Automatic System and Method for Improving Aerial Spray Droplet Penetration

Abstract

When UAVs apply a pesticide at different speeds, droplet deposition area and canopy vortex area are not at the same location, which prevents droplets from depositing on the backside of leaves and lower part of plants in canopy vortex, and affects spray quality and pests and diseases control effect. To shorten the distance between the two areas and improve droplet penetration, a method for adjusting nozzle inclination angle based on droplet force analysis and tests was proposed in this paper. According to the obtained model, an automatic nozzle angle adjustment system was developed from hardware and software. The experimental results showed that the number of droplets deposited on the entire leaf increased by 21.58% when UAV spraying with the system mounted. The average number of droplets on the front side of the leaf increased by 14.44% while 66.05% was on the backside of the leaf with the system mounted. This indicates that the method and system proposed have a significant impact on improving the UAV spray penetration.