CA1108295A - Application rate monitoring device - Google Patents

Application rate monitoring device

Info

Publication number
CA1108295A
CA1108295A CA301,561A CA301561A CA1108295A CA 1108295 A CA1108295 A CA 1108295A CA 301561 A CA301561 A CA 301561A CA 1108295 A CA1108295 A CA 1108295A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
measuring means
unit
area
frequency
electrical pulses
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA301,561A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Leonald W. Friedenberg
James A. Baker
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
BAKER ENGINEERING ENTERPRISES Ltd
Original Assignee
BAKER ENGINEERING ENTERPRISES Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by BAKER ENGINEERING ENTERPRISES Ltd filed Critical BAKER ENGINEERING ENTERPRISES Ltd
Priority to CA301,561A priority Critical patent/CA1108295A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1108295A publication Critical patent/CA1108295A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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  • Fertilizing (AREA)
  • Catching Or Destruction (AREA)

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
An application rate monitoring device to determine and display the volume of liquid or granular material applied per unit area by mobile application equipment is described. The device includes a first measuring means which generates electrical pulses having a frequency proportional to the rate at which the application equipment covers a unit of area and a second measuring means which generates electrical pulses having a frequency proportional to the rate of application of the material. A
frequency multiplying means operates on the electrical pulses of the second measuring means. A pulse counting means is connected to the output of the frequency multiplying means and the first measuring means, and accumulates the electrical pulses from the frequency multiplying means for a period of time determined by the first measuring means and corres-ponding to the time required by said application equipment to cover a unit of area. Display means indicates the above accumulated value of pulses which is a measure of the volume of material applied per unit area.

Description

32~

B GROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a device for monitoring the volume of liquid or granular material applied per unit area by mokile appli-cation equipment. The device is used to determine and display the volume of material, such as pesticides or fertilizer, being applied per unit area to the field, so that the operator of the application equipment can make adjustments to the equipment in order to maintain the desired appli-cation rate.
The prior art method of determining the application rate of liquid pesticides, for example, involves the measurement of a test area in the field and the measurement of the amount of material used during appli-cation on the test area. An odometer may be used to measure the test area and a totalizing type Flow meter may be used ta measure the amount of material applied to the test area. These two measurements are used by the operator to calculate the application rate over the test area.
SUMMA~Y OF THE INVENTION
The device of the present invention uses an area measuring transducer to provide an electrical signal proportianal to the rate at which a unit of area is covered by the application equipment and a liquid or granular flow transducer to provide an electrical signal proportional to the rate oF liquid or granular material being applied to the field.
The electrical signals from these two transducers are used to electrically calculate and then display the value of the volume of material applied per unit area.
An analog device for determining the application rate was investigated but the response time was Found to be 510w and it was difficult to obtain a stable reading unless the number of pulses per second produced by each transducer was almost identical. This device involved the conversion of the signals from the transducers to analog voltages which were divided by an analog multiplier in order to produce an analog voltage proportional to the application rate. Due to the variety of equipment and operating .~ ,
2 -conditions which may be encountered by such a monitoring device, an alternate device was sought. The device of the present invention uses a digital calculating method and provides an adequate speed of response and stable readings regardless of the number of pulses per second produced by each ~-transducer.
The invention provides an application rate monitor which comprises f1rst measuring means for attachment to the appl-ication equip-ment for generating electrical pulses having a frequency that is propor-tional to the rate at which a unit of area is covered by the application ; !
equipment. Second measuring means are provided for attachment to flow measuring means for generating electrical pulses having a frequency that is proportional to the rate at which material is applied by the appli-cation equipment. The output of the second measuring means is operated on by frequency multiplying means. Pulse counting means connected to the output of the frequency multiplying means and the first measuring means accumulates the electrical pulses from the frequency multiplying means for a period of time determined by the first measuring means and corres-ponding to the time required by said application equipment to cover a unit of area. Display means connected to the output of the pulse counting means indicate the accumulated value of pulses in said pulse counting means, the accumulated value being proportional to the volume of material applied per unit area.
Broadly stated, this invention provides a device, for moni-toring the volume of liquid or granular material applied per unit area by mobile application equipment having flow measuring means, comprising: first measuring means for attachment to the application equipment for generating electrical pulses which have a frequency that is proportional to the rate at which a unit of area is covered by said application equipment; second measuring means for attachment to the flow measuring means for generating electrical pulses which have a frequency that is proportional to the rate at which material is applied by said application equipment; frequency multiplying means for mult;plying the frequency of the electrical pulses from s.aid s.econd measuring means. by a calibration factor determined by the size of the unit of area and the size of the unit of volume to produce electrical pulses; pulse counting means connected to the frequency multiplying means and the first measuring means for accumulating the electrical pulses from said frequency multiplying means for a period of time determined by the first measuring means and corresponding to the time required by said application equipment to cover the un;t of area; and display means connected to the pulse counting means for indicating the accumulated value of pulses in sald pulse counting means, the accumulated :
value being proportional to the volume of material applied per unit area.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Other objects features and advantages oF the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description ~ .
; 15 of the preferred embodiment, the appended claims and the accompanyingdrawings in which: : :
Figure 1 illustrates application equipment which may be used for spraying a field with liquid material;
Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a conventional sprayer system associated with the application equipment of Figure li Figure 3 is a block diagram of an application rate monitor showing functional blocks and additionally showing the nature of electrical signals present in various parts of the circuitry; and Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the preferred embodiment of the present invention showing details of said functional blocks and addition-ally showing electrical signals present in various parts of the circuitry.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
As shown in Figure 1, the invention is used in connection with known wheeled application equipment. This equipment normally comprises a storage tank 100 mounted on a trailer 102 which draws a spray boom 103.
Material, such as liquid fertilizer, is pumped or otherwise removed from the storage tank and conveyed through suitable piping lnto the spray boom, ~, ~L~

from which it is applied to the field.
In general, the application rate monitor comprises: first measuring means 1 for generating electrical pulses 5 having a frequency proportional to the rate at which the application eqwipment covers a unit of area, second measuring means 2 for generating electrical pulses 6 having a frequency that is proportional to the rate at which material is applied, frequency multiplying means 7 for operating on the output of the second measuring means; pulse counting means 10 connected to the output of the frequency multiplying means and of the first measuring means for accumulating the electrical pulses 9 from the frequency multiplying means for a period of time determined by the first measuring means and corres-ponding to the time required by said application equipment to cover a unit of area; and display means 4 connected to the output of the pulse counting means for indicating the accumulated value of pulses in said pulse counting means, the accumulated value being proportional to the volume of material applied per unit area.
In the preferred embodiment, the first measuring means com-prises one or more magnets mounted on a wheel 104 of the trailer 102. As the wheel rotates, the magnet or magnets activate an electromagnetic detector or transducer which generates electrical pulses 5 having a frequency proportional to the rate of rotation of the wheel. The wheel being attached to the application equipment and allowed to roll on the ground will rotate at a rate proportional to the rate at which the equip-ment covers a unit of area. The period of the electrical signal 5 i5 proportional to the time required -For the application equipment to cover one unit of area. The size of the unit of area depends on three factors:
the width of the equipment9 the circumference of the wheel, and the number of electrical pulses produced per revolution of the wheel.
Figure 2 illustrates a liquid sprayer system which may be used in conjunction with the present invention. In this preFerred embodiment, the volume measuring means 2 comprises a mechanical flow meter 110 to which a mechanical to electrical transducer is fastened to generate electrical pulses 6 having a frequency proportional to the ra~e of application of the liquid. The flow meter 110 is positioned before the boom selector valves 111 but after the bypass regulator 112, the tank agitation return 113, the filter 114 and the pump 115. The electrical signal generated by the flow transducer 110 has a period proportional to the time required by the application equipment to apply one unit of volume of material.
Hence each electrical pulse represents one unit of volume of material applied to the field. The size of the unit of volume depends on the de-sign of the flow meter. ' In the preferred embodiment9 the frequency of the electrical -signal 6 from the volume measuring means 2 is multiplied in a frequency ;~
~;, multiplier 7 by a calibration factor that is determined from the size of the unit of area and the size of the unit of volume. The calibration factor may be adjusted by a calibration adjustment control 8. In addition, a frequency multiplier 18 is preferably connected to operate on the electri-~ cal signal 5 from the area measuring device 1.
'~ The train of electrical pulses 9 from the frequency multiplier -~' , 7 is accumulated in a pulse counter 10 for the period of one unit of area. ~, This period is determined by the period of the pulses generated by the ,~ 20 first measuring means. The number of pulses tatalized during this period corresponds to the application rate in units of volume per unit of area.
At the end of this period, the accumulated value in the counter is dis-played and the counter is reset to zero. The counter will again accumulate ;~ pulses from the frequency multiplier 7 while the application equipment is , 25 covering the next unit of area.
Figure 4 illustrat,es the preferred embodiment of the present invention in greater detail. The area measuring means enclosed by the broken line 2~, incarporates a s~itch 15 which is opened and closed b~ a magnet as the measuring wheel (not illustrated) rotates. A schmitt trigger 13 is used to produce a train of pulses 5 free o-f contact bounce and other electrical înterferen,ce. Similarly, the volume measuring means, enclosed , by the broken line 12, incorporates a switch 16 which closes and opens as the flow meter (not illustrated) is operated by material being applied by the application equipment. A second schmitt trigger l~ is used to produce a train of pulses 6 free of contact bounce and other electrical interference.
The frequency multiplying means consists of a pulse doubler l9 operating on the train of pulses 6 from the second schmitt trigger 14, followed by an adjustable pulse-rate-multiplier 20. The calibration adjustment control 8, enclosed by broken line 21, may be binary coded switches 22 which adjust the multiplication factor oF the pulse-rate-multiplier. The output of the pulse-rate-multiplier is clocked into a cascade of decade counters 25. The accumulated binary coded decimal value of the pulses from the pulse-rate-multiplier is latched into the display ~ enclosed by broken line 26, by a pulse 31 generated by a monostable multivibrator 23. AF-ter said latch is energ-ized, the decade counters 25 are res~t to zero by a mono-stable mult;vibrator 3Q. The latch, decoder and display driver 27 then operate a readout device 28.
While the present invention has been disclosed in connection with the preferred embodiment thereof, it should be understood that there may be other embodiments which fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the Following claims.

Claims (4)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A device, for monitoring a unit of volume of liquid or granular material applied per unit area by mobile application equipment having flow measuring means, comprising:
first measuring means for attachment to the application equipment for generating electrical pulses which have a frequency that is proportional to the rate at which the unit of area is covered by said application equipment;
second measuring means for attachment to the flow measuring means for generating electrical pulses which have a frequency that is pro-portional to the rate at which the unit of volume of material is applied by said application equipment;
frequency multiplying means for multiplying the frequency of the electrical pulses from said second measuring means by a calibration factor that is determined by the size of the unit of area and the size of the unit of volume to produce electrical pulses;
pulse counting means connected to the frequency multiplying means and the first measuring means for accumulating the electrical pulses from said frequency multiplying means for a period of time determined by the first measuring means and corresponding to the time required by said application equipment to cover the unit of area, and display means connected to the pulse counting means for indicat-ing the accumulated value of pulses in said pulse counting means, the accumulated value being proportional to the volume of material applied per unit area.
2. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the first measuring means is attached to a wheel associated with the application equipment.
3. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said frequency multiplying means has provision for gain adjustment to compensate for changes in the size of the unit of area or the size of the unit of volume.
4. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said pulse counting means accumulates said electrical pulses from said frequency multiplying means for a period of time corresponding to a number of pulses from said first measuring means.
CA301,561A 1978-04-20 1978-04-20 Application rate monitoring device Expired CA1108295A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA301,561A CA1108295A (en) 1978-04-20 1978-04-20 Application rate monitoring device

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA301,561A CA1108295A (en) 1978-04-20 1978-04-20 Application rate monitoring device

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1108295A true CA1108295A (en) 1981-09-01

Family

ID=4111294

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA301,561A Expired CA1108295A (en) 1978-04-20 1978-04-20 Application rate monitoring device

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CA (1) CA1108295A (en)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5016187A (en) * 1989-01-17 1991-05-14 Tokheim Corporation Linearized turbine flow meter for fuel dispensers

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5016187A (en) * 1989-01-17 1991-05-14 Tokheim Corporation Linearized turbine flow meter for fuel dispensers

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