Comparative analysis of quantitative sieving methods of quality evaluation indicators for rotating sprinklers

Quantitative sieving for the quality evaluation indicators of water saving irrigation products can achieve the purpose of evaluating the product quality only by representative indicators. According to the test data, quality evaluation indicators for rotating sprinklers were sieved by means of cluster analysis and principal component analysis. Effectiveness and applicability of two methods were given in comparative analysis. Results showed that the quantitative sieving results of two methods are basically similar, and spraying range and height have the maximum correlation among seven common quality evaluation indicators for rotating sprinklers. Spraying height could be deleted, while spray range should be reserved in the quality evaluation indicators for the common sprinklers with middle and low spray ranges for field irrigation. The cluster analysis focused on the correlation between two indicators, whereas principal component analysis focused on the correlation among total indicators, therefore the latter was seemly more effective for quantitative sieving of quality evaluation indicators for the rotating sprinklers and other water saving irrigation products.