraying main switch 42 (a command as to whether or not to spray the medicine;
(Hereinafter referred to as “ON / OFF command”), a command given through the spraying changeover switch 43 (command to set the spraying width to the maximum (WF) or narrow (WH); hereinafter, “FULL / HA”
LF command) and a command given through the spray adjustment switch 44 (a command relating to the spray amount; hereinafter, referred to as a "spray amount command"). On the other hand, the medicine spraying command received by the receiver 62 is an ON / OFF command given through the spraying main switch 51 and a FULL / HALF command given through the spraying changeover switch 52.

As shown in FIG.
U63 and a storage unit 64, and the CPU 63
A program or data stored in the storage unit 64 in advance, and the following input signal: a signal related to the medicine spray command output from the receivers 61 and 62; a signal from the medicine type changeover switch 65; Various calculations are performed based on a signal related to the number of revolutions, a signal from the clean switch 66, and a control signal related to the rotational drive of the motors 263 and 34 is given to the motor drive control circuit 67 to change the spray width, The control signal relating to the shutter 25 is supplied to the nozzle diameter adjustment control circuit 68 to adjust the nozzle diameter of the nozzle 25, and the control signal relating to the shutter position is supplied to the shutter drive control circuit 69 to control the position of the shutter 361. That is, the CPU 63 has control functions as a nozzle diameter calculation unit 631, a rotation speed calculation unit 632, a spray width calculation unit 633, a medicine type determination unit 634, and a shutter position calculation unit 635, and these control functions are combined. Thus, scatter width control, nozzle diameter control, shutter control, and the like are performed.

The nozzle diameter calculating section 631 includes the receivers 61 and 6
2 to calculate the optimum nozzle diameter of the nozzle 25 based on the signal related to the FULL / HALF command (hereinafter, referred to as “FULL / HALF command signal”) output from the control unit 2. The value is output to the nozzle diameter adjustment control circuit 68. Then, the nozzle diameter adjustment control circuit 68 receiving the signal regarding the optimum nozzle diameter in this manner sends the signal to the nozzle diameter changing mechanism 27 (not shown in FIGS. 1 to 3) provided in the liquid spraying device 20. A drive control signal is given to change the nozzle diameter of each nozzle 25 to the optimum nozzle diameter.

The rotation speed calculating section 632 includes a waveform shaping circuit 70.
Receives the signal related to the engine speed output from the controller, calculates the engine speed of the unmanned helicopter, and outputs the calculation result to the scatter width calculator 363. The waveform shaping circuit 70 is a circuit that is electrically connected to the ignition pulsar coil 11 housed in the body 10 and shapes a signal detected by the ignition pulsar coil 11.

The scatter width calculating section 633 includes the receivers 61 and 62.
(Hereinafter referred to as "ON / OFF command signal") and FULL / H
Outputs control signals for the motors 263 and 34 to the motor drive control circuit 67 based on an ALF command signal, a signal from the clean switch 66, and an output signal (a signal related to a drug type) from a drug type determination unit 634 described below. It is. Since the control mode of the motors 263 and 34 differs depending on the kind of the medicine to be sprayed and the like, it will be described in detail later in the description of the specific spraying procedure.

The medicine type judging section 634 judges whether the medicine spraying device mounted on the body 10 is the liquid spraying device 20 or the granule spraying device 30 based on the signal from the medicine type changeover switch 65. Then, the determination result is output to the scatter width calculating unit 633 and the shutter position calculating unit 635 as a signal regarding the drug type (hereinafter, referred to as “drug type signal”). The medicine type changeover switch 65 is attached to the main body 10 so that the operator can operate the medicine spraying device by using the main body 1.
After attaching to 0, it is for switching according to the type of the attached medicine spraying device.

The shutter position calculator 635 is provided for the receiver 6
Signals output from 1, 62 and drug type determination unit 634
Calculates the optimal position of the shutter 361 based on the medicine type signal output from the CPU and outputs the calculation result to the shutter drive control circuit 69. Then, the shutter drive control circuit 6 receiving the signal from the shutter position calculation unit 635
9 controls the drive of the servo motor 362 to control the shutter 361.
Is positioned at the optimal position.

Next, a specific procedure of the medicine spraying system configured as described above will be described.
A case where a process (cleaning process) for removing a drug remaining in the drug spraying device is performed will be described separately.

In the case of spraying a liquid agent (FIG. 10) First, the operator attaches the liquid agent spraying device 20 to the body 10 of the unmanned helicopter to complete the preparation for spraying the liquid agent (FIG. 1). At this time, the medicine type changeover switch 65 is switched to the “liquid” side on the machine body 10 side. by this,
The control device 60 determines that the medicine to be sprayed is a “liquid medicine”, and controls the medicine spraying system based on the determination result. On the other hand, on the main remote control device 40 and the auxiliary remote control device 50 side, both devices are spraying main switches 42, 51.
Is set to an OFF state, and the spray changeover switches 43 and 52 are set to a FULL state (a state in which spraying can be performed with a spray width WF).

After the preparation is completed, the operator operates the machine operating section 41 of the main remote controller 40 to move the unmanned helicopter to the position P1 near the area 100 to be sprayed. Then, when the unmanned helicopter reaches the spray target area 100 while remotely operating according to the flight route planned in advance (thick white arrow in FIG. 10), the spray main switch 42 is switched from the OFF state to the ON state to spray the liquid. On the other hand, when the user moves away from the area 100 to be sprayed,
Switch to the FF state and stop spraying the liquid.

When only the spraying main switch 42 is appropriately switched to the ON state while the spraying changeover switches 43 and 52 are set to the FULL state, the main remote controller 4
From 0, the effect of the spraying main switch "ON" and the effect of the spraying changeover switch "FULL" are transmitted, while the auxiliary remote control device 50 transmits the information of the spraying main switch "OFF" and the effect of the spraying changeover switch "FULL". Then, the liquid spraying device 20 is controlled by the control device 60, and the spray width WF is controlled.
The liquid agent is sprayed toward the spray target area 100.

That is, in the control device 60, the corresponding ON / OFF command signal and FULL / HALF command signal from the receivers 61 and 62 which have received the radio waves from the main remote control device 40 and the auxiliary remote control device 50 are used to calculate the scatter width. Part 6
33. Then, the scatter width calculating unit 633 outputs a control signal for rotating the motor 263 at high speed to the motor drive control circuit 67 based on these outputs and the medicine type signal from the medicine type determination unit 634. Upon receiving this control signal, the motor drive control circuit 67 PWM-controls the motor 263 at a high DUTY (for example, 100%), and pumps the liquid material to the nozzle 25 side at a high pressure by the pump 262. As a result, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 1, the discharge angle 2θ of the liquid agent discharged from the nozzle 25 is widened, and a relatively wide spray width WF is obtained.

The spraying of the liquid agent with the spraying width WF is sequentially performed as described above, and the spraying changeover switch of the main remote controller 40 is set at an appropriate position (here, as an example, the position PF immediately before the final spraying). 43 from “FULL” to “HA”
LF ", and when the unmanned helicopter reaches the spraying target area 100, the spraying main switch 42 is turned off.
Switch from the FF state to the ON state and spray the liquid agent. By switching the spray changeover switch 43 to “HALF” in this manner, the main remote control device 40 transmits a signal indicating the spray main switch “ON” and the spray changeover switch “HALF”, while the auxiliary remote control device 50 sprays. The main switch “OFF” and the spray changeover switch “FULL” are transmitted. Then, the liquid agent spraying device 20 is controlled by the control device 60, and the liquid agent is sprayed toward the spray target area 100 with the spray width WH (<WF).

That is, in the control device 60, the corresponding ON / OFF command signal and FULL / HALF command signal from the receivers 61 and 62 that have received the radio waves from the main remote control device 40 and the auxiliary remote control device 50 are used to calculate the scatter width. Part 6
33. Then, the scatter width calculating unit 633 outputs a control signal for rotating the motor 263 at a low speed to the motor drive control circuit 67 based on these outputs and the drug type signal from the drug type determination unit 634. Upon receiving this control signal, the motor drive control circuit 67 performs PWM control on the motor 263 at a low DUTY (for example, 50%) to reduce the pressure of the liquid material pumped by the pump 262. As a result, as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 1, the discharge angle 2θ ′ (<2θ) of the liquid agent discharged from the nozzle 25 becomes narrow, and a relatively narrow spray width WH is obtained.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the spray width of the liquid agent by the liquid agent spraying device 20 can be changed at any time during the spraying, so that the spray width can be changed according to the shape and size of the spray target area 100. Is changed without greatly overlapping the scatter areas, and the scatter area 1
00, the liquid agent is sprayed without protruding from the area 100
Can be evenly spread over the entire surface.

The area 10 to be sprayed as described above
When the spraying of the liquid medicine to 0 is completed, the spraying main switch 42 of the main remote controller 40 is switched from the ON state to the OFF state to stop the liquid spraying. After that, return the unmanned helicopter to the worker.

When the liquid is sprayed, it is necessary to keep the particle size of the drug sprayed from the nozzle within a predetermined range. However, as described above, the pressure of the liquid fed by the pump 262 to the nozzle 25 changes. Then, the particle size also changes. If the change in particle size is slight and there is no risk of deviating from the above range, no particular problem occurs, but if the change in particle size is large, a serious problem is caused. Therefore, the medicine spraying system according to this embodiment is configured so that the nozzle diameter of the nozzle 25 changes according to the spray width.

That is, as conventionally known,
When the pressure is kept constant, the particle diameter increases as the nozzle diameter increases. When the nozzle diameter is kept constant, the particle diameter decreases as the pressure increases. In this embodiment, based on such a relationship among the pressure, the nozzle diameter, and the particle diameter, the nozzle diameter calculation unit 631 changes the scatter width from the storage unit 64 based on the FULL / HALF command signal output from the receivers 61 and 62. The corresponding nozzle diameter is determined, and the nozzle diameter is adjusted via the nozzle diameter adjustment control circuit 68 and the nozzle diameter changing mechanism 27. Specifically, in order to reduce the spray width from the width WF to the width WH, the pumping pressure is reduced, and at the same time, the nozzle diameter of the nozzle 25 is reduced. Conversely, the pumping pressure is increased to increase the spray width from the width WH to the width WF, and the nozzle diameter of the nozzle 25 is increased. Therefore, according to the medicine spraying system according to this embodiment, in addition to the above-described effect of changing the spray width, the particle diameter of the medicine discharged from the nozzle is always maintained substantially constant even when the spray width is changed. Therefore, there is an effect that a good medicine spraying operation can be performed.

When Spraying Granules (FIG. 11) First, the worker attaches the granule spraying device 30 to the body 10 of the unmanned helicopter to complete the preparation for spraying the granules (FIG. 4). At this time, on the machine body 10 side, the medicine type changeover switch 65 is switched to the “granule” side. Thereby, the control device 60 determines that the medicine to be sprayed is “granule”, and controls the medicine spraying system based on the determination result. On the other hand, on the main remote control device 40 and the auxiliary remote control device 50 side, both devices are spray main switches 42, 5
1 is set to the OFF state, and the spray changeover switches 43 and 52 are set to the FULL state (a state in which the spray can be performed with the spray width WF). By setting the spraying main switches 42 and 51 to the OFF state in this manner, the shutter 361 is closed and the granules are allowed to pass through the opening 352 to the rotating unit 3.
It is prevented from being supplied to the third side.

After completion of the preparation, the operator operates the body operating section 41 of the main remote controller 40 to move the unmanned helicopter to the position P1 near the area 100 to be sprayed. At this time, the engine speed of the unmanned helicopter gradually increases from zero, and has already reached a high speed when moving to the vicinity position P1, but in this embodiment, the engine speed is a medium speed (for example, When the rotation speed is 4000 rpm or more, the rotation unit 33 is configured to be rotationally driven.
That is, the ignition timing is detected by the ignition pulsar coil 11, and a signal relating to the engine speed output from the waveform shaping circuit 70 connected to the ignition pulsar coil 11 is received, and the rotation speed calculation unit 632 determines the engine speed of the unmanned helicopter engine. The rotation speed is calculated, and the calculation result is output to the scatter width calculation unit 363. At the same time, the corresponding FULL / HAL is received from the receivers 61 and 62 that have received the radio waves from the main remote control device 40 and the auxiliary remote control device 50.
The F command signal is output to the scatter width calculator 633. Then, the spray width calculating unit 633 determines whether or not the engine speed is equal to or higher than the medium engine speed, and when it is determined that the engine speed is equal to or higher than the medium engine speed, the output and drug type determining unit 6 is further determined.
A control signal for rotating the motor 263 at a high speed based on the drug type signal from the controller 34 is output to the motor drive control circuit 67. Upon receiving this control signal, the motor drive control circuit 67 switches the motor 34 to PWM with a high DUTY (for example, 100%).
By controlling, the rotation unit 33 is driven to rotate at high speed. At this time, since the spraying main switches 42 and 51 are in the OFF state, the shutter 361 remains closed,
Even when the rotating unit 33 is rotating, the granules are not supplied to the rotating unit 33 by the shutter 361, and the granules are not sprayed.

As described above, according to the medicine spraying system according to this embodiment, when the engine speed of the unmanned helicopter exceeds a certain level, that is, when the unmanned helicopter leaves the ground and rises in the air, the rotating unit Since the configuration is such that the rotation of the rotation unit 33 is automatically performed, the operator can perform the operation without concern for the rotation control operation of the rotation unit 33, thereby improving the efficiency of the operation and reducing the power loss. And energy efficiency can be improved. Also, since the rotating unit 33 does not need to be rotated on the ground,
For example, it is possible to stop the unmanned helicopter in the grass and start the unmanned helicopter from there, and the starting position of the unmanned helicopter can be selected with a high degree of freedom. As will be described later, the same effect can be obtained when returning the unmanned helicopter after spraying the medicine.

When the movement of the unmanned helicopter to the nearby position P1 is completed, the rotation of the rotating unit 33 by the motor 34 has already been stabilized. Then, in this state, the flight route planned in advance (the bold arrow in FIG. 11)
When the unmanned helicopter reaches the spraying target area 100 while remotely operating
While 2 is switched from the OFF state to the ON state to spray the granules, when it is separated from the area 100 to be sprayed, the ON state is switched to the OFF state and the spraying of the granules is stopped. When only the spraying main switch 42 is appropriately switched to the ON state while the spraying changeover switches 43 and 52 are set to the FULL state, the main remote control device 40 switches the spraying main switch “ON” and the spraying changeover switch “FULL”. While the notification is transmitted, the auxiliary remote control device 50 transmits a notification of the spraying main switch “OFF” and the spraying changeover switch “FULL”. Then, the granule spraying device 30 is controlled by the control device 60, and the granules are sprayed toward the spray target area 100 with the spray width WF.

That is, in the control device 60, the corresponding ON / OFF command signal and FULL / HALF command signal from the receivers 61 and 62 which have received the radio waves from the main remote control device 40 and the auxiliary remote control device 50 are used to calculate the scatter width. Part 6
33. Then, the scatter width calculating unit 633 controls the motor 34 to maintain the high-speed rotation based on these outputs and the output from the medicine type determining unit 634, while outputting from the receivers 61 and 62. O
The N / OFF command signal is supplied to a shutter position calculation unit 635, and the shutter position calculation unit 635 turns ON / OFF.
A control signal for fully opening the shutter 361 is output to the shutter drive control circuit 69 based on the command signal. In response, the shutter drive control circuit 69 drives the servo motor 362 to fully open the shutter 361,
The granules sent from the cartridge 2 along the medicine supply pipe 35 are supplied to the rotating part 33 rotating at high speed through the opening 352. As a result, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 4, the granules discharged from the rotating portion 33 are diffused and scattered over a wide range, and a relatively wide spray width WF is obtained.

The spraying of the granules with the spray width WF is sequentially performed as described above, and the spraying of the main remote controller 40 is switched at an appropriate position (here, as an example, the position PF immediately before the final spraying). Set the switch 43 from “FULL” to “HA”.
LF ", and when the unmanned helicopter reaches the spraying target area 100, the spraying main switch 42 is turned off.
Switch from the FF state to the ON state and spray the granules. By switching the spray changeover switch 43 to “HALF” in this manner, the main remote control device 40 transmits a signal indicating the spray main switch “ON” and the spray changeover switch “HALF”, while the auxiliary remote control device 50 sprays. The main switch “OFF” and the spray changeover switch “FULL” are transmitted. Then, the granule spraying device 30 is controlled by the control device 60, and the granules are sprayed toward the spray target area 100 with the spray width WH (<WF).

That is, in the control device 60, the corresponding ON / OFF command signal and FULL / HALF command signal from the receivers 61 and 62 that have received the radio waves from the main remote control device 40 and the auxiliary remote control device 50 are used to calculate the scatter width. Part 6
33. Then, the scatter width calculating section 633 outputs a control signal for rotating the motor 34 at a low speed to the motor drive control circuit 67 based on these outputs and the drug type signal from the drug type determining section 634. Upon receiving this control signal, the motor drive control circuit 67 performs PWM control on the motor 34 at a low DUTY (for example, 50%), and
At low speed. As a result, as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 4, the scattering range of the granules discharged from the rotating part 33 is narrowed, and a relatively narrow spray width WH is obtained.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the spray width of the granules by the granule spraying device 30 can be changed at any time during the spraying. By changing the spray width according to the shape and size of the spray 100, the granules are evenly spread over the spray target area 100 without significantly overlapping the spray areas and without protruding from the spray target area 100. can do.

The area 10 to be sprayed as described above
When the spraying of the granules to 0 is completed, the spraying main switch 42 of the main remote controller 40 is switched from the ON state to the OFF state to stop the spraying of the granules. After that, return the unmanned helicopter to the worker. At this time, the rotation speed of the engine of the unmanned helicopter gradually decreases, and when the rotation speed becomes lower than the medium rotation speed, the rotation driving of the rotating unit 33 is automatically stopped, and when the unmanned helicopter lands on the ground. Has already stopped the rotating part 33. Therefore, in the same manner as when starting the unmanned helicopter, the worker can perform the work without worrying about the rotation control operation of the rotating unit 33, and the efficiency of the work can be improved, and the landing position of the unmanned helicopter can be achieved. Can be selected with a high degree of freedom.

Clean Processing In the medicine spraying system according to the present embodiment, a clean switch 66 is provided on the body 10 of the apparatus, and by operating the clean switch 66, the unmanned helicopter is kept on standby on the ground. Medicine spraying device 20,
The medicine remaining in 30 can be discharged.

For example, the liquid agent spraying device 20 is
The worker (see FIG. 1) attaches the
When the clean switch 66 attached to is operated,
From the clean switch 66, a signal indicating that clean processing is to be performed is output to the scatter width calculating unit 633. Then, the scatter width calculating unit 633 outputs the output signal and the medicine type determining unit 63.
A motor control condition suitable for the liquid cleaning process is read from the storage unit 64 based on the drug type signal from the storage unit 4 and supplied to the motor drive control circuit 67 to drive the motor 263. As a result, the motor 263 rotates, the pump 262 operates, and the liquid medicine remaining in the medicine tank 21, the piping system 261 and the like is discharged from the nozzle 25.

When the clean switch 66 is operated in a state in which the granule dispersing device 30 is mounted on the machine body 10, the granules remaining in the rotating section 33 are removed as follows. That is, a signal indicating that the clean processing is to be performed is output from the clean switch 66 to the spray width calculation unit 633 together with the drug type signal from the drug type determination unit 634. Then, the spray width calculating unit 633 reads out the motor control conditions suitable for the clean processing of the granules from the storage unit 64 and supplies the motor control conditions to the motor drive control circuit 67 to drive the motor 34.
As a result, the motor 34 rotates and the rotating part 33 rotates, and the granules remaining in the rotating part 33 are diffused and discharged to the outside of the apparatus.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the clean switch 66 is provided, and the clean switch 66 is provided.
By operating, the remaining medicine can be discharged to the outside of the apparatus. Particularly, since the medicine can be discharged on the ground and at an arbitrary place without flying an unmanned helicopter, there is an excellent effect that the clean processing can be easily performed.

As described above, according to the medicine spraying system according to this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) Since the spraying width can be changed by operating the spraying changeover switch 43 as appropriate while remotely controlling the unmanned helicopter, the spraying width can be changed according to the shape and size of the spraying target area 100. By changing the spray width, the medicines (solutions and granules) can be evenly spread over the spray target area 100 without significantly overlapping the spray areas and without protruding from the spray target area 100. .

(2) Even if the spray width is changed, the particle diameter of the medicine discharged from the nozzle can be always kept substantially constant, and a good medicine spraying operation can be performed.

(3) Since the rotation start / stop control of the rotating unit 33 is performed based on the engine speed of the unmanned helicopter, the worker can perform the work without concern for the rotation start / stop control. Work efficiency can be improved. In addition, since it is not necessary to rotate the rotating unit 33 on the ground, power loss can be reduced and energy efficiency can be increased, and the starting and returning positions of the unmanned helicopter can be selected with a high degree of freedom.

(4) The clean switch 66 is provided, and by operating the clean switch 66, the remaining medicine can be discharged to the outside of the apparatus, so that the unmanned helicopter does not fly, so,
Moreover, since the medicine can be discharged at any place,
Clean processing can be performed easily and easily.

(5) The liquid spraying device 20 and the granule spraying device 30 can be selectively attached to and detached from the machine body 10, and the main remote control device 40, the auxiliary remote control device 50, and the control device 60 are connected. It is configured so that it can be used commonly in both the liquid spraying process and the granule spraying process, and a highly versatile drug spraying system can be provided at low cost.

(6) In the specific spraying procedure described above, the spray changeover switch 43 is appropriately operated while remotely controlling the unmanned helicopter.
Is operated to change the spraying width, but it is also possible to further operate the spraying adjustment switch 44 to change the spraying amount. That is, when the spraying adjustment switch 44 is set to the target spraying amount, a signal corresponding to the setting is transmitted to the control device 60 and received by the receiver 61. Then, the signal output from the receiver 61 is provided to the scatter width calculator 633 and the shutter position calculator 635. In addition, the drug type determination unit 63
If it is determined that the medicine is a “liquid medicine” by Step 4, the spray width calculation unit 633 outputs a control signal corresponding to the target spray amount to the motor drive control circuit 67, and the DUTY corresponding to the target spray amount. The motor 263 is subjected to PWM control to adjust the pressure of the liquid agent supplied by the pump 262. On the other hand, when the medicine type is determined to be “granule” by the medicine type determination unit 634, the shutter position calculation unit 635 calculates the shutter position according to the target spray amount, and uses the calculation result as the shutter drive control. The amount is supplied to the circuit 69 to adjust the opening degree of the shutter 361 to control the amount of the granular material supplied to the rotating unit 33.

The effect (3) is not an effect peculiar to the medicine spraying system provided with the granule spraying device 30, but is
Even in a medicine spraying system provided with a medicine spraying apparatus which requires preparation for spraying a liquid before air spraying of a liquid, the effect is also obtained, and the application target of the present invention is limited to the medicine spraying system described in the above embodiment. Is not
The present invention can be applied to a general medicine spraying system including a medicine spraying device which requires preparation for spraying a medicine before spraying the medicine in the air.

Further, in the above embodiment, the engine speed is detected by the ignition pulser coil 11 and the operating condition of the unmanned helicopter is thereby detected. The detecting means for detecting the operating condition is an ignition pulser. The present invention is not limited to the coil 11 and is optional. For example, the number of rotations of the main rotor blade may be detected.

[0067]

As described above, according to the present invention, the operation state of the unmanned helicopter is detected by the detection means, and the start and cancellation of preparation for spraying the medicine are controlled based on the detection result. In addition, the start and the cancellation of the preparation for spraying the medicine are automatically performed, and the efficiency of the operation can be improved. In addition, since the drug spray preparation is controlled according to the operation status of the unmanned helicopter, it is advantageous in terms of energy efficiency compared to controlling the drug spray preparation while the unmanned helicopter is stopped on the ground, Further, the starting and returning places of the unmanned helicopter can be arbitrarily set.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing one embodiment of a medicine spraying system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the liquid spraying device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the liquid spraying apparatus as viewed from above.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a state in which the granule spraying device is mounted on an unmanned helicopter.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the granule spraying device.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the granule spraying apparatus as viewed from above.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged plan view of a rotating unit in the granule spraying device of FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged side view of a rotating unit in the granule spraying device of FIG. 4;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an electrical configuration of the medicine spraying system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a specific procedure of a liquid agent spraying process.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a specific procedure of a granule spraying process.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing a conventional medicine spraying procedure.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 Airframe main body (of unmanned helicopter) 11 Ignition pulsar coil 30 Granule dispersing device 33 Rotating unit (impeller) 34 Motor (rotation driving means) 40 Main remote control device 50 Auxiliary remote control device 60 Control device 331 Rotation axis

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A medicine spraying device attached to a body of an unmanned helicopter, a control device flying the unmanned helicopter based on various commands given from a remote control device, and a medicine spraying the medicine from the medicine spraying device in the air. In the spraying system, the medicine spraying device needs a medicine spraying preparation prior to aerial spraying of the medicine, and receives a medicine spraying instruction from the remote operation device in a state where the medicine spraying preparation is performed, and sprays the medicine in the air. The control device includes a detection unit that detects an operation state of the unmanned helicopter, and a control unit that controls start and cancellation of the preparation for spraying the medicine based on a detection result by the detection unit. Characterized drug spraying system. 2. The medicine spraying system according to claim 1, wherein said detecting means is an engine detecting means for detecting an engine speed of said unmanned helicopter. 3. The control section starts the preparation for spraying the medicine when the engine speed detected by the engine detection means is equal to or higher than a predetermined speed, and when the engine speed is lower than the speed. The medicine spraying system according to claim 2, wherein the preparation for spraying the medicine is canceled. 4. A medicine spraying device, comprising: a medicine tank for storing granular medicine; a rotating part rotatably provided around a rotating shaft extending substantially parallel to a vertical direction; and a rotating part rotating the rotating part. A rotary drive unit for driving, and a drug supply unit for supplying the drug in the drug tank to the rotating unit along a drug supply path, and rotating the rotary unit by the rotary drive unit in preparation for the spraying of the drug. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein a medicine is supplied to the rotating part in the rotating state, and the medicine is diffused and dispersed in a peripheral direction of the rotating part by centrifugal force generated by rotation of the rotating part. 3. The medicine spraying system according to 1.