Research on decoupled air speed and air volume adjustment methods for air-assisted spraying in orchards

Hanjie Dou; Changyuan Zhai; Yanlong Zhang; Liping Chen; Chenchen Gu; Shuo Yang

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1250773

Research on decoupled air speed and air volume adjustment methods for air-assisted spraying in orchards

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Sep 8:14:1250773. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1250773. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Hanjie Dou^{1

2

3}, Changyuan Zhai^{1

2}, Yanlong Zhang¹, Liping Chen^{1

2}, Chenchen Gu¹, Shuo Yang³

Affiliations

¹ Intelligent Equipment Research Center, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, China.
² National Engineering Research Center of Intelligent Equipment for Agriculture, Beijing, China.
³ National Engineering Research Center for Information Technology in Agriculture, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Different fruit tree canopies have different requirements for air speed and air volume. Due to the strong relationship between air speed and air volume, the decoupled control of air speed and air volume cannot be achieved using the existing sprayers. In this study, an innovative air-assisted sprayer that supports the independent adjustment of fan speed (0-2940 r/min) and air outlet area (1022.05-2248.51 cm²) is developed, and the maximum air speed and air volume of the sprayer outlet are 45.98 m/s and 37239.94 m³/h, respectively. An independent adjustment test of the fan speed and air outlet area was carried out. The results indicated that the fan speed and air outlet area have opposing adjustment effects on air speed and air volume; decoupled control of the outlet air speed and air volume can thus be achieved through combined control of the fan speed and air outlet area. A test was carried out on combined fan speed and air outlet area control. Two decoupled air speed and air volume adjustment models were established, one with a constant air speed and variable air volume and the other with a constant air volume and variable air speed. The test results show that the air volume adjustment model with constant air speed had a maximum mean error of 1.13%, and the air speed adjustment model with constant air volume had a maximum mean error of 1.67%. The results will provide theoretical and methodological support for the development of airflow adjustment systems for orchard air-assisted sprayer.

Keywords: air speed; air volume; decoupled control; orchard; precision spraying.

Grants and funding

This work was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Plan Project (grant number: 2022YFD2001402), the Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number: NSFC31971775), the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (grant number: 323256) and the Outstanding Scientist Program of Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (grant number: jkzx202212).