Influence of Spray Control Parameters on the Performance of an Air-Blast Sprayer

Orchard plant protection machinery in China still has a low application efficiency. Air-blast sprayers represent the primary development direction of pesticide applications in orchards. The spray control parameters have to be matched to the tree canopy status to achieve precise results. In this study, a vertical patternator was used to determine the accuracy of spraying fruit trees. The influences of three control parameters (blower speed, spray angle, and spray distance) on the spray performance of the air-blast sprayer were analyzed, and the volume of the spray was measured in collection plates at different heights. The quantitative relationship between the overall collection volume and the critical height collection volume was obtained for different parameter values, and the combined effects of any two control parameters on the collection performance and the position of the optimum collection area were obtained. The regression model describing the relationship between the collection volume in the critical height range and the three factors was established, and the main effects of the control parameters were determined. The results showed that if one parameter remained constant, the correlation between the other two parameters was non-significant. The collection volume in the critical height range increased initially and then decreased as the spray distance increased. The maximum collection volume was obtained at a spray distance of 1.762 m. The regression model can be used to obtain the optimum values of the parameters.