Comparison between Horizontal and Vertical Lamellate Patternators for Air-blast Sprayers

Among the possible sources of environmental contamination by plant protection products, the use of air blast sprayers in orchards and vineyards can be very critical. The evaluation of the vertical distribution pattern is a crucial test to achieve a good quality of spray application. The aim of the paper was to compare the performance of a vertical lamellate patternator versus a horizontal lamellate patternator. For this aim, an experimental device that allows the use of the same patternator, mounting the lamellae either horizontally or vertically, was utilized. The results showed that using the patternator with vertical lamellae a greater amount of liquid, 25% , was collected than using the horizontal lamellae under the same test conditions. This amount represented the 36.7% of the total sprayed volume. The performance of patternator may be related to the reduced disturbance of the air flow induced by vertical lamellae. Although the amount of liquid collection is not considered the only parameter to assess the quality of a patternator, this characteristic can improve the efficiency of the test, especially when low volume orchard sprayers are tested.