Performance Evaluation of Battery Powered Sensor Based Push Type Sprayer

Abstract

A sensor-based sprayer was developed at the Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, CoAE, GKVK, UAS Bangalore. This innovative system employs ultrasonic sensors to detect plant canopies with high accuracy (up to 0.7 m,) (Singh et al., 2021) and the algorithm was coded such that the sensorsdetects the real-time, site-specific data which actuates the pumps for target actuated spraying to minimize chemical wastage, reduces environmental contamination and reduces the risk of farmers’ exposure to pesticides. This real-time, site-specific technology minimizes chemical wastage, reduces environmental contamination and lowers farmers’ exposure to pesticides. The study focused on operational performance elevation of the sprayerwhich achieved an effective field capacity of 0.31 ha/h, a field efficiency of 85.6%. The sprayer reduced the application rate by 42.1%, from 81 l/ha (conventional) to 47 l/ha at an operational cost of ₹74 /ha. Its benefit-cost ratio of 1.45 and payback period of 239 hours highlight its cost-effectiveness. This system offers a practical and sustainable solution for small and marginal farmers, enhancing crop protection the study focused mainly on row crops and the performance evaluation was done in chillicrop, while mitigating environmental and health risks and also provides methodological reference for other research to develop sensor based sprayers.