Development of Boom Posture Adjustment and Control System for Wide Spray Boom

To obtain a more consistent droplet distribution and reduce spray drift, it is necessary to keep the entire spray boom parallel to the crop canopy or ground and maintain a certain distance from the spray nozzles to the crop canopy or ground. A high-performance boom active control system was developed for boom trapezoid suspension. The hydraulic system and hardware circuit of the boom control system were designed based on analyzing the configuration of active trapezoid suspension. The mathematical models of valve-controlled hydraulic cylinders and active boom suspensions were developed. Step response and frequency domain response analysis of passive suspension were conducted by Simulink simulations, and then key parameters of the boom suspension and hydraulic system were determined. A feedforward proportion integration differentiation (FPID) control algorithm was proposed to improve the tracking performance. The designed control system was assembled on a 24 m boom with trapezoid suspension. The response characteristic of the active boom control system was tested by the step signal and the sinusoidal signal from a six-degree-of-freedom hydraulic motion platform. Firstly, the tracking performance of the active balance control system for the PID (proportion integration differentiation) and FPID control algorithms was compared for a given 0.2 Hz sine signal. Then, for the ground-following control system, the response characteristics in challenging terrain and tracking performance in less challenging terrain were tested. Field experiment results indicate that the maximum rolling angle of the chassis was 3.896 degrees while the maximum inclination angle of the boom was 0.453 degrees. The results show that the designed boom adjustment and control system can effectively adjust the boom motion in real time and meet the requirements of field operation.