Resumen de Application of mechanical and thermal weed control inmaize as part of the RHEA project
Andrea Peruzzi, Michele Raffaelli, M. Fontanelli, C. Frasconi, L. Martelloni
The European Project RHEA (Robot fleets for Highly Effective Agricultureand forestry management) aims to create a fleet of autonomous aerial and groundmobile units for general crop protection and the application of physical weedcontrol in particular in maize. This paper describes the characteristics of theautomated systems, that are currently being designed and developed for physicalweed control in maize in the RHEA Project.The first machine that was designed to apply PWC to maize as part of the RHEAProject (PWC-1) was able to perform mechanical and thermal treatments at thesame time so as to remove weeds mechanically from the inter-row space andperform in-row selective and precision flaming. The machine can be modified forbroadcast flaming (PWC-2) by replacing the mechanical tools for between-rowweed control with burners working at different degrees of intensity, depending onthe weed cover. LPG is the fuel source for the burners.This very innovative application of PWC in maize represents a good opportunity forfarmers in terms of reducing the use of herbicides and ensuring that their crops areof a superior quality
