Spreader or sprayer and control system therefore
A vehicle mounted sprayer for spreading liquid treatment material for treatment or pre-treatment of road surfaces comprises a plurality of tanks for containing main brine material to be spread, a hot mix tank supplying hot mix, a mix valve for mixing the main brine and hot mix, pumps for controllably delivering main brine and hot mix to the mix valve, and a flow sensor for measuring the flow rate of liquid treatment material. A controller determines the intended density and flow rate of liquid based on sensor inputs.
1 . A vehicle mounted sprayer system for spreading liquid material, comprising:
one or more liquid sprayers,
a main brine liquid tank,
a first pump pumping brine from the main brine liquid tank,
a hot mix tank,
a second pump pumping hot mix from the hot mix tank,
a mix valve, coupled to the first and second pumps and the one or more liquid sprayers, and combining brine and hot mix for delivery to the one or more liquid sprayers,
a controller coupled to the first and second pumps and controlling and measuring an amount of combined brine and hot mix delivered to the one or more liquid sprayers.
2 . The vehicle mounted sprayer system of claim 1 ,
further comprising a flow meter measuring a flow rate of one or both of the main brine and hot mix,
wherein the controller establishes flow rates of liquid by controlling the rate of said first and second pumps and verifies liquid flow rate with said flow meter.
3 . The vehicle mounted sprayer system of claim 1 , further comprising a human interface, the controller providing feedback information via the human interface to an operator.
4 . The vehicle mounted sprayer system of claim 3 , wherein the feedback information comprises a range within which vehicle speed must be maintained to control density of liquid delivered by the one or more liquid sprayers.
5 . The vehicle mounted sprayer system of claim 3 ,
further comprising a wireless communication system,
wherein the controller is coupled to the wireless communication system to deliver feedback information from the controller to a remote server, for access by interested persons.
6 . The vehicle mounted sprayer system of claim 5 , wherein the controller receives instructions from the remote server, and presents those instructions on the human interface.
7 . The vehicle mounted sprayer of claim 5 , wherein feedback information provided by the controller to the remote server comprises one or more of historical measurements of density of liquid delivered by the one or more liquid sprayers, vehicle speed, and liquid flow rate data.
8 . The vehicle mounted sprayer of claim 1 , further comprising a vehicle speed sensor, the controller coupled to the vehicle speed sensor to detect vehicle speed and relating vehicle speed to an amount of combined brine and hot mix to be delivered to the one or more liquid sprayers for a desired density of coverage.
9 . The vehicle mounted sprayer of claim 1 , wherein the controller is coupled to a vehicle diagnostics port of the vehicle to obtain vehicle speed information from a vehicle-integrated vehicle speed sensor.
10 . The vehicle mounted sprayer of claim 1 , wherein the controller further comprises a positioning system producing location and motion information, wherein the controller obtains vehicle speed information from the positioning system.
11 . The vehicle mounted sprayer of claim 1 , wherein the main brine liquid tank comprises two or more brine liquid tanks positioned within a platform, and collectively supplying main brine liquid to the first pump.