WATER QUANTIFICATION FROM SPRAYER NOZZLE BY USING PARTICLE IMAGE VELOCIMETRY (PIV) VERSUS IMAGING PROCESSING TECHNIQUES

Distribution of agro-chemicals through sprayer nozzles is very important because there is a significant loss of agro-chemicals such as pesticides during spraying due to non-uniformity of droplet and off-target drift. Improving the efficiency of spray pattern would reduce energy, costs and also minimize environmental pollution. In this paper, we examine jet patterns to study the performance of water distribution during the spraying process. We present a method to quantify water amount from a sprayer jet by using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) system in combination with imaging processing. For this study, ten sets of images were acquired with a PIV system in double frame mode. Each set of images contained different numbers of double-framed images: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100 at eight different pressures 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175 and 200 kPa. The PIV images obtained were analysed using an image processing software for droplets and volume calculations. The results showed good agreement of both manual and PIV measurements and suggested that the PIV coupled with image processing technique can be used for a precise quantification of flow through sprayer nozzles.