Influence of deflector angles for orchard air-assisted sprayer on 3D airflow distribution

Abstract: Air-assisted orchard sprayers are characterized by a strong airflow that carries the pesticide droplets to the target canopy and assists the plant parts to move so as to allow the whole tree penetrated with pesticide droplets. The airflow distribution and movement characteristics are key parameters of sprayer for droplet deposition on target canopy. In order to study the 3D (three-dimensional) spatial distribution of airflow field from an air-assisted orchard sprayer, this article used ICEM CFD (Integrated Computer Engineering and Manufacturing code for Computational Fluid Dynamics) to establish a geometric model, whose whole structure was meshed, and the k-ε turbulence model and CFX solver were adopted. The effect of different environmental systems on airflow 3D distribution for air-assisted orchard sprayer was estimated, in which the upper deflector angle was set as 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90°, and the lower deflector angle was set as 0°, 10°, 20° and 30°, respectively. Results show that the 3D spatial distribution model of the airflow from air-assisted orchard sprayer can reflect the airflow distribution directly, and the simulated values of airflow characteristic curve are in good agreement with the measured values. However, in the low airflow velocity region (the velocity below 2 m/s), the simulated velocity values of some sampling points are quite different from measurements. That is caused by the perturbation of the natural wind. In the high airflow velocity region with 1.2 m width, the average relative error between the measured value and the simulated value of wind speed is less than 10%. That can confirm that the simulation results are credible. Meanwhile, airflow guided by deflectors is mainly focused in the area the deflectors pointed to, with no obvious effect on airflow diffusion in the middle area, only increasing the airflow velocity and letting airflow gather near deflector area. So the adjustment of deflector angle should be based on the height of canopy and tree trunk, through setting lower deflector angle to fit the foliage limit of the orchard, and setting upper deflector angle to point at position which is little lower than the topmost of tree canopy in the orchard. For further research, to change airflow velocity of the fan has no significant effect on airflow distribution in the airflow field, and merely increases airflow diffusion region. When the lower deflector angle increases from 0° to 30°, the effect of ground friction resistance on the airflow decreases gradually, and the angle between ground friction resistance and air resistance on both sides increases constantly, so one single air current is divided into 3 air currents gradually. This kind of air distribution on horizontal plane has advantages on blowing branches and leaves and penetrating droplets into fruit tree canopy. The airflow velocity distribution in the vertical direction considerably affects the distribution of spray droplets in canopy. The vertical profile of the airflow velocity should be even along the whole vegetation wall, and matched with the canopy shape curve. But the deflector can only adjust the upper and lower airflow, some deflectors are suggested to be fixed in the middle area for adjusting airflow distribution in vertical direction. This study found that a better effect could be achieved by setting the upper and lower deflectors angle as 30° for spraying in the Chinese general orchard where fruit trees had 3.0-3.2 m height and were planted with 4 m row spacing, and by setting the upper deflector angle of 90° (or removing), and the lower deflector angle of 30° for spraying in trellised orchard. The results can provide the reference for the spraying in the orchard, and the higher spraying efficiency and the reduction of environmental pollution can be achieved through the calibration of sprayer operational parameters.