DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A WHEEL SPRAYER

Abstract

The research paper depicts the design and development of a wheel sprayer for applying spraying solution on vegetable crops. India is an agriculture-based country. Majority of the population primarily depend on agriculture. Our farmers follow the same traditional way for ages. There is a need of mechanization in the agriculture sector. This results in higher productivity and precision in Agriculture. Plant protection plays a significant role in optimizing the productivity of a given crop. Agricultural pests inflict considerable damage to crops. Spraying of chemicals is an effective way of pest control. Traditional methods of spraying include use of knapsack sprayer, foot sprayer, hand sprayer etc. which requires more effort and is time consuming. Heavy tank containing pesticides and chemicals is to be carried by the farmer. This causes severe health hazards. An ideal pesticide sprayer has to be portable with an increased tank capacity, cost effective, labour friendly and low spraying time. Manually operated wheel driven sprayer is designed to reduce human effort. The target of application is small fields and small gardens. The main objective is to reduce the effort made by farmer in carrying the backpack sprayer and to design and fabricate a multi-nozzle wheel sprayer suitable to spray pesticides on vegetable crop. Ujwala variety of chilli crop was grown in the selected field. Analysis and performance evaluation of the developed wheel sprayer was done. The developed wheel sprayer was tested at Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology campus, Tavanur village (10.8526 0 N and 75.9861 0 E) Malappuram, Kerala. The soil of the field selected was of lateritic type and testing was conducted on an area of 3.71 cents. Field contains 10 number of rows and each row contain 30 number of chilli crops. Operator pushes the handle of developed wheel sprayer in forward direction causes the wheel to rotate. Push force of the operator is converted finally to pressure energy and the fluid is sprayed. When the wheel sprayer moves in forward direction, pump reciprocates which cause the working fluid to transfer through the boom assembly and sprayed by nozzle. Since the wheel, sprockets and chain are of bicycle type, the spraying of the pump occurs only in the forward direction. Chain drive transmits the rotary motion between two sprockets. Rotary motion obtained from chain drive is converted into reciprocating motion of the plunger with the help of connecting rod. One end of shaft is attached to the reciprocating pump and the driven sprocket ismounted on shaft. The chain- sprocket arrangement is driven by the wheel, this in turn rotates shaft, creating pressure in pump. Due to the pressure developed, the fluid is discharged through nozzles. In case of performance evaluation, theoretical field capacity, actual field capacity and field efficiency of the developed wheel sprayer was determined. Spray overlap and time loss due to turning is also considered in determining actual field capacity. The developed wheel sprayer has proved to be more user friendly than traditional methods of spraying. It requires less effort and time for spraying. Low operator exposure towards chemicals is one of the main advantages of the developed wheel sprayer. The wheel sprayer is economically feasible for small fields. Actual field capacity obtained was 0.206 ha h -1 . Field efficiency of 84.5 percent was obtained for the developed wheel sprayer. Total cost of the wheel sprayer was Rs 5100/-.Some of the modifications which can be applied in the future includes the increasing number of nozzles for coverage of larger area, attaching of supporting wheels for easy turning, maneuverability and balancing. Boom height can be made adjustable with respect to varying plant height and cut off valve can be installed in boom assembly to stop the discharge of spray solution on plants while wheel sprayer making turnings at headlands.