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Rendel Farms Ramp Sprayer (or “How a Navy Nuclear engineer applies the K.I.S.S. principle”)

Rendel Farms Ramp Sprayer (or “How a Navy Nuclear engineer applies the K.I.S.S. principle”). Designed and built by Brent Rendel. The Sprayer. 7 tip sets on 20” center 4 solenoid control valves 50 gallon poly tank PTO-driven roller pump 1” supply line ½” spray line. Spray Tips.

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Rendel Farms Ramp Sprayer (or “How a Navy Nuclear engineer applies the K.I.S.S. principle”)

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  1. Rendel Farms Ramp Sprayer(or “How a Navy Nuclear engineer applies the K.I.S.S. principle”) Designed and built by Brent Rendel

  2. The Sprayer • 7 tip sets on 20” center • 4 solenoid control valves • 50 gallon poly tank • PTO-driven roller pump • 1” supply line • ½” spray line

  3. Spray Tips • Hypro Fastcap 6-Jet Liquid Fertilizer tips • 1x Tips - 0.015 • 2x Tips – 0.03 • 4x Tips – 0.06 • 8x Tips – 0.15 (see later notes regarding this tip size)

  4. Valve Bank • 4 TeeJet 144A 3-way Directo Valves • Throttle valves allow adjustment of “off” bypass flow to minimize system pressure changes as various valves cycle • Pressure Regulator at bank exit proved to be unnecessary. System pressure controlled by throttle valves

  5. Operating Station • Analog Control • 12VDC system

  6. Control Panel • Master Switch controls system power • 3-position rate switches control each solenoid valve • Off: always off • On: always on; used during calibration, cleanout, etc. • Auto: Valves controlled by Switch #1 and Switch #2 • Pilot lights indicate when power is applied to respective circuits

  7. Ramp Control Operation • Shown in Ramp Position 13 (1x, 4x, and 8x solenoids powered) • Ramp is applied by: • Begin traveling at 3 MPH, Switch #1 at “0” position, Switch #2 at “6”position, Solenoid Switches in “Auto”, Master Switch “On” • Rotate Switch #1 at regular intervals until “Switch #2” position is reached • Rotate Switch #2 at regular intervals until “Off” is reached • Best method was simply counting to 3 between positions; traveled about 13 feet during each step

  8. “Simple” Analog Guts • 4-pole, 11-position rotary switch for Switch #1 • 2-pole, 11-position rotary switch for Switch #2 • Fuse protection for master power and each spray solenoid

  9. Sprayer Calibration Spreadsheet • Developed an Excel spreadsheet to assist in calculating all the various parameters to lay down the ramp • Also provides flow information for sprayer calibration • Spreadsheet also contains list of most major components purchased to build sprayer • To open file, right click on spreadsheet image and select “Worksheet object”  “Open”

  10. Notes • I used ½” spray line from valves to booms, but I could not generate sufficient flow to end tips on 8x boom. I blanked off all end tips for corn ramps (5 tip sets vice 7). I am going to try upping the 8X hose to ¾” out of valve and teeing it off to two ½” lines to feed those tips. If this still isn’t enough, I will probably convert boom to only 5 tip sets either keeping 20” spacing or spreading out to 30” spacing for wider coverage. 20” x 5 tips provided very good application for 3 rows on corn. • Switch #2 is only a 2-pole switch, so final “high rate” ramp marker could only use 2 solenoids. Using 8x and 4x solenoids provided a 12x rate which should be fine as a visual marker. • I originally had a 5th throttle valve installed on the outlet of the 8x valve to compensate for using 0.15 tips. Due to ½” line flow restriction, I had to remove that valve completely and still barely reached 8x flow from those tips. I think upping the hose size will necessitate adding this throttle valve back. • It’s a little tricky to balance the by-pass flow throttle valves, but when done properly, I could maintain desired pressure (40 psig) consistently across all 15 spraying steps.

  11. Additional Pictures

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