Innovative Sprayers and the Rise of Direct Injection Spraying

Technology is changing the agricultural sector at a fast pace, increasing productivity, efficiency and sustainability. A tool that is rapidly gaining traction is advanced spraying equipment, particularly the Direct Injection Spraying systems. These not only improve the effectiveness & precision of pesticide and fertilizer but also promote sustainable agricultural practices by reducing waste and environmental harm.

As we saw in a previous article, modern agricultural sprayers have come a long way from the simple manual pump-action devices to devices tailored to suit specific farm requirements, such as terrain, crop type, and farming methods. Their size ranges from smaller, handheld, to larger, tractor-mounted or even aerial drone sprayers.

This evolution has been fueled by the need for precision farming – a strategy which, with the help of digital technologies, enables farmers to manage crops and apply farm inputs more efficiently. This allows for targeted use of pesticides, fertilizers as well as water, while minimizing waste and environmental impact.

What differentiates Direct Injection Sprayers from traditional sprayers?

In traditional sprayers, the water and chemicals are pre-mixed in a tank before being sprayed. However, this approach poses several challenges, such as

• wastage of pesticides and fertilizers when the tank mix is not fully utilized,
• the risk of chemical residue remaining in the tank,
• the difficulty of adjusting the pesticide or fertilizer mix on-the-go.

Direct Injection Spraying is capable of addressing these challenges. In this system, the water and the chemicals are stored separately and only mixed at the point of spraying. This approach provides several significant benefits:

• Reduced Chemical Waste: With Direct Injection, farmers only mix what they need at any given time. This flexibility means they no longer have to worry about leftover mixed solution that can’t be used or stored for future use. This significantly reduces chemical waste and saves money.
• Greater Flexibility: Direct Injection systems provide farmers with the ability to alter the rate of chemical application on-the-fly, without having to stop and remix a new batch of solution. This ability is particularly beneficial in fields with significant pest or disease variability.
• Improved Safety: Since the chemicals and water are mixed only at the point of spray, the risk of operator exposure to concentrated chemicals is greatly minimized. This feature contributes significantly to the operator’s safety.
• Environmental Sustainability: By enabling precise chemical application, Direct Injection Sprayers help reduce chemical run-off into waterways and the broader environment. This precision significantly contributes to sustainable farming practices.

DIS in Smart Droplets Smart Droplets introduces critical hardware and electronic components that minimize latencies and dosing inconsistencies during the DIS functioning. More importantly, hydraulic circuits will be integrated for efficient chemical injection in the outlet section and chemical dosing mechanisms in each compartment will be configured for accurate delivery of solid and liquid state compounds, considering different viscosities.

The selection of chemicals that DIS will be optimised on, will be driven by the frequency, environmental impact and total amount applied in each spraying application in the demo sites and fields that the project’s solution will be tested and demonstrated, which are no other than Spain (in orchards with apples) and Lithuania (in wheatfields). The true novelty of the Smart Droplets solution is achieved by linking sprayers with the intelligence stack, that is leveraging Digital Twins and AI models. Field awareness before the tractor and sprayer deployment, can allow a probabilistic planning of the spraying and chemical selection based on AI models and the Digital Twin information, therefore diminishing application gaps, latencies and off-target spraying. Cameras mounted on the sprayer will validate Digital Twin’s prediction and fine-tune the dosage recommendations in real time.

The Future of Spraying

Looking ahead, the use of Direct Injection Spraying technology is likely to increase, spurred by the push towards precision agriculture and sustainable farming. As more farmers understand the benefits, we could see wider acceptance and adoption across the sector. Furthermore, the integration of advanced technologies like GPS, remote sensing, and machine learning can further enhance the precision and efficiency of Direct Injection Sprayers.

Stay tuned for more…