Spray Droplet Spectrum Analysis System Using Image-Pro Plus Note # 102 [Previous Note] [Notes Directory] [Next Note]
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The spray droplet spectrum analysis system is aimed at providing easy, fast, and accurate analysis of spread droplets from agricultural spraying appliances (such as nozzles). The agricultural spraying appliances used for applying liquid pesticides do not atomize the liquid into droplets of identical size, but into a range of droplets of various sizes. The atomization of spray liquid into the various droplet sizes is known as the droplet spectrum. It is important to measure the droplet spectrum to determine the amount of pesticide to be used and to check the uniformity and efficiency of the spraying device.
Image-Pro Plus, image processing software, provides in-depth and precise measurement analysis of the spread droplet. This eliminates human error and maintains the highest qualtiy standard possible. The system is able to determine:
Spread droplet size and number in unit area Spread factor - spreading of droplet on paper due to the characteristics of paper and liquid mixture Actual droplet size and number Droplet density - number of droplet per unit are Volume of a droplet Reports can be saved in text format using text (*.txt) files and can be used in any Windows application. The application provides graphs for NMD and VMD. This graphical information is easy to understand and analyze and printouts of the graphs can be generated and saved.
To analyze the spray droplet spectrum produced by a particular nozzle or sprayer, the sprayer is operated at fixed parameters. The water and color dye mixture is sprayed keeping kromocote paper on target, i.e. leaves of a plant. The spray droplets are deposited on papers after settlement and after drying, these papers are removed from the target. The images of these papers are grabbed using a microscope and camera. The images are analyzed in seconds by Image-Pro Plus, providing the spread droplet size and number of droples in the unit area.
Next, the actual droplet size is calculated by dividing spread droplet size by spread factor. For analysis purposes, these droplets are arranged into different ranges, e.g. 0-5 micron. The droplets are sized so that the number of droplets within a given diameter range can be expressed as percentage volume of droplets multiplied by number of droplets. The percentage of the spray volume in each range and its cumulative percentage are then calculated.
Hardware required: PC 486 or better, 4MB RAM, 540 HDD, framegrabber card, and CCD Camera Software required: Image-Pro Plus with customized spray droplet module (written by Astra-Tek Instruments)
Submitted by:
Sarita Seth, Director
Astra-Tek Instrument Bombay PVT. LTD.
208 Atlas Mill Compound
Reay Road, Bombay, 400 010 India
Tel: + 91-22-3747744 Fax: + 91-22-3747700
Email: sarita.astra@axcess.net.in
August, 1996
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[Image Analysis in Action]
Copyright 1996 Media Cybernetics, L.P.
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