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Home  Swath Kit Using Swath Kit
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Although agricultural
aircraft are widely used throughout the world, few of these aircraft have had
their spray patterns analyzed. Such an analysis allows the operator to maximize
the spacing between successive swaths and shows the droplet size distribution
in the spray that allows the operator to fine-tune the spray for the mission
and test for the likelihood of spray drift.
A spray pattern analysis is
performed in 4 steps:
PLANNING → FIELD TRIAL → SPRAY CARD READING → SWATH PATTERN ANALYSIS
The
procedure is illustrated with screen images taken from a typical analysis
session with the Swath Kit program. Running in Microsoft Windows, the Swath Kit
has a visual interface where many inputs are made with simple clicks of the
mouse. (Note: the program works only with Windows 95, 98 or Me).
Step 1. Planning the Mission
Every aircraft / spray sytem configuration needs to be planned. You can use
software modeling tools like AgDISP to position atomizers optimally. The Swath
Kit provides a Calibration Assistant which is an integral part of the program
which helps in the selection of atomizers and their settings (Fig 1).
This is an example of calibration in metric units. The Swath Kit can use US units or any combination of the two.
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Step 2. Field Trials - Spraying the Card Line
The data that is used for
spray pattern analysis is obtained from a line of spray cards which is laid out
perpendicular to the line of aircraft flight. The card line consists of
numbered coated white cards mounted 0-12 inches (30 cm) above the ground. Where
an oil-based spray is used, oil sensitive cards are used in place of coated white
cards.
Any spray mix which will show a good contrast on spray cards can be used. It is
common to add a tracer dye to the mix to make it more visible to the image
analyzer. Actual spray mixtures or inert substances can be sprayed. The
aircraft flies at the same height and speed that it would use during the actual
application over forest or crop.
In the example on the right, 3 card lines are laid out, and two are covered up so that only one line gets sprayed. The sprayed line then gets covered, exposing a fresh card line. In this manner three or more card lines can be sprayed
in rapid succession.
A weather station can be used during field trials to help interpret the spray
pattern data. Droplet Technologies provides a weather station (The Met Kit) which produces a data file which can be integrated with the final Swath Kit trial record.
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