A ceramic-tipped air induction nozzle from International Spray-Jets should keep its 110° flat fan intact for longer thanks to the hard-wearing material.

Although similar in principle to the all-plastic standard Fan Air nozzle, the ceramic version differs in having a fixed ceramic insert for the outlet orifice and also a different shape to the polyacetal body that has much longer shrouds for the air inlets.

On both nozzles, these shrouds are intended to prevent dust or mud blocking the inlets through which air is sucked to lower the outlet pressure and infuse the liquid.

As with other air induction nozzles, the high proportion of larger droplets in the Fan Air’s output helps prevent drift, while bubbles contained in the biggest droplets encourage them to collapse on impact with a plant leaf for improved retention and coverage.

Like its all-plastic counterpart, the Fan Air Ceramic – which is distributed by Anglia Sprayers, Ely, Cambridgeshire – has a pre-orifice insert that is removable for cleaning. There are six sizes from 015 to 05 with ISO colour coding and at just 25.5mm in length they are said to be less vulnerable to impact damage than longer jets.

Lechler’s plastic nozzle

While acknowledging the longer-lasting qualities of ceramic, Lechler has introduced an all-plastic version of its twin flat fan air induction nozzle. It costs less and so should appeal to operators with low to moderate workloads for a nozzle of this type.

The Lechler IDKT is a twin-outlet version of the standard IDK air induction tip. It produces two 120° fans angled forwards and backwards by 30° from vertical to achieve good coverage of upright or potentially “shadowed” targets – such as weeds in cloddy seed-beds and ears of wheat, barley and other cereal crops.

Pesticide application in two hits and from different angles has been shown to improve coverage and also penetration into crops with dense foliage cover, such as potatoes. The relatively coarse spray quality of the IDKT helps prevent drift when conditions are marginal for the finer output of a non-air induction tip.

Lechler has produced three sizes so far: 03, 04 and 05 with ISO colour-coding.

All polyacetal plastic Lechler IDKT twin fan air induction nozzle alongside its ceramic-tipped counterpart.

TeeJet

A new touch-screen guidance system terminal from TeeJet Technologies has the unique feature of being able to display video instead of virtual images.

The Matrix terminal is available in two sizes – with a 145mm (5.7in) screen on the 570G and a 213mm (8.4in) screen on the 840G – with built-in lightbar for visual steering guidance.

The terminal can also control an assisted or fully-integrated steering system; TeeJet says it produces more than 65 kits for 275 different farm vehicles to enable this added precision and fatigue reducing technology to be used on existing machines.

However, the terminal’s ability to connect with one or more video cameras is its unique feature.

This allows operators to display field guidance graphics overlaid on a “real view” image of the way ahead, which TeeJet believes makes visual guidance more intuitive. Alternatively, it can display the workings of an implement while also providing guidance information.

TeeJet’s Matrix terminal – this is the larger 840G – can display video feeds and guidance information at the same time.

The Matrix 570G can accommodate up to four cameras, while the 840G can take streams from up to eight cameras – and display the output from up to four of them at any one time.

Further options include a module for GPS-regulated sprayer boom section control.

Amazone

Following successful field trials, Amazone is rolling out its GPS-Switch for automatic part-width control of boom sprayers.

Four of the company’s sprayer ranges are now produced with the necessary infrastructure to operate the system – the UF mounted and UG and UX trailed sprayers, as well as the SX self-propelled sprayer which is not currently available in Britain.

Up to 13 boom sections can be switched on and off individually by the control system to minimise over-spraying where tramlines converge and when working around trees and electricity pylons. It also will switch the whole boom on and off at headlands.

Amazone’s GPS-Switch part-width control system will handle up to 16 spray boom sections.

Apart from savings in pesticides, this form of auto control also allows spraying to continue in poor visibility – early in the morning and late into the evening – to extract maximum output from big sprayers. Reduced operator fatigue is another benefit.

GPS-Switch is operated in conjunction with Amazone’s Amatron+ controller but can use an existing GPS receiver. It can also provide auto adjusted working width on Amazone fertiliser spreaders equipped with hydraulic drive discs.