TIME-DELAY FOR INJECTION SPRAYERS

Lag times were measured for one boom section of an inline injection sp rayer system. Lag time is defined as the time period between when an i njected pesticide rate changed and when the new, pesticide rate reache d nozzles on the boom. Lag time factors investigated were: number of a ctive nozzles, boom size, travel speed changes, and pesticide viscosit y. Three water-soluble and one non-water-soluble simulated pesticide l iquids (water; Prime Oil, Prime Oil II, and Silicon Oil) with viscosit ies that ranged from 0.9 to 97. 7 mPa.s were used. An equation was dev eloped to predict the lag time at the nozzles at the end of the spray boom. Lag time was greatly reduced by reducing the boom diameter; but was nor reduced substantially by decreasing the number of active nozzl es on the boom. Lug times were not affected by viscosity of the simula ted pesticide.