Development of bioelectrode for electrostatic misting system

Abstract

Electrostatic spraying has been one of the solutions for the inefficiencies of traditional spraying. However, if the plant target surface is not well conductive or is insulated from the ground, the deposition will occur for only a short period. This study was conducted to determine the effects of the bioelectrode’s geometry for efficient flow of electrostatic charge and evaluate its efficiency for electrostatic misting systems. This study utilized a 3x3 factorial arranged using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The treatments were divided into two (2) groups: control and experimental. Under the control group are Non-electrostatics (NES) and Electrostatics (ES). Under the experimental group, nine (9) bioelectrode configurations were used in conjunction with an electrostatic misting system, charging mists at 3kV and an operational pressure of 540kPa. A plant sample placed 30cm away from the nozzle at 25cm altitude was used. Results show that the use of bioelectrode with a 3cm coil diameter and 2-4cm spacing of windings is particularly effective in increasing deposition density, significantly outperforming the control group and other coil configurations. In terms of the area covered, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showed significant differences among the means of different treatments at a 5% level. However, Tukey’s HSD test shows that none of the treatments significantly differ. In terms of swath width, 4cm diameter and 2cm spacing of windings has the widest swath width, considering the deposition density of 20.7droplet/cm² and 41.2droplet/cm² at 40cm distance away from the nozzle. The system’s unit cost of investment is Php81.2649/m².