Design and anti-sway performance testing of pesticide tanks in spraying UAVs

Zhang, Yu; Zhang, Ying; Zhou, Zhiyan; Gu, Xiaoyan; Jiang, Rui; Kong, Linggang; He, Xingang; Luo, Xiwen; Lan, Yubin

doi:10.25165/j.ijabe.20191201.4338

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 12 publications

(12 reference statements)

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“…There are so many types of tanks for sprayer UAVs on the market, whereby different sprayer-UAV manufacturing companies make different shaped models [42]. Thus, we…”

Section: Tank Baffle Wall and Baffle Ball Designsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Stability Analysis of a Sprayer UAV with a Liquid Tank with Different Outer Shapes and Inner Structures

et al. 2022

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The performance of sprayer UAVs largely depends on accurate trajectory control while spraying. A large amount of a liquid payload may create a sloshing effect inside the liquid tank, which may occur largely during hazardous phenomena, such as wind gusts and obstacle avoidance. This all-way sloshing force inside the tank may disturb the UAV’s trajectory by, for example, a displacement from the planned path or collision with an obstacle. A large number of existing sprayer UAVs already carry various-shaped tanks. A UAV’s liquid-sloshing problem must be reduced for existing and future plant protection. Applying suitable methods can achieve these goals and provide better performance. Moreover, various tank models have different structures and capabilities, which must be fixed using a flexible solution. This article proposes a simple baffle solution for all forms of pesticide tanks and compares baffle systems’ impacts using primary shaped tanks. Indoor lab experiments showed the extreme impacts inside the tanks. Outdoor UAV mission experiments provided the practical effectiveness of the tank structures, and primary shaped tank comparison results provided guidance for future UAV pesticide-tank manufacturing. A new baffle ball design is presented for a universal solution. A one-axis linear slider was used for optical observations, an open-source flight controller was used for on-field compliance, and plenty of tests were done to prove the concept and show the efficiency. The flat hexagonal tank and baffle ball system showed better results in both indoor and outdoor experiments.

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“…There are so many types of tanks for sprayer UAVs on the market, whereby different sprayer-UAV manufacturing companies make different shaped models [42]. Thus, we…”

Section: Tank Baffle Wall and Baffle Ball Designsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are so many types of tanks for sprayer UAVs on the market, whereby different sprayer-UAV manufacturing companies make different shaped models [42]. Thus, we used fundamental shapes to confirm the average formations of tanks and analyze the baffle system's effectiveness in the base-shaped tanks.…”

Section: Tank Baffle Wall and Baffle Ball Designsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability Analysis of a Sprayer UAV with a Liquid Tank with Different Outer Shapes and Inner Structures

et al. 2022

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“…However, the more turns the plant protection UAV makes, the less flight stability. Especially when there was liquid in the tank of the plant protection UAV [47][48][49]. The path planning for the plant protection UAV should reduce the turns to ensure the smooth and stability flight.…”

Section: Inflection Points Optimizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Improved A* Obstacle Avoidance Algorithm for the Plant Protection UAV with Millimeter Wave Radar and Monocular Camera Data Fusion

Huang

Dong

et al. 2021

Remote Sensing

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To enhance obstacle avoidance abilities of the plant protection UAV in unstructured farmland, this article improved the traditional A* algorithms through dynamic heuristic functions, search point optimization, and inflection point optimization based on millimeter wave radar and monocular camera data fusion. Obstacle information extraction experiments were carried out. The performance between the improved algorithm and traditional algorithm was compared. Additionally, obstacle avoidance experiments were also carried out. The results show that the maximum error in distance measurement of data fusion method was 8.2%. Additionally, the maximum error in obstacle width and height measurement were 27.3% and 18.5%, respectively. The improved algorithm is more useful in path planning, significantly reduces data processing time, search grid, and turning points. The algorithm at most increases path length by 2.0%, at least reduces data processing time by 68.4%, search grid by 74.9%, and turning points by 20.7%. The maximum trajectory offset error was proportional to the flight speed, with a maximum trajectory offset of 1.4 m. The distance between the UAV and obstacle was inversely proportional to flight speed, with a minimum distance of 1.6 m. This method can provide a new idea for obstacle avoidance of the plant protection UAV.

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“…During UAV application flights, aerial spray droplets are affected by the rotor wind field and natural wind. This results in uneven deposition of the droplets, which are prone to drift and rolling [9] . Uneven deposition leads to the spray not providing adequate coverage [10] .…”

Section: Introduction mentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of aviation adjuvants based on wettability analysis for insecticide application on maize using UAV

Zhang¹,

Zhou²,

Zhang³

et al. 2021

International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

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Adjuvants can increase the control efficacy of diseases and insect pests by changing the physico-chemical properties of pesticides. Most of the aviation spray adjuvants are versions of ground adjuvants. Maize insecticide sprays with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), have problems such as relatively low droplet deposition rate and poor wettability. Hence, wettability research and optimization tests for aviation spray adjuvants are needed. The present study screened 12 spray adjuvants using physico-chemical property experiments. The adjuvants were applied to improve the droplet deposition and control efficacy in maize borers controlling by UAV. The selected spray adjuvants were Po2 (a hyperbranched polymer adjuvant) and VO3 (a vegetable oil adjuvant). Results showed that, (1) When Po2 was added in water-dispersible granules (WGs) at volume rate of 12 L/hm 2 , the dynamic surface tension (DST) of WGs was decreased by 37.41%, and the maize leaves were covered by droplets 100%, the droplet deposition was increased by 104% and maize borer control was increased by 46%;(2) VO3 decreased the surface tension of ultra-low-volume (ULV) formulation by 12.02% and the maize leaves were covered by droplets 100%. The effect of VO3 on improving the droplet deposition and control efficacy at 12 L/hm 2 with ULV was not significant. Thus, the addition of aviation spray adjuvant to improve the wettability of WGs significantly improved the droplet deposition and control efficacy but it had no significant effect on the ULV formulation.

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Design and anti-sway performance testing of pesticide tanks in spraying UAVs

Cited by 10 publications

References 12 publications

Stability Analysis of a Sprayer UAV with a Liquid Tank with Different Outer Shapes and Inner Structures

Stability Analysis of a Sprayer UAV with a Liquid Tank with Different Outer Shapes and Inner Structures

The Improved A* Obstacle Avoidance Algorithm for the Plant Protection UAV with Millimeter Wave Radar and Monocular Camera Data Fusion

Optimization of aviation adjuvants based on wettability analysis for insecticide application on maize using UAV

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