Droplets movement and deposition of an eight-rotor agricultural UAV in downwash flow field
Keywords:
chemical spray, droplet deposition, UAV, flow field, multi-rotorAbstract
Abstract: The movement and deposition of the droplets sprayed by agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) are influenced by the complex downwash flow field of the rotors. Instead of conducting field experiment, a high speed particle image velocimetry (PIV) method was used to measure the movement and deposition of the droplets at different rotating speeds of rotors (1000-3000 r/min) or at different transverse injecting points (20-50 cm away from its nearby rotors) in the downwash flow field of an agricultural UAV with eight rotors and conical nozzles. The maximum speed and size of the high speed zone of the droplets were found greatly influenced by the downwash velocity. The initial spray angle of the nozzle declined with the increase of downwash flow speed. It was found that the downwash velocity could not only change the deposition zone of the droplets, but also influence their distribution. The increase of the downwash velocity would increase the deposition uniformity of the droplets. The nozzle position in the downwash flow field could also influence the deposition of the droplets. When the transverse distance between the nozzle and its nearby rotors increased, the relative deposition near the downwash flow of the rotors increased simultaneously. However, the distance between the deposition peak and the nozzle stayed constant. The initial spray angle of the nozzle was not influenced by the transverse distance between the nozzle and its nearby rotors. The research results could provide a theoretical basis and reference for the optimization of the spray application of multi-rotor UAV to minimize droplets deposition uncertainty. Keywords: chemical spray, droplet deposition, UAV, flow field, multi-rotor DOI: 10.3965/j.ijabe.20171003.3075 Citation: Tang Q, Zhang R R, Chen L P, Xu M, Yi T C, Zhang B. Droplets movement and deposition of an eight-rotor agricultural UAV in downwash flow field. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2017; 10(3): 47–56.References
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[2] Swain K C, Thomson S J, Jayasuriya H P W. Adoption of an unmanned helicopter for low-altitude remote sensing to estimate yield and total biomass of a rice crop. Transactions of the ASABE, 2010; 53(1): 21–27.
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[4] Huang Y B, Hoffmann W C, Lan Y B, Wu W F, Fritz B K. Development of a spray system for an unmanned aerial vehicle platform. Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 2009; 25(6): 803–809.
[5] Kirk I W, Hoffmann W C, Fritz B K. Aerial application methods for increasing spray deposition on wheat heads. Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 2007; 23(6): 357–364.
[6] Zhang J, He X K, Song J L, Zeng A J, Liu Y J, Li X F. Influence of spraying parameters of unmanned aircraft on droplets deposition. Transactions of the CSAM, 2012; 43(12): 94–96. (in Chinese)
[7] Zhou Z Y, Zang Y, Luo X W, Lan Y B, Xue X Y. Technology innovation development strategy on agricultural aviation industry for plant protection in China. Transactions of the CSAE, 2013; 29(24): 1–10. (in Chinese)
[8] Ramasamy M, Lee T E, Leishman J G. Flow field of a rotating-wing micro air vehicle. Journal of Aircraft, 2012; 44: 1236–1244.
[9] Wang L, Lan Y B, Hoffmann W C, Fritz B K, Chen D, Wang S M. Design of variable spraying system and influencing factors on droplets deposition of small UAV. Transactions of the CSAM, 2016; 47(1): 15–22. (in Chinese)
[10] Kang T G, Lee C S, Choi D K, Jun H J, Koo Y M, Kang T H. Development of Aerial Application System Attachable to Unmanned Helicopter: Basic Spraying Characteristics for Aerial Application System. Journal of Biosystems Engineering, 2010; 35(4): 215–223.
[11] Qin W C, Xue X Y, Zhou L X, Zhang S C, Sun Z, Kong W, et al. Effects of spraying parameters of unmanned aerial vehicle on droplets deposition distribution of maize canopies. Transactions of the CSAE, 2014; 30(5): 50–56. (in Chinese)
[12] Qin W C, Qiu B J, Xue X Y, Chen C, Xu Z, Zhou Q Q. Droplet deposition and control effect of insecticides sprayed with an unmanned aerial vehicle against plant hopper. Crop
Protection, 2016; 85: 79–88.
[13] Bae Y, Koo Y M. Flight attitudes and spray patterns of a roll-balanced agricultural unmanned helicopter. Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 2013; 29(5): 675–682.
[14] Zhang P, Lyu Q, Yi S L, Liu Y, He S L, Xue R J, et al. Evaluation of spraying effect using small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in citrus orchard. Journal of Fruit Science, 2016; 33(1): 34–42.
[15] Giles D K, Billing R, Anderson P G, Balsari P, Carpenter P I, Cooper S E, et al. Unmanned aerial platforms for spraying: deployment and performance. Aspects of Applied Biology, 2014; 12: 63–69.
[16] Giles D K, Billing R. Deployment and Performance of a UAV for Crop Spraying. Chemical Engineering Transactions, 2015; 44: 307–312.
[17] Wang P, Hu L, Zhou Z Y, Yang W S, Liu A M, Luo X W, et al. Wind field measurement for supplementary pollination in hybrid rice breeding using unmanned gasoline engine single-rotor helicopter. Transactions of the CSAE, 2013; 29(3): 54–61. (in Chinese)
[18] Li J Y, Zhou Z Y, Hu L, Zang Y, Xu S, Liu A M, et al. Optimization of operation parameters for supplementary pollination in hybrid rice breeding using uniaxial single-rotor electric unmanned helicopter. Transactions of the CSAE, 2014; 30(10): 10–17. (in Chinese)
[19] Garratt J R. The atmospheric boundary layer. Cambridge University Press, 1992.
[20] Gessow A, Myers G. Aerodynamics of the helicopter. NewYork: Macmillan Company, 1952.
[21] Gessow A. Understanding and predicting helicopter behavior then and now. Journal of the American Helicopter Society, 1986; 31(1): 3–28.
[22] Johnson W. Recent developments in rotary-wing aerodynamic theory. AIAA Journal, 2015; 24(8): 1219–1244.
[23] Raffel M, Richard H, Ehrenfried K, Wall B G, Burley C. Recording and evaluation methods of PIV investigations on a helicopter rotor model. Experiments in Fluids, 2004; 36(1): 146–156.
[24] Wall B G, Richard H. Analysis methodology for 3C-PIV data of rotary wing vortices. Experiments in Fluids, 2006; 40(5): 798–812.
[25] Johnson B, Leishman J G, Sydney A. Investigation of sediment entrainment using dual-phase, high-speed particle image velocimetry. Journal of the American Helicopter Society, 2010; 55(4): 042003.
[26] Nathan N D, Green R B. The flow around a model helicopter main rotor in ground effect. Experiments in Fluids, 2012; 52: 151–166.
[27] Conlisk A T. Modern helicopter aerodynamics, Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech. 1997; 21: 515–567.
[28] Mccroskey W. Vortex wakes of rotorcraft. 33rd Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit Reno, NV, USA. 1995; 95–0530.
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Published
2017-05-31
How to Cite
Qing, T., Ruirui, Z., Liping, C., Min, X., Tongchuan, Y., & Bin, Z. (2017). Droplets movement and deposition of an eight-rotor agricultural UAV in downwash flow field. International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 10(3), 47–56. Retrieved from https://ijabe.migration.pkpps03.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/ijabe/article/view/3075
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Applied Science, Engineering and Technology
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