Design and Field Evaluation of a New Mechanism of Hydraulic Sprayer Boom for Weeds Control in Irrigation Canals

Abstract

The standard of maintenance of irrigation canals and drainage is poor in many irrigation systems throughout the world Inferior management of those weeds growing in the canal, aquatic weeds leads to a number of economic, social and environmental problems. With the wide range of chemicals available it is most important that the appropriate herbicide be used for any particular weed; currently, most of the machines that used in the spraying are operated on flat surfaces and open fields and cannot be used to spray pesticide solutions inside the irrigation canals. Therefore, the present work aimed to design and manufactured a new combination boom mechanism for weeds control in irrigation canal. The new-designed boom mechanism included horizontal boom, vertical boom, flexible connection, lateral boom and supported boom. With the combination of the theories and methods of spray distribution uniformity, effective spray droplets coverage, the spray scale of combination boom in the vertical pipe line was determined as 3000mm. The evaluation process for the new design was performed by carrying out field experiment at the main irrigation canal of the Kuku Agricultural Dairy Project – Sudan; the width of canal at the upper side from ridge to ridge is about 6m and the depth about 3m. Using this combination boom mechanism inside the canals under the different pressures and working speeds better spray results were achieved. The results obtained showed that the high average nozzle flow rates was 0.79l/min. at pressure rate of 3 bar and the speed was 7 km/hr ,and as the pressure rate was increased from3 bar to 4bar the flow rate increased from 0.79 to 1.35l/min at the same speed /(7 km/hr) by 71%. Also the results showed that the spraying rate increased from 55.9 to 61 .8 L/fed at pressure 3bar. Statistical analysis showed a significant effect on nozzle flow rate when using different speeds. As the pressure rate increased from 3 to 4 bars, this resulted in a significant effect on nozzle flow rate.