Sprinkle devices, equipments and Sprinkle devices, equipments and machinesmachines

• Sprinkle equipments are conceived for the terrestrial, manual or mechanical application of liquid pesticides.

• The sort of the used equipment is established based on the characteristic features of the crop as well as on the size of the cultivated area.

• On small areas (such as vegetables gardens) the best solution is the usage of manual pumps carried by the operators. On larger areas, mechanical equipments of low capacity are being used.

• On large areas such as field crops or vineyards mechanical equipments of high capacity are being used.

THE PREPARATION,CONTROL,TUNING AND THE PREPARATION,CONTROL,TUNING AND CHECKING OF THE SPRINKLE EQUIPMENTSCHECKING OF THE SPRINKLE EQUIPMENTS

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Categories of sprinkle equipments:Categories of sprinkle equipments:

• Sprinkle equipments operated manually or operated by electrical engines (either carried by the operator or towed manually)

• Sprinkle equipments carried or towed by tractors or self- propulsion machines.

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Categories of sprinkle equipments carried or towed by tractors Categories of sprinkle equipments carried or towed by tractors or self- propulsion machinesor self- propulsion machines

Sprinkle equipments in the field (horizontal-field crop sprayers) that are being used for the treatment of small crops such as cereals, vegetables.

Three-dimensional sprinkle equipments (three-dimensional-tree crop sprayers) that are being used for the treatment of vineyards, trees, etc

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The preparation, control and check of sprinkle equipmentsThe preparation, control and check of sprinkle equipments The beginning of any action of fighting against diseases and pests by the usage of sprinkle equipments mechanically operated requires a preparation phase. The equipment needs to be prepared, controlled and adjusted to the requirements of the work that it needs to perform.The preparation of the equipment includes the coupling to the tractor operations, checking the well- functioning and control instruments and also the checking of the water- tight of the elements through which the sprinkle fluid passes (tank, filter, pump etc.) We can also mention here the operations of periodical maintenance for the spare parts of the equipment: the correct position of the sprinkles, the cleaning of the nozzles, changing the damaged nozzles, checking the level of oil from the reducers and pump, etc.In some countries a mandatory periodical technical inspection has been introduced in order to check the functional parameters of the sprinkle equipments. Performing of such a periodical technical inspection means the usage of specific measuring and control instruments. Therefore this check- up may take place exclusively in specially equipped workshops or service shops that have highly qualified personal and the license to perform such inspection and release a the technical inspection certificate.The adjustment of the flow capacity of the sprinkle equipment represents the last preparation phase.By a correct adjustment of the fluid dose and the quantity of active substance applied, the efficiency of the treatment will be guaranteed and the negative effects of over- dose or under- dose of the substance will be avoided.

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The placement of sprinkles on the sprinkling balusters The placement of sprinkles on the sprinkling balusters The basic pre- requisites for the fulfillment of high quality results in the control of diseases and pests are: the usage of an adequate equipment for the applied treatment, the well- functioning of this equipment and its proper adjustment.Thus, in accordance with the size of the plants and the vegetable mass of the crop, horizontal field crop sprayers or three- dimensional tree crop sprayers may be used.

•For sprinkles applied before the crop springs or for small size crops, horizontal field crop sprayers are being used .

•For high crops and crops protected by green houses, three- dimensional tree crop sprayers with or without stream as well as manual sprinklers are being used.

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The purpose of a sprinkle work is to deposit evenly a maximum quantity of the on phytosanitarian product on the targeted control surface.No matter what type of crop we treat, the uniformity of the distribution of the phytosanitarian substance can be obtain by using the same type of sprinkles. They must be evenly placed , with equal distances among them and at the proper distance from the targeted surface.From this reason, the horizontal balusters have sprayers placed in series, at equal distances of 25, 33, 50 or 75 cm. These are equipped with nozzles of the same type and flow capacity. The distance between the nozzle and the sprinkle target area must allow a transversal even distribution of the substance.

For the sprayers with nozzles, the distance between the sprayers and

the targeted area must allow a double coverage.

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Types of sprayers:Types of sprayers:

•Sprinkles than can be set on a hose •Multiple sprayer with 5 nozzles set on an inox pipe

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Types of hydraulic nozzles:Types of hydraulic nozzles:Customary hydraulic nozzles are classified based on the shape of the drops stream:-nozzles with lenticular stream (flat fan)- nozzles with double lenticular stream- nozzles with off- centered, oblique stream- nozzles with conical stream

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The check of sprinkle equipments:The check of sprinkle equipments: The efficiency of the treatments is connected with the uniformity of the dosage of the phytosanitarian product that is being applied. The over- dosage or under- dosage must be avoided because a smaller quantity then the recommended one will endanger the success of the treatment. A larger quantity may cause phytotoxicity phenomena or an accumulation of residues of pesticides beyond in accepted limits. Especially for vegetables, the issue of using the right dose is acute, because the vegetables are harvested and used on individual basis unlike the great majority of agricultural products. For agricultural products the harvest process includes the homogenization of the surface and therefore of the content of toxic residues. We must keep in mind that:- the homogeneity of the distribution of the sprinkle substance depends on the application technique- for the treatment of experimental crops, the equipments which have sprayers on placed in series on balusters are being used. This equipment is used in order for the homogeneity not to influence in a negative way the variation of the results of the experiment.Currently specialists are working on an European standard concerning the inspection of sprinkle equipments that are being used ( CEN TC 144 ). This standard includes the proposal of using transversal distribution on the test bench as a quality criteria for the sprinkle activity. The lack of parallelism between the position of the baluster and the surface that has to be sprinkled, might negatively influence the uniformity of the treatment, over- dosage or under- dosage areas may appear.

•Automatic bench equipped with gutters for the determination of the uniformity of transversal distribution

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The mandatory periodical inspection of three- dimensional tree crop sprayers with or without air stream is simple and includes:- the check of the pump flow capacity verificarea debitului pompei- the check of the solution mixing system- the check of the manometers and sprayers- the check of the symmetry of the air stream The results of the inspections are registrated in control charts and in the minute. Based on these documents, the technical inspection certificate for the sprinkle equipments is released.

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