Effects of sprayer speed, spray distance, and nozzle arrangement angle on low-flow air-assisted spray deposition

Shiqun Dai; Mingxiong Ou; Wentao Du; Xuejun Yang; Xiang Dong; Li Jiang; Tie Zhang; Suming Ding; Weidong Jia

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1184244

Effects of sprayer speed, spray distance, and nozzle arrangement angle on low-flow air-assisted spray deposition

Front Plant Sci. 2023 May 8:14:1184244. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1184244. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Shiqun Dai¹, Mingxiong Ou¹, Wentao Du¹, Xuejun Yang², Xiang Dong¹, Li Jiang¹, Tie Zhang², Suming Ding³, Weidong Jia¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
² Science Innovation Center, Chinese Academy of Agriculture Mechanization Sciences Group Co., Ltd., Beijing, China.
³ Nanjing Institute of Agricultural Mechanization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Nanjing, China.

Abstract

Air-assisted spraying technology is widely used in orchard sprayers to disturb canopy leaves and force droplets into the plant canopy to reduce droplet drift and increase spray penetration. A low-flow air-assisted sprayer was developed based on a self-designed air-assisted nozzle. The effects of the sprayer speed, spray distance, and nozzle arrangement angle on the deposit coverage, spray penetration, and deposit distribution were investigated in a vineyard by means of orthogonal tests. The optimal working conditions for the low-flow air-assisted sprayer working in the vineyard were determined as a sprayer speed of 0.65m/s, a spray distance of 0.9m, and a nozzle arrangement angle of 20°. The deposit coverages of the proximal canopy and intermediate canopy were 23.67% and 14.52%, respectively. The spray penetration was 0.3574. The variation coefficients of the deposit coverage of the proximal canopy and intermediate canopy, which indicate the uniformity of the deposition distribution, were 8.56% and 12.33%, respectively.

Keywords: air-assisted; deposit coverage; deposit distribution; nozzle arrangement angle; spray distance; spray penetration; sprayer speed.

Grants and funding

Jiangsu Province and Education Ministry Co-sponsored Synergistic Innovation Center of Modern Agricultural Equipment (XTCX1003). This project provides financial support for the material aspects of this paper. The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region science and technology key R&D project (2018BBF02020).The project finances the costs incurred for the production of the prototype.