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Abstract
Chemicals are widely used for controlling disease, in sects and weeds in the crops. They are able to save a crop from pest attack
only when applied in time. The chemicals are costly. Therefore, equipment for uniform and effective application is essential.
Dusters and sprayers are generally used for applying chemicals. Dusting, the simpler method of applying chemical, is best
suited to portable machinery and it usually requires simple equipment. But it is less efficient than spraying, because of the low
retention of the dust. I have proposed equipment that is wheel and pedal operated sprayer, it is a portable device and no need of
any fuel to operate, which is easy to move and sprays the pesticide by moving the wheel and also peddling the equipment. In
this equipment using reciprocating pump and there is a accumulator provided for the continuous flows of liquid to create
necessary pressure for the spraying action. This wheel operated pesticide spray equipment consumes less time and avoids the
pesticide from coming from front of the nozzles which will in contact of the person who sprays pesticides
Introduction
Insects are largely responsible for the crop destruction. Insecticides or pesticides, a man made or natural preparation are
used to kill insects or otherwise control their reproduction. These herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers are applied to
agricultural crops with the help of a special device known as a "Sprayer," sprayer provides optimum performance with
minimum efforts. The invention of a sprayer, pesticides, fertilizers, bring revolution in the agriculture or horticulture
sector especially by the invention of sprayers, enable farmers to obtain maximum agricultural output. They are used for
garden spraying, weed and pest control, liquid fertilizing and plant leaf polishing. There are many advantage of using
sprayers such as easy to operate, maintain and handle, it facilitates uniform spread of the chemicals, capable of
throwing chemicals at the desired level, precision made nozzle tip for adjustable stream and capable of throwing foggy
spray, light or heavy spray, depending on requirement.
Agriculture sector is facing problems with capacity issues, shrinking revenues, and labour shortages and increasing
consumer demands. The prevalence of traditional agriculture equipment intensifies these issues. In addition, most
formers are desperately seeking different ways to improve the equipment quality while reducing the direct overhead
costs (labour) and capital. Thus, a significant opportunity rests with understanding the impact of a pesticide sprayer in
an agriculture field. A pesticide sprayer has to be portable and with an increased tank capacity as well as should result
in cost reduction, labour and spraying time. In order to reduce these problems, there are number of sprayer introduced
in the market but these devices do not meet the above problems or demands of the farmers.
The conventional sprayer having the difficulties such as it needs lot of effort to push the liver up and down in order to
create the pressure to spray. Another difficulty of petrol sprayer is to need to purchase the fuel which increases the
running cost of the sprayer. In order to overcome these difficulties, I have proposed a wheel driven sprayer, it is a
portable device and no need of any fuel to operate, which is easy to move and sprays the pesticide by moving the wheel.
The mechanism involved in this sprayer is reciprocating pump, and nozzles which were connected at the front end of
the spraying equipment.
2. Spraying Techniques
Most of the pesticides are applied as sprays.
The liquid formulations of pesticide either diluted (with water, oil) or directly are applied in small drops to the crop by
different types of sprayers. Usually the EC formulations, wet able powder formulations are diluted suitably with water
which is a common carrier of pesticides. In some cases however, oil is used as diluent or carrier of pesticides.
The important factors for spray volume consideration are: The volume of spray liquid required for certain area depends
upon the spray type and coverage, total target area, size of spray droplet and number of spray droplets. It is obvious that
if the spray droplets are coarse-size then the spray volume required will be larger than the small size spray droplets.
Also if the thorough coverage (eg. both the sides of leaves) is necessary then the spray volume requirement has to be more
On the basis of volume of spray-mix the technique of spraying is classified as:
1. High volume spraying
2. Low volume spraying
3. Ultra-low volume spraying
The range of volume of spray mix in each of the above case is arbitrary. Usually for field crop spraying the following
spray volume ranges are taken as guide.
High Volume Spraying 300 - 500 L/ha
Low Volume Spraying 50 - 150 L/ha
Ultra-Low Volume Spraying < 5 L/ha
3. Problem Identification
3.1. Drawbacks in Existing Sprayer Pumps
The Indian farmers (small, marginal, small and marginal, semi-medium) are currently using lever operated backpack
sprayer. A backpack sprayer consists of tank 10 -20 liter capacity carried by two adjustable straps. Constant pumping is
required to operate this which result in muscular disorder[1].Also, the backpack sprayer can’t maintain pressure, results
in drifts/dribbling[9].Developing adequate pressure is laborious and time consuming.[13].Pumping to operating
pressure is also time consuming[6]. Moreover, very small area is covered while spraying. So, more time are required to
spray the entire land. Back pain problems may arise during middle age due to carrying of 10-20 liter tank on back.
3.2. Uneconomical Existing High cost Pumps for Indian Marginal and Small Farmers
Presently farmers are using knap-sack sprayer for spraying pesticides on crops in their farms which costs for Rs 1800-
4500/-.Pesticides are diverse and omnipresent[5].This sprayer has a wide limitations and thus farmers can use the other
sprayer also like bullock driven sprayer pump and tractor mounted sprayer. Cost of bullock driven is about Rs 28000/-
Development of the Model
This is a two wheeled body with cranking mechanism with pump being cranked and pushed and pulled to result in
pumping, building the pressure in the tank for pesticide spraying. The wheels are fixed on the main axle and cranking
is on the other axle which pushes the piston rod in and out of the cylinder pumping the air pressure into the tank. There
is a tank fitted on the frame through there is a main suction tank which consists of pesticide which the sprayer is
connected on the protruded rod and jet is set for the required pitch. When the handle is pushed the wheels rotate and
move and simultaneously pump the air is affected.
This equipment has an air pump which compresses air into the tank and pressurizes the spray mixture. The pressure
slowly drops as the liquid is sprayed. The forward motion of the wheels drives the reciprocating pump to pump the air
into the tank which maintains the pressure for the spraying. In this equipment the reciprocating pump take place
reciprocating action by two methods one is by moving the equipment and another one is by pedaling the equipment in
the stationary manner.
Conclusion
This wheel and pedal operated sprayer is manly low cost and easy to move in the fields and also improves the quality of
spraying pesticides. After experimentation of this wheel driven sprayer device, it was observed that the operator can
cover two parallel rows simultaneously without any additional energy being used as well as it reduces the fatigue of the
operator.