Danish sprayer manufacturer Hardi has introduced Auto Terrain Pro, a more advanced automatic boom management system for its Twin Force and Delta Force spray booms, Future Farming reports. The main change is better sensing, including an extra sensor designed to predict how the boom will move.
The new sensor sits on the sprayer's rear axle and detects when the machine passes through a hollow or over a bump in the field; the boom is corrected straight away according to how far that sensor deflects. Hardi's Dutch importer, Homburg Holland in Stiens, Friesland, says this gives a more consistent spray pattern, because the boom is mainly kept level rather than corrected after every movement.
Hardi has also changed the boom suspension, adding a so-called Smart cylinder that acts as a damper to absorb the boom's corrections, so its movements are less jerky.
As standard the boom carries three ultrasonic sensors that measure its height above the crop, and a fourth or fifth can be added. Homburg expects little demand for the extra sensors in the flat Netherlands, since they are meant mainly for hilly fields, and says all the sensors are maintenance-free.
Auto Terrain Pro is available on booms 24 to 39 metres long, from €8,000. A boom that stays at the right height over uneven ground puts the spray where it is meant to go, which matters for both the dose on the crop and drift.
Photo: bdk / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Future Farming
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