With input costs being at record high prices, and a growing concern about the in-season availability of certain herbicides, efficient use of input products is more important than ever. These factors coupled with a growing environmental awareness by the general public has propelled application technology to advance faster than ever.
Sprayer technology to manage inputs has been on the market for a number of years. Shortly after GPS guidance technology came on the scene, the ability to have section controls for spray booms became a must have for farmers looking to help off-set the cost of their investments. The growth and refinement in this area has only increased as technology has improved. The past few years, several companies have unveiled their application technology solutions to address these emerging needs. The following descriptions are provided by the manufacturers and are not an endorsement of the products by Precision Ag Reviews. Even more product solutions are expected to be released at this year’s National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky.
Individual Spray Nozzle Control
PinPoint® II from CapstanAG™ utilizes Blended Pulse PWM technology to achieve complete individual nozzle control. Individual nozzle control with the PinPoint II system maximizes efficiency through increased accuracy. The PinPoint II controls flow and pressure at the nozzle, in conjunction with individual nozzle boundary control, provides an accurate and repeatable application to achieve the desired coverage. In addition, the real-time system feedback can be viewed and controlled through the CapView II interactive display.
Case IH offers the AIM Command Pro and now AIM Command FLEX™ which are very similar solutions to the CapstanAG products. AIM Command Pro provides the capability of turning on and off nozzles one at a time, rather than entire boom sections. AIM Command FLEX™ uses pulse width modulation (PWM) technology, the system enhances sprayer productivity by controlling product flow and pressure more precisely than conventional rate controllers.
Another company in this arena is Greeneye™ Technology. This technology allows farmers to turn their sprayer into a smart machine with the proprietary precision spraying system and reduce 60% to 90% of the herbicides usage. Greeneye™ Technology utilizes artificial intelligence to revolutionize the pest control process in agriculture, transitioning from the current practice of broadcast application to precise spraying.
Raven Applied Technology offers the Hawkeye Nozzle Control System. This is a pressure-based product control system. Each nozzle is controlled by its own individual pulsing valve giving a consistent spray pattern as speed and conditions change.
John Deere offers Individual Nozzle Control Pro™ as their nozzle control solution. This provides section widths down to the individual nozzle turret and turn compensation in five nozzle turret groupings. Individual Nozzle Control Pro adds pulse width modulation to a five-nozzle body turret of 15hz. The ExactApply™ Nozzle Control System is their latest refinement in this technology solution. This provides precise droplet sizing for consistent application plus 2 to 5% savings in chemical usage. It reduces over-application, crop burn, and off-target drift. It also maintains target rate and pressure over a wider range of speeds. The John Deere See & Spray™ Select takes this to the next level by using advanced camera and nozzle-control technology to spray only emerged weeds – and use less herbicide per acre.
Trimble’s nozzle control solution in this arena includes the WeedSeeker system. WeedSeeker®2 detects and eliminates resistant weeds. When a weed passes underneath the sensor it signals its linked spray nozzle to precisely deliver herbicide and kill the weed, reducing the amount of chemical applied by up to 90%.
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