DE2459773A1 - METHOD AND DEVICE FOR THE ATOMIZATION OF FLUIDS - Google Patents

Description

Description
to the patent application

the company Societe Anonyme des Etablissements Caruelle, F - 62 Bienvillers au 3ois

concerning:

"Process and device for the atomization of fluids"

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for atomizing fluids, and more particularly to an improvement for adjusting the atomizer by reducing the nozzle throughput. The nozzles with gap, which more and more for the Atomization v / earths used in agricultural low crops have, among other advantages, the fact that they do not atomize as they, normally working under low pressure, greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the risks of the atomized fluid being dispersed into the environment.

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The cultivation of crops and soils with various products such as fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, etc., causes a number of problems, the solutions of which depend on the nature of the products used and the soil or cultures themselves. A common characteristic is that all of these manipulations give the best results at the lowest cost should produce, which means that one must achieve as uniform a distribution as possible and a consumption of Product that is as low as possible for the best end result, ultimately with active or passive protection the neighboring soils or crops must be guaranteed against the effects of the product used, which is normally used for those neighboring cultures is not determined.

In addition to manual means that work more or less precisely, but are always expensive and difficult to use for large areas, various automatic systems are known to achieve the above-mentioned results. In general, such known devices comprise nozzles which are fed directly as a function of the driving speed a vehicle carrying the atomizer or its tractor unit, the adjustment of the throughput is possible, among other things, by changing the area and the opening angle of the nozzles. Atomizing devices have also been provided in which pulses derived from one of the vehicle wheels act on a ^ valve in the outlet of the fluid such that some (e.g. 40-70%) of the time the valve is closed, the base time period generally on the order of 1 second the fluid then exiting between two successive pulses. In this device, what is to be atomized arrives Fluid under constant pressure in a valve provided with a conduit and a certain quantity of the fluid is fed via the valve, which is opened and closed by a timer controlled by any one the signals derived from a vehicle wheel. The known devices and in particular the latter Device give more or less useful results, especially when the quantities and the Throughputs of the product to be atomized are relatively low. In any case, it has been found that the risk of des There was clogging of the nozzles, especially at low throughputs, which are very often desired, and that above In addition, the shape of the exit jet obtained from the nozzles was poor for the same throughputs, leaving one in unpredictable Manner achieved an irregular distribution in connection with harmful effects on certain areas, too heavily pollinated or in the vicinity of the treated Soil. This led to the realization that with the

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known devices one is often required with throughputs to work per hectare, which are noticeably higher than that which would theoretically be sufficient if the atomizers worked properly.

The object of the present invention is to provide a method for atomizing fluids, especially for agricultural crops, to create a very uniform Allows atomization even at very low throughputs and to specify suitable devices for this purpose in this way to achieve the desired savings with consistently good results.

This object is achieved with the means specified in claim 1; define the appended subclaims preferred embodiments for devices for Implementation of the procedure.

The mode of action should be clarified with the aid of the following explanations:

Let a passage have a cross-section S, which is fed with liquid for a time T under a constant pressure P; the throughput is then Q. If the

T passage is fed with the same pressure for a time - ^, its throughput is ~ . If one divides the time T into χ elementary periods and each period χ into two half-periods 4? splits, during which one the beam is interrupted and while the other the beam is fed, one obtains at the end of the period T a throughput ¥ = a ^. The inventive idea of adjusting the throughput of the atomizer nozzles is based on these considerations.

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An exemplary embodiment is shown schematically in the accompanying drawing of the subject matter of the invention shown with solenoid valves.

The left side of the drawing shows the control circuit for the solenoid valves, while the the assigned hydraulic circuit is shown on the right.

The hydraulic circuit consists of a reservoir 1 with a per se known agitator 2. The reservoir, which Contains the fluid to be atomized is connected to an atomizer bank 3 via a Mtung 4, which one after the other first filter 5, a pump 6 and a second filter 7, to which several branch lines 8, 9, 10 are connected, each of which feeds a certain number of oscillating valves 11. Each of the valves 11 is one in the immediate vicinity (not shown) nozzle arranged.

On the line 4 are on the one hand a pressure gauge 12 and on the other hand an adjustable return to the reservoir 1 for excess fluid connected. The pump 6 is driven by some mechanism, starting from a power take-off shaft or a vehicle wheel of the carrier vehicle or the tractor; the throughput of the pump is inherent in the rest known to be adjustable as a function of the desired pressure.

The electrical circuit (shown as a single-wire circuit) consists of a battery 14, which is on the Vehicle is arranged. The battery 14 is connected to an adjustable pulse generator 15, which in turn with an amplifier 16 is connected, which feeds groups of solenoids 20, 21 and 22 via lines 17, 18, 19, where

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each of the corresponding solenoids is assigned to one of the electric swing valves 11 in the branch 8, 9, 10 of the hydraulic circuit. The electrical circuit also includes a main switch 23, a number switch. 24 and group breaker 25.

The device according to the invention works as follows. After a certain quantity of the fluid to be processed has been used in the reservoir 3, the Pump 6 a depending on the one hand on the pressure and on the other hand on the desired throughput; the nozzles with each selected There are openings on the nozzle bank 3 and the cadence of the impulses for the electric oscillating valves is set 11/20, 21, 22 between 15 and 30 periods / second. then the main switch 23 is actuated and the selector switch 24 is opened and one closes the group interrupters 25 for the groups in which the fluid is to be atomized. Under these conditions the fluid emerges from the nozzles practically continuously, the resulting jet being its ■ the only permissible regular shape and the throughput is constant along the bank. If desired, the v'Jahl switch can be closed for continuous atomization to achieve.

Tests were carried out with a nozzle of medium cross-section under a feed pressure of 1.4 bar such that a dosage of 50 l / ha was achieved. The experiments were carried out on the one hand with a known device with a valve, which is opened about once per second by an impulse derived from a vehicle organ, and on the other hand with a device according to the invention with 30-60 openings / second, generated independently of the vehicle speed. All other things being equal (ground conditions, working speed, vehicle) one could determine:

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- In the known device, the required atomization dosage was at the expense of the consumption of a A quantity F of fluid was achieved, changes in the shape of the jet and certain irregularities were observed ("Defects") in the distribution on the treated soil,

the device according to the invention provided the desired atomizing dosage with a fluid consumption of the order of 0.5 F, with no "flaws" on the treated soil and practically no lateral ones
"Spill".

The object of the invention accordingly allows the
To make the best use of the properties of atomized fluids and to choose reservoirs of smaller size for the same surface to be treated with the same dosage.

Obviously, these results were unpredictable given the irregularities and drawbacks that the have been mentioned above for the various known atomizing devices.

(Patent claims)

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Claims (3)

Patent prints Vy method of atomizing a fluid by successively opening and closing outlet nozzles fed at a constant pressure for a given speed of travel of the atomizer, characterized in that the feeding of the nozzles under constant pressure is interrupted for each nozzle at a very high rate, which is independent of the driving speed and is preferably between 15 and 30 periods / second. 2) Device for performing the method according to claim 1 with a pump having a fluid reservoir with nozzles an atomizer bank, and with devices for opening and closing the nozzles, characterized in that immediately upstream of each nozzle, a valve (11) for rapid "control (" swing valve ") for opening and closing the nozzle is arranged under individual control of the Oscillating valves, independent of the driving speed, and that a device for driving the pump from the vehicle It is provided that, depending on the desired dosage, the feed pressure for the fluid in the reservoir is kept low and constant regardless of the vehicle speed. 3) Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the valves as electrovalves with adjustable cadence are formed, which can be actuated starting from an electrical supply source which is arranged on the vehicle. 509826/0917 Blank page