Design and Implementation of Low-Cost Field Crop Sprayer Electronic Flow Control System

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to present the designs required and methodology of prototype production to control electronically a mechanical-controllable system on a case study. The system under consideration is a field crop sprayer. The reason for the investigation of this system is operator exposure to the harmful chemical and inefficiency of flow control. It is necessary to precisely start and end the chemical flow at the requested location, to close a certain part of the spraying line, and to prevent overdosing during the pulverization. An Arduino system was designed to control a precise electronic flow system. In this regard, Mechanical flow-control valves are equipped with 16 bar pressure-resistant and chemical resistant solenoid valves. Designs were produced and prototypes were presented. Low-cost sprayer control systems (SCS) chemical losses were reduced by 6% to 20%. The ergonomic design increased the productivity of the operator. Moreover, this system reduced fuel consumption by 2% to 6%. It is 40% more economical than existing systems. As a result, productive electronic control was achieved in the field crop sprayer.