CA1187456A - Spraying apparatus - Google Patents

Spraying apparatus

Info

Publication number
CA1187456A
CA1187456A CA000404698A CA404698A CA1187456A CA 1187456 A CA1187456 A CA 1187456A CA 000404698 A CA000404698 A CA 000404698A CA 404698 A CA404698 A CA 404698A CA 1187456 A CA1187456 A CA 1187456A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
cylinder
spraying apparatus
foraminous
spindle
atomiser
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA000404698A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
James M. Mcmahon
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
MICRONAIR (AERIAL) Ltd
Original Assignee
MICRONAIR (AERIAL) Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by MICRONAIR (AERIAL) Ltd filed Critical MICRONAIR (AERIAL) Ltd
Priority to CA000404698A priority Critical patent/CA1187456A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1187456A publication Critical patent/CA1187456A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • BPERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B05SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
    • B05BSPRAYING APPARATUS; ATOMISING APPARATUS; NOZZLES
    • B05B3/00Spraying or sprinkling apparatus with moving outlet elements or moving deflecting elements
    • B05B3/02Spraying or sprinkling apparatus with moving outlet elements or moving deflecting elements with rotating elements
    • B05B3/10Spraying or sprinkling apparatus with moving outlet elements or moving deflecting elements with rotating elements discharging over substantially the whole periphery of the rotating member, i.e. the spraying being effected by centrifugal forces
    • B05B3/105Fan or ventilator arrangements therefor

Landscapes

  • Catching Or Destruction (AREA)

Abstract

S P E C I F I C A T I O N
"Spraying Apparatus"

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
Spraying apparatus comprises a rotary atomiser and an axial fan coupled to the atomiser to form a rotatable unit. The rotary atomiser comprises a tubular spindle for receiving a liquid to be sprayed, and a hollow foraminous atomising cylinder rotatable around the spindle, means being provided to permit flow of liquid outwardly from the tubular spindle and through the foraminous atomising cylinder. A number of vanes are mounted within the foraminous cylinder radially outwardly of the tubular spindle and rotatable with the cylinder so as to intercept and effect an initial breaking up of the liquid flow as it passes outwardly from the spindle to the foraminous cylinder.

Description

BA~crR~ ~ cr rHE INVENTION
The invention relates to spraying apparatus for distributing liquid.s and relates particularly to -the low volume distribution of chemical aids to growing crops.
.Apparatus according to the invention is also suitable for low volume spraying of chemicals for many other.purposes, such as for control of tsetse flies, mosquitoes, flies and loeusts, and other forms of spraying for public health purposes.
Our eo-pending British Patent Application No.
7929867 (Published Patent Specifieation No. 2,057,299A) discloses spraying apparatus comprising a rotary atomiser and an axial fan coupled to the atomiser to form a rotat-able unit therewith, the axial fan being situated within a cowl which is shaped aerodynamieally to control a blast of air generated by the axial fan when the unit is rotated, whereby, in use, the blast of air passes over the atomiser to disperse the droplets produced thereby.
The present invention provides modifications and develop-ments of the apparatus described and claimed in theabove-mentioned patent application, and in particular ~87~

provides an arrangement for improving the dispersion of droplets from -the atomiser.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
.
According to the invention there is provided spraying apparatus comprising a rotary a-tomiser and an axial fan coupled to the atomiser to form a rotatable Ul1it therewith, wherein the rotary a-tomiser comprises a tubular spindle for receiving a liquid to be sprayed, a hollow foraminous atomising cylinder rotatable around the spindle, means being provided to permit flow of liquid outwardly from the tubular spindle and through the foraminous atomising cylinder, and one or more vanes mounted within the foraminous cylinder radially outwardly of the tubular spindle and rotatable with the cylinder so as to intercept and ef~ect an initial breaking up of the liquid flow as it passes outwardly from the spindle to the foraminous cylinder.
The initial breaking up of the flow of liquid before it reaches the inner surface of the foraminous cylinder improves the dispersion of droplets from the apparatus so that an extremely low volume o~ liquid may be widely dispersed over a large area.
There may be provided a plurality of elongate vanes spaced around the axis of rotation of the foramin-ous cylinder and extending parallel thereto. Each saidvane may lie in a plane extending substantially radially with respect to the foraminous cylinder. For example, there may be provided three vanes equally spaced around the axis of rotation of the cylinder.
The rotary atomiser may also comprise a perfor-ate diffuser ~ube disposed concentrically between the tubular spindle and the foraminous cylinder. Preferably the vanes are located adjacen-t the internal surface of the diffuser tube.
In use, the apparatus may be mounted in a location where the axial fan is rotated by an air blast, and -thus rotates the atomiser, the droplets from the atomiser being dispersed by the air blast. For example, the apparatus may be mounted in the slipstream of a crop-spraying aircraft. Alternatively, means may be provided for driving the rotatable unit, in which case the axial fan itself produces the blast of a ir for dispersing the droplets. In this case, the axial fan may be situated wi-thin a cowl which is shaped i~erodynamically to control the blast of air, as described in the above-mentioned British Patent Specification No. 2,057,299A.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
;'0 Figure 1 is an axial section through a unit comprising a rotary atomiser and axial fan, Figure 2 is a section through an hydraulically driven spraying unit incorporating the atomiser of Figure 1 , ~5 Figure 3 is a front view of the unit of Figure
2, and Fugure 4 is a scrap section on -the line A-A of Figure 3.

~L8~

N OF THE PREFERRrn F~nDIMLnl Referring to Figure 1 9 the spraying apparatus comprises a rotary atomiser 10 and an axial fan 11 coupled together to form a single rotatable unit.
The atomiser comprises a fixed tubular spindle 12 which is supported on a mounting bar 13 and is provided at one end with a union 14 to which is coImected a flexible conduit ~or supplying the liquid to be sprayed to the interior of the spindle 12. The opposite end of the spindle 12 is closed by an end plug 15 and radial holes 16 are formed in the walls of the spindle 12 adjacent the end plug so that the liquid under pressure may pa~s radially outwardly of the spindle.
The hub 17 of the axial fan 11 is rotatably mounted on the spindle 12 by means o~ bearings 18. The hub is formed in two parts 19 iand 20 which are held together by screws 21. The cylindrical root ends of three fan blades 22 are clamped in circular sockets forme~1 by cooperating shaped parts of the hub portions 19 and 20, the arrangement being such that the pitch angle of the blades may be adjusted by loosening the screws 21 and separating the hub portions 19 and 20. The blades 22 may then be turned to adjust their pitch whereafter the screws 21 are tightened up again to clamp the blades in their new position. The fan blades may be formed from plastics material, such as "Delrin".
Although three fan blades are shown, any other * Trade mark .., . ~

~8~ i6 suitable number of blades may be employed. ~or example, five blades may be used.
A diffuser -tube 23 proJects from one face of the hub por-tion 20 and encircles -the end of the tubular 5 spindle 12. The diffuser tube 23 may be formed from stainless steel and has a perforated surface, the perfora~
tions preferably extending over 80% of the surface of the tube, -to allow the liquid passing fro~ -the spindle 12 to pass through the diffuser -tube. Equally spaced around the ~~. internal surface of the dif~user tube 23 are three longi~
tudinall~ extending vanes 24 each vane lying in a gener-ally radial plane. The vanes are secured at one end to an annular disc 2L~a which encircles the spindle 12, and a-t the other end to a disc 2~b which is bolted to an end cap 27. The vanes 24 serve to intercept and effect initial breaking up of the liquLd as it passes outwardly from the spindle 12 and before it passes through the diffuser tube 23. Although three ~anes are shown, any other suitable number may be used, and the vanes may also be of other shapes. For example, the vanes may extend spirally as they extend longitudinally of the diffuser tube.
Encircling the diffuser tube 23 and spaced radially outwardly therefrom is a foraminous atomising cylinder 25, which may be formed from metal gauze. One end of the cylinder 25 is attached to a radially project~
ing flange 26 on the hub portion 20 and -the opposite end is secured to the aforementioned end cap 27.

As shown in Figures 2 and 3, -the axial fan 11 rota-tes within the downstream end of a fixed cowl 28.
The ro-tary atomiser 10 projects clear of the downstream end of the cowl 28. The cowl may be formed from metal or plas-tics 9 such as glass fibre reinforced plastics.
In use -the unit comprising the fan 11 and a-tomiser 10 is rotated and the liquid to be sprayed is delivered under pressure to the interior of the spindle 12. The liquid under pressure passes radially outwardly through the holes 16 in the spindle and is intercepted and broken up into droplets by the vanes 24 before pass-ing through the diffuser tube 23. The droplets continue to move radially outwardly and pass through the gauze atomising cylinder 25 where they are further broken up to form extremely fine droplets. As the droplets pass out,wardly through -the gauze cylinder 25 they become entrained in the blast of air from the axial fan 11, -the blast being controlled and directed by the cowl 28, and -the droplets are dispersed as a fine spray over the area towards which the unit is directed~ The combination of the particular arrangement of the atomiser and ~he controlled blast of air causes extremely small ~olu~es of liquid to be dispersed over a very wide area bu-t in a controlled fashion, the dispersion being controlled by the pressure of the liquid and the pitch angle of the axial fan 11.
As best seen in Figure 2, a pulley 42 is coupled to the hub 17 of the axial fan and is driven through a drive belt 31 from a pulley 43. The pulley 43 may be driven from the output shaft of an internal combustion engine or, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, may be coupled to the output shaft of an hydraulic motor 44.
The hydraulic motor 44 is driven in known manner by hydraulic fluid under pressure passing along flexible conduits. The hydraulic fluid may be pressurised by a portable power-driven fluid pump.
In a further alternative arrangement, not shown, the rotary atomiser is driven by a pneumatic motor, the motor being provided with air under pressure from any known portable air pump.
The aforementioned mounting bar 13 supporting the atomiser uni-t and the cowl 28 is connected to a support by support stays 45. The ends of the bar 1~ are connected to the support stays 45 by adjustable clamping screws 46 so that the bar 13, and hence the cowl and atomising uni-t~ may be tilted with respec-t to the support stays 45 by loosening the clamping screws 46, adjusting the position of the atomiser and cowl and then retightening the clamping screws. This arrangement is possible using an hydraulic or pneumatic motor since the motor can tilt with the atomiser unit due to the flexi-bility of the conduits supplying the hydraulic fluid or air under pressure to the motor. This tilting arrange-ment enables the angle of the cowl and a-tomiser unit to be adjusted with respect to the support as required.
The atomiser unit described with relation to ~ 8 --Figure 1 has many appllcations and may be used in vehicle mounted spraying apparatus or in other large transportable spra~ing equipment or on aircraft.
In the case where a plurality of atomisers are mounted on a vehicle, for example on a spray bar on a tractor, the hydraulic or pneumatic motors of the atomi-sers are supplied with hydraulic fluid or air under pressure from a single pump mounted on the vehicle.
The rotatable unit comprising the axial fan 11 and atomiser 10 may also be used in situations where an air blast is separately provided~ the cowl being omitted and the axial fan in this case merely acting as a turbine which is acted on by the air blast to rotate the atomiser.
The provision of adjustable pi-tch blades allows them to be adjusted -to the optimum pitch angle for such use.
For example, the ro-tatable uni-t may be moun-ted on the conventional spray bar of a crop-spraying aircraft so that the axial fan rotates in -the slipstream of the aircraft, the slipstream also dispersing the spray of droplets emitted by the rotating atomiser. ~he ro-tatable unit may also be used to adap-t a conventional air blast orchard sprayer to low-volume spraying by mounting the unit in the air blast from the sprayer so that, again~
the a~ial fan acts as a turbine which rotates the atomiser, the air blast also serving to disperse -the droplets from the rotating atomiser.
In the above-described arrangements the rotating dispersion element of the atomiser is in the form ~7~

g of a cylindrical wire gauze. It will be appreciated however that other forms of rotating element may be used.
Thus the wire gauze cylinder may be replaced by any other form of foraminous cylinder. For example, the cylinder may be formed from foamed metal which provides a labyrinth path for the liquid as it flows outwardly from the central spindle under centrifugal force.
Rotary atomisers employing such a construction are described in British Patent Specification No. 1,486,427.
1;~ Alternatively, the atomiser may comprise a plurality of axially spaced rotating discs, the liquid flowing outwardly over the surfaces of the discs and being dispersed as fine droplets from -the outer peripheries thereof.

Claims (8)

- 10 -
1. Spraying apparatus comprising a rotary atomiser and an axial fan coupled to the atomiser to form a rotatable unit therewith, wherein the rotary atomiser comprises a tubular spindle for receiving a liquid to be sprayed, a hollow foraminous atomising cylinder rotatable around the spindle, means being provided to permit flow of liquid outwardly from the tubular spindle and through the foraminous atomising cylinder, and a number of vanes mounted within the foraminous cylinder radially outwardly of the tubular spindle and rotatable with the cylinder so as to intercept and effect an initial breaking up of the liquid flow as it passes outwardly from the spindle to the foraminous cylinder.
2. Spraying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein there is provided a plurality of elongate vanes spaced around the axis of rotation of the foraminous cylinder and extending parallel thereto.
3. Spraying apparatus according to claim 2, wherein each said vane lies in a plane extending substantially radially with respect to the foraminous cylinder.
4. Spraying apparatus according to claim 2, wherein there are provided three vanes equally spaced around the axis of rotation of the cylinder.
5. Spraying apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the rotary atomiser includes a perforate diffuser tube disposed concentrically between the tubular spindle and the foraminous cylinder.
6. Spraying apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the vanes are located adjacent the internal surface of the diffuser tube.
7. Spraying apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for driving the rotatable unit.
8. Spraying apparatus according to claim 7 9 wherein the axial fan is situated within a cowl which is shaped aerodynamically to control the blast of air produced by the fan.
CA000404698A 1981-06-09 1982-06-08 Spraying apparatus Expired CA1187456A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA000404698A CA1187456A (en) 1981-06-09 1982-06-08 Spraying apparatus

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB8117621 1981-06-09
GB8117621 1981-06-09
CA000404698A CA1187456A (en) 1981-06-09 1982-06-08 Spraying apparatus

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1187456A true CA1187456A (en) 1985-05-21

Family

ID=25669717

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA000404698A Expired CA1187456A (en) 1981-06-09 1982-06-08 Spraying apparatus

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CA (1) CA1187456A (en)

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US4516723A (en) Fine-droplets sprayer system for terrain vehicular use
US4609145A (en) Pesticide spraying apparatus
US2738226A (en) Crop spraying apparatus
US4221331A (en) Atomizing apparatus
US5480282A (en) High velocity fan and yoke mounting
EP3761786A1 (en) Integrated nozzle for portable agricultural machinery
US4634342A (en) Blower for agricultural spraying
KR20160116909A (en) Blower type pesticide applicator
US3164324A (en) Spraying vehicle
GB2099725A (en) Spraying apparatus
CA1187456A (en) Spraying apparatus
US2620230A (en) Insecticide spreading machine
GB2057299A (en) Spraying apparatus
CN115349507B (en) Target spraying device for unmanned aerial vehicle and unmanned aerial vehicle
US4222523A (en) Turbine driven rotary atomizer and method of use
GB2099724A (en) Spraying apparatus
CA1195667A (en) Spraying apparatus
US2849174A (en) Fan support for blower
CA1155093A (en) Spraying apparatus
US4509683A (en) Apparatus for dispersing atomized liquid
GB716865A (en) Improvements in or relating to apparatus for spraying crops or the like
US4496104A (en) Automatic sprinkling device
KR100434885B1 (en) misty humidifier
SU557820A1 (en) Centrifugal liquid sprayer and method of its operation
RU2263549C2 (en) Pneumoacoustic atomizer of a liquid

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
MKEC Expiry (correction)
MKEX Expiry