Boom Sprayer

Overview

A boom sprayer applies liquid crop protection, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and liquid fertiliser, in an even band across a field. This is a trailed machine: it tows behind a tractor on a single Axle and runs off the tractor's power take-off. A large polyethylene Main Spray Tank holds the mixed solution, a separate Clean-Water Tank carries fresh water for flushing, and a wide folding Spray Boom spreads the spray through a line of nozzles.

The whole unit is built on a welded Chassis & Running Gear with a Drawbar & Hitch hitch. Mixing chemical into the tank is done at ground level through the Chemical Inductor, which uses venturi suction to draw product from a low hopper so the operator never lifts containers to the tank top. Constant Tank Agitator recirculation keeps the mix in suspension so concentration stays even from the first pass to the last.

How it works

Power comes from the tractor PTO through the Pump System: a telescoping driveline turns a reduction gearbox that drives a six-chamber Diaphragm Pump. Diaphragms and one-way check valves pull solution from the tank sump and push it out under pressure. The output runs through the Plumbing & Control, a suction strainer and a fine pressure filter clean the liquid, a flow meter measures it, and a pressure regulator bleeds excess back to the tank to hold a steady spray pressure.

A master control valve and five solenoid section valves switch flow to individual stretches of the boom. The Rate Controller in the cab is the brain: it reads ground speed, flow and line pressure, and adjusts the regulator to keep litres-per-hectare constant as the tractor speeds up or slows down. Its GPS receiver runs automatic section control, shutting off sections over ground that has already been sprayed to avoid overlap on headlands and wedges.

Along the boom, each Nozzle Body carries a flat-fan tip and an anti-drip check valve that snaps shut the instant a section closes, so chemical does not dribble onto the crop. The boom folds hydraulically for transport and rides on a parallelogram that lift and tilt cylinders use to follow the ground contour; sprung breakaway joints let the tips swing back if they strike an obstacle. A Foam Marker drops blobs of foam at the boom ends to mark the edge of each pass as a visual guide.