What a load of drivel!
Originally Posted by
currawong
The label on a chemical drum is a legal document. It must be complied with. Essentially it is illegal to open that drum until that label is checked.
That label stipulates all the parameters acceptable to the regulator for the application for reasons of safety.
Right. So someone developing a commercial drone spraying operating needs to read the regulations, read the label and then develop and qualify a system to meet those requirements to the satisfaction of the regulator. This is just engineering, not rocket surgery. How do you think the original aeroplane-based systems were developed in the first place?
It will specify a droplet range required for aerial application. Say 300 + microns.(think drizzle/light rain) for reasons of drift mitigation.
So the drone developer will either use the same nozzles & feed system or develop and qualify a new one to the same spec (whichever was more cost effective). Again, just engineering, not brain science.
For the product to work, a certain amount of droplets are required per square cm on the target.
Lets say insecticide so 20 droplets per square cm.
This will require, and the label will specify, a total spray volume in the order of 30 liters per hectare. (this varies between products)
Aircraft are designed around these specs.
A drone on the other hand, with the reduced capacity, will distribute in the order of 1 or 2 liters per hectare (or less) at maybe 80 microns(or less) (think fly spray aerosol) to attempt to achieve the 20 droplets per square cm.
Only if it was designed by a moron. But if you were doing it as a commercial operation you would just develop a system that delivered to the specs.
This is contrary to the label instructions, read illegal.
This is a fictitious strawman, read technophobic gibbon!
The drone approach has disadvantages in terms of payload per flight, delivery rates and flight duration, but advantages in terms of more accurate delivery, faster turnaround and ability to operate in much tighter spaces. Short duration can be offset with frequent battery changes. Differential GPS-based control allows both the flight and the spray to be delivered withim a foot or two without markers. "pilot" skills come down to thorough training in the procedures and a a few hours familiarity with the vehicle. Flight doesn't have to be autonomous (with all the regulatory difficulties that currently involves) - it can be line-of-site with FPV guidance with the operator just sitting on a chair bolted to the top of a van.
All the smokescreen about drift safety is twaddle as well. There is no reason why drone-delivered spray would be any greater risk, and several reasons why it would be a lesser risk given that in the limit the drone could fly lower and/or slower if needed.
€0.0007 supplied,
PDR