• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.8-19
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• 2019

In this study, the spray pattern of a centrifugal fertilizer distributor with two shutter holes was analyzed and an effective driving width that satisfies proper spray uniformity was derived. The centrifugal fertilizer distributor was mounted on a tractor with a rated power of 23.7 kW and static and dynamic spray pattern tests were performed according to the standard procedure proposed by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Standard ASAE S341.5. The height of the fertilizer distributor was 80 cm from the ground and the PTO (power take-off) shaft speed of the tractor was fixed at 540 rpm. The fertilizer scattered in space was collected using 275 evenly spaced collectors at shutter opening ratios of 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%. The spray pattern was analyzed via the amount of sprayed fertilizer at each collector location and the coefficient of variation was used as an indicator of spray uniformity. Using the analyzed spray pattern, the effective driving width that satisfied less than 15% of the coefficient of variation was derived for different tractor driving patterns (race track mode, back and forth mode). From the results, spray uniformity increased as the shutter opening ratio decreased. The largest effective driving width was 8 m at a shutter opening ratio of 25% for both driving patterns.