Electrostatic aerial spraying has been unsuccessfully attempted for the past two decades. The main stumbling block has been the elimination of the opposite polarity charge which develops on an aircraft when leaving behind an electrostatically charged spray. The authors present a new method for electrostatic aerial spraying and automatic control of the aircraft potential as well as some preliminary tests carried out with a full-scale aircraft. The method consists of inductively charging two co-planar clouds of opposite polarity and controlling any minor accidental charges on the electrical system by means of corona discharges. By spraying a positively charged plane cloud on the port side of the aircraft and a negatively charged plane cloud on the starboard side of the same aircraft, with corona balancing controls, one can maintain the potential of the aircraft within acceptable limits under all conditions. The two co-planar clouds sprayed from an altitude normally used in aerial applications will preferentially move towards the vegetation to be sprayed rather than being attracted to one another. The new development is believed to be a substantial advance in aerial spraying technology.
Electrostatic aerial spraying
Elektrostatisches Sprayen in Luft
1986
5 Seiten, 4 Bilder, 5 Quellen
Conference paper
English
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