15th Triennial World Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Control
  Barcelona, 21–26 July 2002 
CENTER-PIVOT AUTOMATIZATION FOR AGROCHEMICAL USE
J. Palacín1, J.A. Salse1, X. Clua1, J. Arnó1, C. Zanuy2
1 Universitat de Lleida. Jaume II, 69. 25001 Lleida, Spain
2 Compañía de Agroquímicos S.A. N-240 Km 110, Almacelles, Lleida, Spain
e_mail: palacin@diei.udl.es     web:http://robotica.udl.es
This paper presents an agrochemical application system that could be incorporated to existing irrigating center-pivots. The system consists in a hydraulic circuit with emitters dose controlled with variable valve timing. The electronic control system has been designed to be modular and distributed along the pivot with a main algorithm based on determining every emitter absolute speed to obtain their adequate timing control.
Keywords: agriculture, control applications, control engineering, control equipment, variable valve timing control
E-mail: palacin@diei.udl.es
Session slot T-Mo-A19: IT Based System Control in Agricultural Automation/Area code 4b : Intelligent Control in Agricultural Automation