Evaluation of Different Internal Designs of Hydraulic Nozzles under an Accelerated Wear Test

Abstract

The use of worn-out agricultural nozzles in pesticide application has a negative effect on the efficiency and cost of the application process. It also has an effect on environmental pollution due to an excessive amount of pesticide being applied when spraying with worn-out nozzles. In this paper, the resistance to wear of three different internal design hydraulic nozzles was ascertained. Changes in the flow rate and spray distribution as a result of this wear were also investigated. The wear test was done inside a closed system, and it was accelerated using an abrasive material to generate 100 h of wear. The tested nozzles were the Turbo TeeJet (TT)-twin chambered, Turbo Twinjet (TTj60)-dual outlet, and Drift Guard (DG)-pre-orifice. Wear rate, flow rate, and the virtual coefficient of variation (CVv) were measured at different wear intervals. The results showed that the TTj60 type was the most resistant to wear, followed by the TT type and DG. The latter two types showed an increase in the flow rate only in the first 45 h of wear. Virtual coefficient of variation (CVv) values were less than 10% after finishing the test (after 100 h of wear) for the three types of nozzles, which are acceptable values according to International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 16122-2, 2015.