A new system for measuring boom displacement in a field crop sprayer

This study proposes an innovative system for measuring the displacement of a sprayer boom's tips and calculating their velocity and acceleration in the horizontal and the vertical plane. The system measures the length of measuring cables which are attached at the end of a sprayer boom's tips. Two supports are mounted in the central part of the sprayer boom. Absolute rotary encoders with measuring reels and tension springs are attached to the supports, which enables the system to determine changes in the position of boom arms in two perpendicular directions. The signals generated by each encoder are transmitted to a computer by a rapid data acquisition device, and they are transposed to the indicated parameters. The designed system can be used to measure sprayer boom displacement both in the field and in laboratory experimental tracks.

Automated summary

This study proposes an innovative system to measure the displacement of a sprayer boom's tips and calculate their velocity and acceleration. The system measures the length of measuring cables attached at the end of the sprayer boom's tips, and utilizes absolute rotary encoders with measuring reels and tension springs to determine the position changes of the boom arms in both the horizontal and vertical directions.