BRANDON — Where conventional anhydrous ammonia systems might have 25 percent coefficient of variation left to right on side hills, N-Shooter claims a one percent CV across the toolbar in all situations.
“When you have a coefficient of variation of one percent from shank to shank, you know that you’ll have uniform distribution of nitrogen right across your field,” says Chris Wilson of Tru-Kare Tank and Meter Service of Lacombe, Alta., which designed and built the nitrogen injection system.
“Uniform nitrogen placement gives you a more uniform crop and the potential for better yields, better grade, more uniform maturity and earlier harvest.”
Wilson said a grower will not get those benefits with haphazard nitrogen distribution because anhydrous ammonia will always flow down to the lower end of the toolbar unless there’s a pump to increase the pressure.
“With the N-Shooter, NH3 flows out of the tank as a streaming liquid. It’s a streaming liquid from tank to shank. It remains under pressure at all times, so it never has the chance to expand or vaporize,” he said.
“That includes the shank. Our orifices prevent vaporization, so the nitrogen streams into the soil in liquid form. Then if your packers close the soil up fast and tight, you’ll have a very minimal loss. And there’s no freezing at the injection point. We don’t need that extreme high pressure you see in the Exactrix system. They run up in the range of 275 to 300 (pounds per sq. inch). We only run 20 to 30 p.s.i. above tank pressure. That was one of the key reasons for developing the N-Shooter.”
Wilson said the N-Shooter hydraulics are the fastest he knows in the industry, giving the system a fast response for variable rate. The re-sponse is quick enough that changes are made before the drill reaches the borders of the prescription map zone. As a result, the as-applied map matches the prescription map on the monitor.
The Corken ZHX2000 sliding vane pump runs at about 300 r.p.m. and has a life expectancy of more than two million gallons.
Hydraulics run the pump, but sectional control is electric. The valves go from full closed to full open in .8 seconds.
The pump is generally located on the nurse wagon, making it the furthest piece of equipment from the tractor cab. As a result, the operator is often moving up and down out of the cab to check the pump.
“The operator gets more seat time with the N-Shooter because he never needs to get out to check the pump. We have a pump r.p.m. monitor in the cab. That tells him what the pump is doing at all times. Variations in r.p.m. tell the operator if there are supply issues or problems in the lines.”
The system uses inductance flow meters with an amplifier. The .75 inch meter reads accurately between 1.9 and 26 gallons per minute. It can make the shift from 1.9 g.p.m. to 25 g.p.m. in three seconds.
The one inch meter reads accurately between four and 46 g.p.m. For low rate applications, the system can function accurately at 10 to 20 pounds per acre and then quickly go back to high rates.
Tru-Kare says the largest system it has supplied is on a 90-foot Seed Master with the highest application rate reaching 190 pounds per acre.
The system works with all controllers, including older units built before Can-bus. Wilson said the company usually uses Raven harnessing because it’s the most compatible with the controllers with which it works.
Although the system is easily adaptable to all openers, he said the company has had the best success with Dutch and Atom Jet.
Price is in the $30,000 range, depending on the drill.
Wilson says return on investment is two to three years.
For more information, contact Wilson at 403-782-1811 or visit www.trukare.com.