IMI has worked with a world-leading crop spraying OEM for the past decade. The company designs, develops, and manufactures precision-based agricultural spraying systems as part of its portfolio of solutions that deliver advanced farming through technology and innovation. Customer's systems offer a variety of technologies that enable farmers to maximise yields and a return on investment by, for example, reducing expensive fertiliser or pesticide overspray to cut costs and better protect the environment.
Customer Pain Points
The media used in Agricultural spraying systems are expensive to purchase, and any reduction of waste, as only essential crop areas are treated, provides an economic benefit to farmers and lower levels of unneeded chemicals entering the ground.
IMI Solution
A recently launched spraying system by customer is using IMI valve technology to provide accurate, reliable, and robust control for the nozzle bodies that dispense the media onto fields.
There can be between 70-140 nozzle bodes on a single spraying boom and each nozzle incorporates a IMI solenoid valve. The valve delivers control to the pulse width modulation solution which acts to ensure a fast pulsing and even flow of different fertilizers, pesticides, and other media so it is accurately distributed onto the crops, when and where it is required.
The valve control extends to modulating individual nozzle flow rates to take account of tractor turning maneuvers when one end of the spraying boom needs to dispense media more quickly than the other end.
Having to work in harsh environments, subject to strong vibrations from the tractor and landscape and handling a variety of challenging media, means the proven reliability of the IMI valve provides tangible operational benefits to farmers who need to trust the spraying system will avoid unwanted, inconvenient, and expensive spraying stoppages.
Connected to customer’s proprietary PCB and electronics technology, the IMI valves can also communicate with other parts of the spraying system. It turns the nozzle sprayers on or can shut off the flow as per operational need, so the farmer has the reassurance the use of expensive fertilizers and pesticides is continually optimized.