Development of electrostatic pressure-swirl nozzle for agricultural applications

An electrostatic pressure-swirl nozzle have been developed and tested. The result proves to be relevant due to the minimum pesticide input, increase deposition and reduction in drift. In this paper two systems have been described such as (1) the developed nozzle and its spray characteristics and (2) evaluation of the nozzle by using the weighing technique. Evaluation of sprays deposition on plant and ground loss has been a difficult task to overcome due to the plants morphology and geometrical shapes but the weighing technique has overcome some of the difficulties. The spray charge to mass ratio of 0.27 mC/kg at a liquid flow rate of 0.69 l/min and a volume median diameter of 116 μm with an applied voltage of 4.0 kV found suitable for the orchard sprayer. The evaluation shows an increase in deposition droplet by 1.3–2.3 fold and a decrease in the estimated drift.