PRECISION FLOW INDEPENDENT FLUID METERING FOR AGRICHEMICALS

IN RECENT YEARS, THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY HAS INTRODUCED NEW LOW-VILUME FORMULATIONS FOR PEST CONTROL. THIS TREND TOWARD POST-EMERGENCE, SELECTIVE CHEMICAL APPLICATION HAS ESTABLISHED A NEED FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF DIRECT INJECTION SYSTEMS CAPABLE OF PRECISELY METERING FLUIDS OF DIVERSE FLOW CHARACTERISTICS. MICROCOMPUTER CONTROLS, INC., IS INVOLVED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PRECISION DELIVERY SYSTEM (COMPUMIST) WHOSE OPERATIONS ARE PARTIALLY DICTATED BY FLUID VARIATIONS DUE TO TEMPERATURES WHICH MAY RANGE FROM 40 TO 110 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT. THIS PHASE I RESEARCH PROJECT WILL DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF PRECISION MICROMETERING OF MODERN AGRICHEMICALS FOR TEMPERATURE RANGES AND MATERIAL PROPERTIES PERTINENT TO WIDE-RANGING FARMING APPLICATIONS. PROPERTIES OF VISCOSITY, VOLATILITY, AND SOLUBILITY WILL BE INVESTIGATED FOR FOUR, OFF-THE-SHELF, POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT PUMPS. SUCCESSFUL RESULTS OF THIS STUDY WILL ENABLE AN INTELLIGENT SOFTWARE ALGORITHM TO ACCURATELY DETERMINE MOTOR SPEED FOR SPECIFIC CHEMICAL MIXTURES OVER THE DESIGN TEMPERATURE RANGE.