Abstract
Two air-carrier orchard sprayers, using centrifugal and diaphragm pumps, were operated at six nozzle selections commonly used to obtain low, medium, or high volume rates in Florida citrus applications. Nozzle pressure and flow rate were measured for the one- and two-sided operations. The difference in the pressure or flow rate was related to the application rate error. For all nozzle selections, closure of the nozzles on one side of the sprayer increased the operating pressure and the flow rate on the other (open) side. The sprayer with a diaphragm pump was much more sensitive to the flow restriction than the sprayer with a centrifugal pump. For the latter, the pressure difference peaked at about mid pressure range and decreased with further increase in pressure or flow rate. However, with the positive displacement pump, the difference generally decreased as operating pressure increased. Overall, the pressure error of the one-sided versus two-sided spraying was less than 20% for the centrifugal pump but exceeded 200% for the diaphragm pump system. The volume rate errors at 470, 2350, and 4700 L/ha nominal rates were 1.0, 3.5, and 3.5% (centrifugal) and 6.0, 7.5, and 47.0% (diaphragm), respectively.
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