Abstract
Aeroponics or Soil-less agriculture is a relatively new and recent type
of practice, where plants are grown without soil while nutrient-rich
water is provided via an atomized spray system to the suspended roots.
Spray nozzles are easy-to-use in supplying water (and fertilizers) to
(mainly) the roots and root hairs of the desired crop (or plant) for
production. We characterize a spray nozzle delivering water vertically
above against the gravity by measuring, experimentally, its (a) spray
drift, (b) spray height, (c) maximum spray angle, (d) spray width, and
(e) droplets sizes. Experiments were carried out at different inlet
pressures and a majority of the above mentioned parameters were obtained
by processing the images captured using digital (or high speed) camera,
sometimes along a plane lighted by a high-power laser source. We also
studied the spray (or jet) behaviour at different vertical heights and
different horizontal planes using a unique polythene sponge method. We
studied the mass flow rate, the mass of water absorbed, and droplet size
dynamics (as a function of time and pressure) using this method. A
mathematical model is proposed to understand such flows, whose results
matched reasonably well with the experimental values. We believe that
this study can be extrapolated to other nozzles (or sprays) to obtain
similar characteristic parameters. A study was conducted on the
characterization of “Plant-water uptake”. This study hence is critical
in selecting the desired spray system for a given canopy. The research
conducted here would be crucial in designing an Aeroponic system in a
controlled agricultural environment.