A recent development in drift-control for agricultural ground sprayers is the
installation of a hood (or shroud) over the boom. Hoods are designed to provide
a protected zone in which droplets can be sprayed and deposited on the target with
limited interference from the wind.
This study compared chemical drift using hooded and open-boom pesticide
sprayers in various configurations. The hooded sprayer included an air-foil mounted
on top of the hood, designed to re-direct the airflow and further decrease drift. The
principal objective was to test the performance of the hood, the air-foil, and nozzle
size in reducing drift. A fluorescent dye and water solution was sprayed adjacent
to a series of parallel string collectors. The amount of drifting material was
determined by rinsing the string and testing the fluorescence of the rinsewater.
Wind speed and direction, temperature, and relative humidity were monitored
during each field test so that the influence of weather conditions on drift could be
assessed.
Statistical and graphical comparisons were based on the development of a
regression model to describe downwind drift for each sprayer configuration under
a set of variable weather conditions. Only parameters found to be important to drift
were included in the final model. These parameters included sprayer configuration,
wind speed, temperature, and the interactions of configuration with wind speed and
temperature.
Results of the comparisons indicated that for a larger droplet spectrum, the
hood reduced drift significantly, while for smaller droplets the hood was ineffective.
The air-foil was found to have no influence on drift. / Graduation date: 1991
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/38155 |
| Date | 10 September 1990 |
| Creators | Fehringer, Ronald J. |
| Contributors | Cavaletto, Richard A. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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