3 ms·

Neither here nor there, but why are specialized nozzles needed for fertilizer? Can't that go directly on the ground with a very basic pattern?

cmrdporcupine 3y ago
There all sorts of things that affect coverage. These things are done by booms with nozzles at all sorts of different points, and there's variables like pressure variance at different points in the pipes, spray radius per nozzle type, turning radius / position of the tractor, relative height of the boom to the crop / ground at different points, etc. And it's not just fertilizer, but other sprays, too. Here, this looks thoroughly boring, but this guy is going over configuring one of our systems for fertilizer application... You can get an idea of some of the variables involved, if you can make it through :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rQJI7zz1q4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rQJI7zz1q4
- steve_adams_86 3y ago
  I don’t find it boring at all, haha. I have a feeling I chose the wrong career path.
  - cmrdporcupine 3y ago
    It's possible to combine an enthusiasm for spray nozzles with software development :-) https://www.ravenind.com/careers https://www.ravenind.com/careers :-) But I think we're kind of in a hiring freeze. I think I just barely squeaked in before that.
bluGill 3y ago
Because a basic pattern isn't easy to obtain. If there is wind it will blow your spray around. If there is dirt in the nozzle that changes your pattern (until you clean it - but now you need to check if it needs to be cleaned). Sprayer booms can be 130 feet (40 meters) long, and sprayers go over the field fairly fast: those booms are bouncing all over the place and that is changing the pattern. Which is worse - too much chemical on a given section of ground or too much - depending your answer (which will change for different chemicals!) sometimes you want the nozzles to overlap the next and other times now. What is the viscosity of the chemical - this changes the spray pattern. How much chemical do you spray - a low quantity through a high flow nozzle will just drip, while a high quantity through a low flow nozzle isn't possible. Do you want to spray the just ground, just the plants, or both - maybe you can get a nozzle focused on this. Soil is not consistent across a field, so farmers normally apply different amounts of chemical in different sections. The above is not a complete list of all the nozzle considerations I know of (I work for John Deere, but I don't speak for them), it is what I can remember in a couple minutes.
- InSteady 3y ago
  >I work for John Deere Mind telling your bosses to fuck off and let farmers repair their own equipment, please?
  - bluGill 3y ago
    No need, farmers can repair. What they can't to is change emissions or steel parts. So long as you are doing the regular repair work farmers do there is no problem. When you do things beyond that things get hard.
- steve_adams_86 3y ago
  Would it be possible to estimate viscosity using a calibrated pump and some kind of “time to spray” test (in which a specific amount of force is used to express the fluid through a nozzle), then use that viscosity measurement to set the pressure for the spray to get more consistent results? Or does that make absolutely no sense? I’m not sure how you can reliably measure fluid properties in order to get consistent spray patterns. It seems like it would be useful here, though. You can tell I’m not an engineer :)
  - bluGill 3y ago
    Yes, and there is manual calibration to do that sometimes. (Iirc for sprayers most chemicals are 99% water so the factory does that, but planters often do have a process where you dump seed for a minute and then measure what came out). However you still need different nozzles for different fluid rates.

cmrdporcupine 3y ago

There all sorts of things that affect coverage. These things are done by booms with nozzles at all sorts of different points, and there's variables like pressure variance at different points in the pipes, spray radius per nozzle type, turning radius / position of the tractor, relative height of the boom to the crop / ground at different points, etc. And it's not just fertilizer, but other sprays, too. Here, this looks thoroughly boring, but this guy is going over configuring one of our systems for fertilizer application... You can get an idea of some of the variables involved, if you can make it through :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rQJI7zz1q4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rQJI7zz1q4

steve_adams_86 3y ago
I don’t find it boring at all, haha. I have a feeling I chose the wrong career path.
- cmrdporcupine 3y ago
  It's possible to combine an enthusiasm for spray nozzles with software development :-) https://www.ravenind.com/careers https://www.ravenind.com/careers :-) But I think we're kind of in a hiring freeze. I think I just barely squeaked in before that.

bluGill 3y ago

Because a basic pattern isn't easy to obtain. If there is wind it will blow your spray around. If there is dirt in the nozzle that changes your pattern (until you clean it - but now you need to check if it needs to be cleaned). Sprayer booms can be 130 feet (40 meters) long, and sprayers go over the field fairly fast: those booms are bouncing all over the place and that is changing the pattern. Which is worse - too much chemical on a given section of ground or too much - depending your answer (which will change for different chemicals!) sometimes you want the nozzles to overlap the next and other times now. What is the viscosity of the chemical - this changes the spray pattern. How much chemical do you spray - a low quantity through a high flow nozzle will just drip, while a high quantity through a low flow nozzle isn't possible. Do you want to spray the just ground, just the plants, or both - maybe you can get a nozzle focused on this. Soil is not consistent across a field, so farmers normally apply different amounts of chemical in different sections. The above is not a complete list of all the nozzle considerations I know of (I work for John Deere, but I don't speak for them), it is what I can remember in a couple minutes.

InSteady 3y ago
>I work for John Deere Mind telling your bosses to fuck off and let farmers repair their own equipment, please?
- bluGill 3y ago
  No need, farmers can repair. What they can't to is change emissions or steel parts. So long as you are doing the regular repair work farmers do there is no problem. When you do things beyond that things get hard.
steve_adams_86 3y ago
Would it be possible to estimate viscosity using a calibrated pump and some kind of “time to spray” test (in which a specific amount of force is used to express the fluid through a nozzle), then use that viscosity measurement to set the pressure for the spray to get more consistent results? Or does that make absolutely no sense? I’m not sure how you can reliably measure fluid properties in order to get consistent spray patterns. It seems like it would be useful here, though. You can tell I’m not an engineer :)
- bluGill 3y ago
  Yes, and there is manual calibration to do that sometimes. (Iirc for sprayers most chemicals are 99% water so the factory does that, but planters often do have a process where you dump seed for a minute and then measure what came out). However you still need different nozzles for different fluid rates.