RU2808295C1 - Unmanned aerial vehicle for spraying pesticides on row crops - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: agriculture.

SUBSTANCE: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) used in agriculture for treating trees, shrubs and other plants with pesticides. The UAV contains a body, brackets, engines, propellers, a battery, a chassis, an automatic piloting control system, a payload module including a unit for placing and supplying working fluids, a unit for regulating and distributing working fluid flows, a sectional rod made in the form of horizontal and vertical sections with spray modules. The UAV contains environmental sensors, flight altitude measurements and plant damage detection sensors. A spray module with a vertical arc-shaped section in the form of an ellipse is mounted at the ends of each of the vertical sections. The major axis of the ellipse is parallel to the soil surface, and the minor axis coincides with the symmetry axis of the vertical section. The hydraulic manifold of the sprayers is connected by a communication line to the electromagnetic shut-off valves of the working fluid flow distribution unit.

EFFECT: increase in productivity and quality of pesticide treatment of row crops, a reduction in pesticide consumption and environmental pollution, and an increase in agricultural yields.

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Description

The invention relates to agriculture, in particular to unmanned aerial vehicles for treating row crops with pesticides.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for processing plants is known, containing a body, beams connected to the body, a propeller group consisting of brushless motors, speed controllers and screws, a battery, a computing unit made in the form of a processor or microcontroller with the ability to process data from the plant processing zone , constructing maps of the flight route and transmitting data to the processing system control module, the memory unit is made in the form of a flash memory module containing information about the coordinates of the flight route of the aircraft, a navigation system, and means of wireless reception and transmission of information; a plant treatment system connected to the housing, mounted on the housing in the form of a nozzle sprayer or hot or cold fog generators, a container with chemicals for plant treatment mounted on a multi-rotor system, with a chemical liquid level sensor connected to the plant treatment system, a control module for the plant treatment system, configured to activate and control the power of spraying plants, a narrow-band multispectral photo recording module, configured to obtain spectral images of plants, a battery charge monitoring sensor, a chemical level check sensor, configured to generate a signal for the computing unit about the need to return for refueling when a given level is reached chemicals, a battery charge monitoring sensor, configured to generate a signal for the computing unit about the need to replace the battery (patent RU 179386, IPC B64D 1/18, 2017).

The disadvantage of the known device is that during surface continuous treatment of agricultural row crops with insecticides or treatment of row-spacings with herbicides, undesirable treatment of row-spacings with insecticides or undesirable treatment of plants with herbicides takes place, respectively, and, as a result, excessive consumption of pesticides, and drift of the working fluid from the treatment area also occurs. environmental pollution with chemicals.

An unmanned aerial vehicle for applying pesticides in precision gardening is known, containing a body, radial brackets connected to the body, brushless motors, propellers, a battery, a landing gear, an on-board automatic control system for piloting, navigation, payload, a payload technological module, including a unit for placing and supply of working fluids, a unit for regulating and distributing working fluid flows, a module of environmental sensors, a module for measuring flight altitude, non-contact ultrasonic distance sensors with the direction of the axes of ultrasonic flows, respectively, on the crown of treated trees, shrubs and on the soil, spectral sensors for recognizing pests and diseases, connected by communication lines with the controller, a U-shaped sectional rod made in the form of interconnected horizontal and vertical telescopic sections with extension and retraction mechanisms for the links of the vertical sections, while the extension and retraction mechanisms for the links of the vertical sections are installed at the ends of the last links of the horizontal sections of the rod, and for horizontal sections - in the central part of the aircraft body and connected by a communication line with the controller, the length of the links of each section of the boom is preferably equal to the spacing of the nozzles installed on each of the links of the boom section and connected by a communication line with the controller, while the nozzles are installed in increments , providing the ability to overlap spray torches from adjacent nozzles by at least three quarters of the width of the torch of one of them. (patent RU 2793020, IPC B64U 10/10, B64U 101/40, A01M 7/00, B64D 1/18, 2023).

The disadvantage of the known device is that when it is used to treat row crops, only one row of plants is processed - this reduces its productivity, uneven treatment of plants with the working pesticide liquid is possible and, as a result, a decrease in the efficiency of treatment.

The technical objective of the invention is to increase the productivity, quality and efficiency of treating row crops with pesticides, reduce their consumption, and reduce environmental pollution with pesticides.

The technical problem is achieved by the fact that in an unmanned aerial vehicle for treating row crops with pesticides, containing a body, radial brackets connected to the body, brushless motors, propellers, a battery, a landing gear, an on-board automatic control system for piloting, navigation, payload, and a payload technological module , including a block for placing and supplying working fluids, a block for regulating and distributing the flow of working fluid, a sectional rod made in the form of horizontal and a number of vertical sections with spray modules, an environmental sensor module, a module for measuring flight altitude, distance sensors and detection of pest damage to plants and diseases according to the invention from a number of vertical sections, at least one section is made central, and at the ends of each of the vertical sections a spray module is mounted, equipped with a vertical arc-shaped section with sprayers, made in the form of an elliptical arc, the major axis of which is parallel to the soil surface, and the minor axis coincides with the axis of symmetry of the vertical section, and distance sensors and sensors for determining damage to plants by pests and diseases are installed in front of the arcuate section in the direction of flight of the UAV on a bracket connected perpendicularly to the arcuate section at the point of intersection of the arc with the minor axis of the ellipse, with sprayers preferably installed at the ends and in the upper part of the arcuate section, and the hydraulic manifold of the nozzles is connected by a communication line with the electromagnetic shut-off valves of the working fluid flow distribution unit, which in turn is connected to the automatic control unit for the operation of the payload technological module.

The invention is illustrated by drawings.

In fig. 1 shows a rear view of an unmanned aerial vehicle for spraying row crops with pesticides; in fig. 2 the same, view A; in fig. 3 shows a functional block diagram of the on-board automatic control system for piloting, navigation and payload of the UAV; in fig. Figure 4 shows a functional block diagram of the placement, regulation, supply and dispersion of working fluids of pesticides UAV.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) 1 for treating row crops with pesticides contains a body 2, radial brackets 3 connected to it, brushless motors 4, propellers 5, a battery 6, a landing gear 7, an on-board automatic control system 8 for piloting, navigation and payload, a technological payload module 9, including a block 10 for placing and supplying working fluids, a unit for regulating and distributing 11 working fluid flows, a plant processing module, including a sectional boom with horizontal sections 12 with telescopic links 13 and a mechanism 14 for extending and retracting links 13, a number of vertical sections with outer sections 15, 16 and at least one central vertical section 17 with telescopic links 18, 19, 20 connected by extension-retraction mechanisms 21, 22 and 23 with the ends of the horizontal section 12.

At the end of each vertical section 15, 16, 17, a spray module 24 is mounted, equipped with an arcuate section 25 with sprayers 26, lying in a plane perpendicular to the direction of flight of the UAV, and connected to section 25, perpendicular to section 25 by a bracket 27, on which non-contact ultrasonic sensors 28 for determining the height of the position of the section 25 above the treated plants with the direction of the axes of ultrasonic flows on the leaf surface of the plants and optical-electronic sensors 29 for determining damage to plants 30 by pests and diseases.

The arcuate section 25 is made in the form of an ellipse arc 31, the major axis aa of which is parallel to the soil surface, and the minor axis bb coincides with the axis of symmetry cc of the vertical section.

The nozzles 26 are preferably installed at the ends and at the top of the ellipse arc 31 of the section 25.

Installation of a spray module 24 at the end of each vertical section 15, 16, 17 in the form of an arcuate section 25 with sprayers 26 and a bracket 27 coupled perpendicular to section 25 in the direction of flight with sensors 28, 29 for the height of the position of section 25 above the treated plants and for determining damage to plants 30 pests and diseases allows you to specify the area where UAVs are treated with pesticides directly for each row of plants 30.

Installing at least one central vertical 17 section with telescopic links 20 in a row of vertical sections increases the productivity of UAV processing of row crops.

Making the spray module in the form of an ellipse arc 31, the major axis aa of which is parallel to the soil surface, and the minor axis bb coincides with the axis of symmetry cc of the vertical section ensures an equidistant position of the arcuate section relative to the treated vegetative part of the plant 30.

Installation of sprayers 26 preferably at the ends and in the upper part of the arc of the ellipse 31 of the section 25 ensures that the abaxial and adaxial sides of the leaves of the plants 30 are treated with pesticides.

The on-board automatic control system (ACS) 8 contains a flight controller 31 with a processor connected to a UAV flight control software module 32 and a software module 33 for controlling the operation of the payload technological module 9, an integrated navigation system 34, including an inertial navigation system module 35, integrated with a satellite navigation system module 36 in the form of a GLONASS receiver 37 with an antenna 38. The flight controller 31 is integrated with automatic control units for actuators 39 of engines 4, a unit 40 for controlling the operation of the technological module 9 of the payload, with modules for environmental sensors 41 and flight altitude measurement 42. Sensors 28, 29 are connected by a communication line to the controller 31.

Block 10 for placing and supplying working fluids contains a tank 43 for the working fluid of pesticides, equipped with an electronic level gauge 44 and a filling neck 45, a pump 46 with an electric drive for creating pressure and moving the working fluid from the tank 43 to the block 11. Installed between the tank 43 and the pump 46 electrohydraulic normally closed shut-off valve 47. Block 10 is connected by a communication line 48 to a block 49 for automatically controlling the operation of the technological module 9 of the payload, which in turn is connected by a communication line 50 to the controller 18, and a communication line 51 to the block 11 for regulating the supply of working fluid.

Block 11 includes an electrohydraulic overflow valve 52 with proportional control, a proportional pressure reducing valve 53 that regulates the pressure and flow rate of the working flow in accordance with reference signals coming from the controller 31, an electromagnetic flow meter 54, a liquid pressure sensor 55. Block 11 is connected by a hydraulic supply line 56 to the block 57 distribution of working fluid flows. Block 57 contains a distribution hydraulic line 58, to which are connected electromagnetic shut-off valves 59, connected to the sprayers 26 by hydraulic lines 60. The induction coils of the electromagnetic shut-off valves 59 are connected by a communication line 60 to the block 49. The outlet openings of the valves 59 are connected by hydraulic lines 61 to the hydraulic manifold 62 of the sprayers 26.

An unmanned aerial vehicle for spraying row crops with pesticides works as follows.

A flight task is loaded into the processor of the flight controller 31, which electronically displays the parameters of the flight route and an electronic task map, which is a program for the differentiated treatment of row crops with pesticides in a precision farming system. For processing, the boundaries, area, length of the rut, coordinates of the processed elementary areas, rates of application of working liquids of pesticides, coordinates of the starting point and coordinates of the end point of treatment, operating speed and flight altitude, flight path, coordinates of the landing site for refueling with working liquids and replacing the battery are established. 6.

The working liquid of a pesticide, for example an insecticide or fungicide, is poured into the tank 43 through the filling neck 45 with level control using the level gauge 44 in accordance with the electronic task card.

From the controller 31, the signal is transmitted to the automatic flight control system unit, the engines 4 are started, the main rotors 5 are spun up, and the engines 4 are switched to takeoff mode. The controller 31 transmits control signals to block 39, the UAV 1 takes off vertically. The device rises into the air and, in accordance with the flight program, flies up to the starting coordinates of the start of processing, while the coordinates determined by the integrated navigation system 34 are compared with the given coordinates, entered into the trajectory flight program. The environmental sensor module 41 transmits information to the microprocessor of the controller 31 about the parameters of the external environment (wind speed and direction, atmospheric pressure, temperature and humidity). Module 41 controls meteorological parameters - wind speed and direction, ambient temperature and transmits the parameter values to controller 31. Flight altitude measurement module 42 transmits the current value of the flight altitude of UAV 1 to the processor of controller 31.

When the UAV 1 approaches the processing start point, according to a signal from the controller 31 transmitted to the mechanism 14, the horizontal sections of the rod 12 are extended and the vertical sections 15, 16, 17 are installed in the specified operating position. The on-board controller 31 transmits through block 11 via communication lines 48 and 51 control signals, respectively, to blocks 10 and 11. Valve 47 opens, pump 46 is turned on and valves 52, 53 are set to a given pressure drop of the working fluid.

The working fluid is supplied by pump 43 to valve 52, which maintains a given pressure at the inlet of working fluid to valve 53 by bypassing part of the fluid flow into tank 43. Valve 53 maintains the output value of the operating pressure differential at a given level or changes the outlet pressure differential in accordance with electronic card - task of applying pesticides. From valve 53, the working fluid enters flow meter 54, which determines the current flow rate and transmits it via communication line 51 to block 49 and then to controller 31. Pressure sensor 55 measures the current pressure value of the fluid flow, which is transmitted via communication line 51 to block 49 and then to the controller 31. The controller 31 compares the current values of the flow rate and pressure of the fluid flow with the specified ones and, if necessary, adjusts the value of the flow parameters by supplying control signals to block 11 via communication line 50 through block 49. From block 11, the working fluid enters the group communication hydraulic line 58 of block 57 and then to shut-off valves 59. From the controller 31, a signal is transmitted via communication line 49 to block 49 and then via communication line 60 to block 57 to activate valves 59. Valves 59, in accordance with the electronic task card, automatically open at a given flow rate of working fluid corresponding to a given application rate, and the working fluid of the pesticide is dispersed onto the treated plants.

Plant diseases, damage by pests and diseases in the initial stage appear on individual plants or local foci. Differential application of fungicides and insecticides, taking into account the heterogeneity of plant damage, both increases the effectiveness of protective measures carried out by UAVs and reduces the environmental load on the environment.

During the flight of the UAV 1 along a given trajectory when treating row crops with pesticides, ultrasonic distance sensors 28 determine the height of the spray module 24 above the plants, then transmit information via communication lines (not shown) to the controller 31, which compares the current distance values with a given distance and at if necessary, transmits the control action to the mechanism for changing the flight altitude of the UAV. In on-line mode, sensor 29 reads information about the nature and degree of damage by pests or diseases in each row of plants treated with insecticides or fungicides and transmits data on the degree of damage by pests or diseases to controller 31. From the controller, a signal block 49 and beyond is transmitted via communication line 49 via communication line 60, commands are transmitted to block 57 to open or close valves 59, depending on whether the plants are affected by pests or diseases in each row treated with insecticides or fungicides, or absent.

In off-line mode, pesticide treatment of row crops is carried out on the basis of a pre-developed map that specifies the spread of diseases and pest damage to plants in the treated field.

When the working fluid is produced in tank 43, controlled by level gauge 45, the signal from block 49 is sent to controller 31, which, through receiver 37, records the coordinates of the position point of the UAV 1 on a given trajectory for processing row crops. Controller 31 transmits control signals through block 49 via communication lines 47 and 60 to turn off pump 46, close valve 47 and valves 59. ACS 8 directs UAV 1 to the place of filling with working fluid. Before landing, upon a signal from the controller 31, through mechanisms 21, 22, 23, the vertical 15, 16, 17 rods 12 are lifted and the UAV1 lands to fill the tank 43 with working fluid. After refueling, the UAV 1 takes off, the controller 31 transmits a control signal to the mechanisms 21, 22, 23 to transfer the vertical sections 15, 16, 17 to the working position. SAU 8 returns UAV 1 to the point of the interrupted flight and the process of applying pesticides continues.

The inventive device provides increased productivity and quality of pesticide treatment of row crops, reduced pesticide consumption and reduced environmental pollution to maximum permissible concentrations, increased crop yields due to timely and accurate treatment with pesticides, minimizes the drift of pesticides in the air and, as a result, their drift from the processing area.

Claims (1)

An unmanned aerial vehicle for treating row crops with pesticides, comprising a body, radial brackets connected to the body, brushless motors, propellers, a battery, a landing gear, an on-board automatic control system for piloting, navigation, payload, a payload technological module, including a unit for placement and delivery working fluids, a unit for regulating and distributing the flow of working fluid, a sectional rod made in the form of horizontal and a number of vertical sections with spray modules, an external environment sensor module, a module for measuring flight altitude, distance sensors and detection of plant damage by pests and diseases, characterized in that from a number of vertical sections, at least one section is made central, and at the ends of each of the vertical sections there is mounted a spray module with a vertical arc-shaped section and sprayers, made in the form of an elliptical arc, the major axis of which is parallel to the soil surface, and the minor axis coincides with the axis symmetry of the vertical section, with distance sensors and detection of plant damage by pests and diseases installed in front of the arc-shaped section in the direction of flight of the UAV on a bracket connected perpendicularly to the arc-shaped section at the point of intersection of the arc with the minor axis of the ellipse, with sprayers preferably installed at the ends and in the upper part arc-shaped section, and the hydraulic manifold of the nozzles is connected by a communication line with the electromagnetic shut-off valves of the working fluid flow distribution unit, which, in turn, is connected to the automatic control unit for the operation of the payload technological module.