Evaluation of hydraulic energy nozzle suitable for low velocity air-assisted sprayer

Abstract

Performance evaluation of commercially available hydraulic energy nozzles (HCN/PB, HCN/PC, HCN/PD and HCN/PE) used in manually operated sprayer was conducted to identify the suitable nozzle for low velocity air-assisted sprayer. The discharge rate, droplet size, droplet size distribution pattern and spray distribution pattern of all the types of nozzles were measured with a pressure range of 0.1 to 0.4 MPa at an interval of 0.1 MPa. It was found that with the increase in pressure from 0.1 to 0.4 MPa, the discharge rate, swath width and spray angle increased for all the four types of nozzles. At all working pressures, the discharge rate and spray width is higher for HCN/PE nozzle followed by HCN/PD, HCN/PC and HCN/PB. The discharge rate of HCN/PB nozzle (363 to 533 ml/min) was found suitable for cotton crop. For the tested pressure range (0.1 to 0.4 MPa), the HCN/PB nozzle produces best droplet size in between 100 to 150 μm, good uniformity coefficient and the maximum percentage (63.81, 64.65, 61.56 and 65.5 per cent) of volume of the droplets at 100 to 200 μm.