Fiber Optic Nozzle Tip Monitor for Agricultural Sprayers

Concerns about health and environmental hazards associated with chemical spraying, as well as the rising cost of farming, madate that chemical application becomes more efficient and increasingly precise. It is important to know immediately if any nozzles have become partially clogged or ceased operating to avoid misapplication of chemicals. Changes in field crop sprayer technology--the use of wider booms, the addition of wind screens, and an increasing trend toward night spraying--have made visual inspection of spray nozzles and their spray patterns obsolete. It becomes necessary, therefore, to equip agricultural sprayers with an efficient nozzle tip monitor that allows the operator to recognize malfunctioning nozzles and take corrective action immediately.