Evaluation of the Effect of Pressure and Wind Speed on the Amount of Drift through the Iimage Processing Method

Nozzle is one of the most important parts of the sprayer machines, which plays a decisive role in the production of droplets as well as reaching the target. The aim of this study is evaluate and compare the drift of the various nozzles using spraying simulator system and image processing method. In this study, three types of the most common nozzles used in Iran (flat fan 8002, 11003 and 11004) were investigated under spraying pressure levels (2, 3, 4 Bar) and wind speed at three levels (5, 8 and 11 km/hour). Experiments were conducted using water sensitive cards and the data including drift parameters, surface coverage, volumetric mean diameter, numerical mean diameter and quality of the spray droplets was acquired and determined using image processing and MATLAB Software. The results showed that the 11004 and 8002 nozzles have the least (%0.196) and the highest (%0.373) drift amount, respectively. Drift amount was increased with increasing of spraying pressure and wind speed. Also the highest and lowest levels of surface coverage of droplets were 0.977 and 0.031 percent, respectively. The surface coverage was increased with increasing injection pressure (2 to 4 Bar) and wind speed (5 to 8 km/h), and was declined with increasing distance from the nozzle (1 to 3 m).