Air compressors will be powered up at farms across the country in the coming days as the T1 fungicide application timing arrives.

The latest CropMonitor update from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs notes that the “most forward crops” at its live monitoring locations “will reach the T1 fungicide spray timing very shortly”.

This gives farmers a chance to tackle some of the main diseases that can attack their crops, using powerful air compressors to distribute fungicidal sprays over their foliage.

In the north, mildew is still a problem on some crops, leading the CropMonitor update to suggest incorporating an appropriate mildew treatment into the T1 round of spraying.

Meanwhile, farmers may want to equip their air compressors with a supply of triazole suitable for action against rusts.

Brown rust has been detected at three live monitoring locations so far, and is causing concern for Defra as many crops are susceptible to the disease.

Yellow rust has been seen at seven of the 13 sites covered by live monitoring, but north-west farmers may find they have little to fear from the blight, as it has only appeared east of the M1 so far.

Air compressor requirements in smart grid systems can be predicted using newly developed software, according to German scientists.

Experts at applied research institution Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft have been working on a computer program that can help to overcome the difficulties encountered in energy grids during extreme winters.

For instance, gas distribution can be affected if pipelines become so cold that the gas begins to condense – and air compressors and pre-heaters are a means to overcome this.

Dr Tanja Clees, department head at the Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing, says common rules underline the distribution of gas and of other commodities.

“Regardless of dealing with transport systems for gas, power, water or electrical circuits, their simulation always traces back to the same numerical core,” she explains.

In addition to this common core, however, there are also specific features of the program for individual applications – allowing gas distributors to tailor their installations according to the particular demands of their commodity.

For example, the newly developed software, named Multiphysical Network Simulation Framework or MYNTS, allows users to investigate how additional air compressor stations and mixing chambers might help to improve their gas distribution.

Air compressor pumps have a growing role to play in clean energy installations, particularly in the form of energy storage, according to a report from Pike Research.

The cleantech market intelligence firm has published several reports recently on the increasing importance of air compressors and other modern technologies for storing energy.

Historically, hydro storage technologies have led the energy storage market, but air compressor pumps, thermal storage, flywheels and new kinds of battery are all changing that.

“It is telling that the new technologies – such as batteries, compressed air energy storage, thermal storage, flywheels and new pumped storage (such as seawater and closed-loop systems) – have such a large share of activity in the market,” says Pike Energy research analyst Anissa Dehamna.

During the fourth quarter of 2011, 12% of energy storage projects – roughly one in eight – were accounted for by these new technologies, rather than by traditional hydro power.

With 600 energy storage projects announced worldwide, which should bring another 152 gigawatts of capacity online, air compressors are likely to provide an increasing source of stored power in the years to come.

Air compressors could hold the key to earthquake-proofing homes, thanks to a new innovation from Japan.

The concept, created by Japanese firm Air Danshin, turns homes into hovercrafts, using a bed of compressed air to levitate them slightly above the ground.

Homes only hover when an earthquake is detected – and the automatic system is able to lift them from their foundations quickly and with good stability.

Once off the ground, they are able to avoid the worst vibrations of the earthquake, which simply passes a few millimetres beneath them without causing significant damage.

The idea is not totally new – videos on the company’s YouTube channel date back to mid-2011 – but has been grabbing attention on gadget blogs worldwide this week.

It is a great example of how air compressors can be used for imaginative and important applications, and an elegant solution to the problem of earthquakes, which is an ongoing concern in Japan and other parts of the world.

However, it could be some time before the UK sees its first flying homes.

Air compressors have a long history of applications in agriculture, with compressors providing the power needed to spray crops with herbicides for many years.

However, new research suggests a new use for air compressors in tackling unwanted weed growth – simply blasting them out of the ground.

Reported in the latest issue of the journal Weed Technology, Frank Forcella of the US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service claims compressed air alone can achieve 90% control of weeds over the course of a season.

This is achieved not by blasting the weeds with herbicides that they can develop an immunity to, but by blasting them with a jet of air containing grit.

In particular, the use of air compressors in this way can allow weeds to be eliminated from crop fields that are being grown to organic standards, where herbicides may not be an option.

The study focused on abrasive grit blasted at corn plants and found, significantly, that the corn plants themselves were not damaged by the process, nor were their yields less than usual, making compressed air an eco-friendly and economical option for growers.

Air compressors are likely to be an increasingly important part of the uninterruptible power supplies of the future, according to Pike Research.

The analyst says there are several innovations that will appear in next-generation UPS systems, allowing them to provide reliable power when the mains supply is interrupted.

Air compressors are one component that could help towards this, as compressed air appears alongside electrical batteries as a source of backup power.

“Next-generation UPS systems will combine several key features, including a built-in energy storage source such as batteries, flywheels, or compressed air,” Pike Research predicts.

Vice-president of research Bob Gohn adds that systems that can switch between different methods of providing power can help to lower energy costs in the long term.

The predictions are another example of how air compressors are playing an increasing role in providing power of all kinds.

However, they also remain as a way of harnessing the power of compressed air to deliver bursts of high energy for use in power tools, spraying applications and for a host of other purposes.