Abstract
Nozzle flowrate and spray pressure are two of the most important factors influencing on droplet characteristics. With the aim to develop prediction models for air-induction nozzles (AINs), a series of Billericay Farm Services (BFS) AINs with different orifice diameters in combination with tap water were tested. 0.2 MPa, 0.3 MPa, 0.4 MPa, 0.5 MPa, 0.6 MPa and 0.7 MPa of spray pressures and 2 m/s, 3 m/s, 4 m/s and 5 m/s of air speeds were setup. Based on the wind tunnel tests data, prediction models with input variables of nozzle flowrate and spray pressure and output variables of Dv0.1, Dv0.5, Dv0.9, %<150 µm (proportion of spray volume contained in droplets with diameter below 150 µm), relative span (RS) and coefficient of variation (CV) of Dv0.5 were developed. The developed models were validated based on wind tunnel experimental data. Results showed that: for Dv0.1, Dv0.5, Dv0.9 and %<150 µm, R2 were equal to 0.768, 0.823, 0.868 and 0.811, indicating that the predictive ability for these four parameters were strong. For RS and CV, R2 were equal to 0.100 and 0.113, respectively, indicating that the predictive ability for these two parameters were poor. The models developed in the present study are helpful for facilitating the use of AIN in agricultural spray application. Keywords: prediction model, agricultural spray application, droplet characteristics, AIN, laser diffraction DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20191206.5014 Citation: Liao J, Hewitt A J, Wang P, Luo X W, Zang Y, Zhou Z Y, et al. Development of droplet characteristics prediction models for air induction nozzles based on wind tunnel tests. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2019; 12(6): 1–6.
Highlights
With the increase in use of chemical pesticide applications in crop protection, the consequent risks of the amount of off-target pesticide, the contamination to the environment, the destruction of the ecological resources, the damage to the downwind crops, the harm to the livestock and human health increase simultaneously[1], these problems are of great concern all over the world[2]
The present study focused on the prediction models between nozzle flowrate, spray pressure and air speed and volumetric droplet characteristics of Dv0.1, Dv0.5, Dv0.9, %
The influences significance of nozzle flowrate, spray pressure and air speed on droplet characteristics were analyzed by ANOVA before model developing
Summary
With the increase in use of chemical pesticide applications in crop protection, the consequent risks of the amount of off-target pesticide, the contamination to the environment, the destruction of the ecological resources, the damage to the downwind crops, the harm to the livestock and human health increase simultaneously[1], these problems are of great concern all over the world[2]. The droplet characteristics (Dv0.1, Dv0.5, Dv0.9, etc.) are most important effect factors of the agricultural spray applications[4,5]. Droplet characteristics are significantly influenced by spray parameters (nozzle flowrate, nozzle type, nozzle angle, spray pressure, etc.), chemical and physical properties of the pesticide, air speed and other factors[6]. Researchers have been studying to understand the behavior of pesticide spraying for better controlling the spraying behavior to maximize the droplet deposition on the crop leaf surface and minimize the drift proportion to the environment[7]. Droplet movement and penetration[8], spray deposition[9] and drift[10,11], and models are the main research focuses for pesticide management in agricultural spray applications
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