This mini-sprayer is effective for the smaller scale control of weeds, plant diseases and plant pests in complete spraying or row application. Lloyd Phillips writes.
Spraying herbicides, pesticides and agrichemicals with hand-held spray equipment can undermine accuracy, application rate and cost-effectiveness. The equipment is often heavy, making it difficult to keep the hand-held nozzle at the required height, resulting in uneven and ineffective spraying.
To address these problems and the needs of smaller scale users, the Agricultural Research Council’s Institute for Agricultural Engineering developed an efficient, accurate, human-powered, wheel-driven sprayer. With neither the mandate nor resources to go into production, the ARC sold the manufacturing and marketing rights of the ILI Mini-sprayer to Winterton no-till pioneer Ant Muirhead and Archie Smythe, owner of Dragon Precision Engineering in Estcourt, KZN.
It consists of a mechanical cylinder pump driven by two wheels on a 400mm track. The chassis is 600mm wide, while the standard spray boom covers 2m. The application rate remains constant, irrespective of the ground speed, while the height also remains constant as the wheels follow the contours of the field being sprayed. Pump capacity is at 2,5 /min while the chemical tank holds 35â„“. The spray boom comes standard with four flat fan spray tips and the sprayer covers 2 000m² on one tank. The driving gear is engaged to drive the pump when the user pulls the sprayer. To disengage it, the user reverses the sprayer. The unit is surprisingly light and well-balanced, and little energy is needed to operate it. Individual spray nozzles can be closed off and the tips can also be interchanged with hollow cone spray tips for different application needs. The ILI Mini-sprayer’s working parts are pre-lubricated.
The unit needs minimum maintenance, but the drive mechanism should be thoroughly cleaned after use. Dragon Precision Engineering has pumps available on service exchange, as well as stock of other working parts. The operator can easily remove and replace worn parts and the pump.
The perma-tubes on the wheels negate punctures, while six interchangeable drive ratios adapt the system as needed. An application calibration chart comes standard. The pressure gauge shows the user at what speed they should pull the sprayer to maintain the optimum application pressure of 1 bar to 2 bar. When all four nozzles on the boom are open, it can spray about 1,5ha per hour. The sprayer costs around R7 000 excluding VAT and delivery cost. |fw
