Design and Development of a Hydraulic Nozzle Spray Pattern Stabilization System

Long boom sprayers as efficient and high-performance machines enable farmers to carry out crop protection within a reasonable period. Despite many pieces of research, heterogeneity in spray pattern due to boom vibration remains a major challenge. In the present research, the feasibility of adjusting spray angle through pressure variation in conjunction with spray rate control using a pulse width modulation (PWM) to accomplish desired spray pattern was investigated. Using acquired data from various technical tests, a program developed via LabVIEW software to control the spray pattern along with spray rate as a function of nozzle height. The conformity of mean operational pressures and target pressures was investigated using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov Test. A similar method was used to investigate the conformity of mean operational fan angles and target fan angles. Mean differences of operational pressures were almost insignificant in the whole range of measurement height. Therefore, it can be concluded that the height factor has no significant effect on the ability of the system to obtain the target pressure. Results also indicated that mean operational pressures are in conformity with target pressures. Distribution of the operational and target fan angles was significantly difference. Considering the existence of target pressure in the system and the inability of the system in providing the target fan angle, it is concluded that nozzle performance in creation the target fan angle was not perfect.