ASABE Technical Library - Abstract
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Sprayer Cleaning: The Importance of the Sprayer Adjustment on the External Contamination
Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org
Citation: Paper number 031097, 2003 ASAE Annual Meeting . (doi: 10.13031/2013.13932) @2003Authors: Balsari P., Marucco P.
Keywords: Spray deposit, external cleaning, air-assisted sprayer, field crop sprayer
A new ISO standard concerning the cleaning of sprayers (ISO DIS 22368) is on the way to
be defined. It deals with both external and internal cleaning of the sprayers and aims at defining
standardized procedures for the evaluation of the efficiency of the cleaning devices provided with the
machines. In the ambit of the studies carried out to prepare this standard, several tests were made in
order to assess the external contamination of boom sprayers and of orchard sprayers according to
different operating parameters (type of nozzles, operating pressure, boom height, air flow rate).
Concerning the boom sprayers, both conventional type and air-assisted type were tested (in this
latter case also the influence of the air stream orientation was investigated), while orchard sprayers
were tested using different types of nozzles and air flow rates.
Results pointed out that the use of different operating parameters has a considerable influence on
the external contamination of the equipment. On the basis of these first data it will be possible to
provide indications: a) to sprayers manufacturers for the development of adequate devices for the
external cleaning of sprayers as well as for an appropriate design of sprayers and components; b) to
the users concerning the equipment adjustment suitable to reduce pesticide deposits on the
machine.