초록 ▼

An electrostatic nozzle assembly for coating row crops and other plants with electrostatically charged particles of pesticide including a nozzle body formed with passageways to receive air and a grounded stream of waterborne pesticide for delivery through a nozzle tip to an inductor ring mounted bet

An electrostatic nozzle assembly for coating row crops and other plants with electrostatically charged particles of pesticide including a nozzle body formed with passageways to receive air and a grounded stream of waterborne pesticide for delivery through a nozzle tip to an inductor ring mounted between the nozzle body and an air nozzle having a discharge orifice. As the stream of waterborne pesticide is projected from the nozzle tip, it is impacted with a swirling, spirally moving stream of air produced by a swirl plate having a plurality of tapered air channels oriented tangentially relative to the pesticide stream and communicating with the air passageway in the nozzle body. The inductor ring inductively charges the pesticide in the terminal end of the nozzle tip. The swirling air stream atomizes the charged pesticide stream expelled from the nozzle tip into finely divided particles, and then imparts the swirling motion to the charged particles which fan radially outwardly in a wide spray pattern when ejected from the discharge orifice in the air nozzle. An electrical standoff is also provided by forming the air nozzle with an irregularly-shaped outer surface which lengthens the electrical path which charged particles collected on the air nozzle would have to travel to migrate to the grounded support for the nozzle body or the nearest grounded point.

대표청구항 ▼

An electrostatic nozzle assembly for coating objects comprising: a nozzle body formed with an air passageway adapted to receive a stream of air and a liquid passageway adapted to receive a stream of liquid; a grounded support for said nozzle body; an air nozzle mounted to said nozzle body, said air

An electrostatic nozzle assembly for coating objects comprising: a nozzle body formed with an air passageway adapted to receive a stream of air and a liquid passageway adapted to receive a stream of liquid; a grounded support for said nozzle body; an air nozzle mounted to said nozzle body, said air nozzle being formed with a discharge orifice and an annular wall extending outwardly from said discharge orifice defining a cavity, said annular wall being formed with an inner surface and an irregularly-shaped outer surface spaced from said support means; an inductor ring formed with an aperture, said inductor ring being mounted between said nozzle body and said air nozzle so that said aperture axially aligns with said discharge orifice; charging means connected to said nozzle body for applying an electrical potential to said inductor ring; means communicating with said liquid passageway for directing the stream of liquid into said aperture of said inductor ring; means communicating with said air passageway for directing the stream of air into contact with the liquid stream to form finely divided particles, said particles becoming inductively charged by said inductor ring and entrained with the stream of air for discharge through said discharge orifice and cavity of said air nozzle onto the object to be coated; and a nozzle nut having a radial flange for mounting said air nozzle to said nozzle body, said nozzle nut being disposed between said discharge orifice and said grounding means so that said radial flange forms an extended path of migration of said inductively charged particles from said discharge orifice to said grounded support means.