Developing a system to control the air flow of a pneumatic sprayer

Abstract

Air flow is of great importance in pneumatic sprayers as it is related to droplets sprayed size. Currently, there is a deficiency in regulating air flow in these sprayers. This work aimed to develop a system to control air flow of a pneumatic sprayer (Berthoud), and evaluate, in relation to air flow, power demanded by PTO and technical parameters of spraying (VMD, coefficient of homogeneity, percent coverage and droplets density), related to air flow. The diaphragm valve was projected using the software CAD, which was later made in galvanized steel and fixed to the fan air inlet. Air flow and power demanded on PTO was evaluated in eight diaphragm aperture positions (100, 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 40 and 30%), and also using water sensitive papers, parameters of spraying were evaluated through a range of 30 meters in five diaphragm apertures (100, 90, 80, 70 and 60%). At the end it was found that between aperture of 100 and 70%, the closing of diaphragm caused a decrease of 4.56% in air flow. From aperture of 60%, reduction of air flow was more evident, resulting in reductions in air flow of 14.08, 24.00, 35.37 and 47.09% for opening levels 60, 50 , 40 and 30% of diaphragm, respectively. The power demand decreased linearly as diaphragm was closed. The system proved to be efficient to control spraying parameters with reduction of air flow, it has also increased droplet size (VMD), therefore resulted in reducing droplets density. Coverage percentage was influenced only by distance, reducing it as distance from the spray nozzle increased. The coefficient of homogeneity decreased as increased air flow and distanced from the spray nozzle.