Effect of Nozzle Shape on Sprinkler Water Distribution and Energy Saving

Abstract

Medium impact sprinklers with circular and noncircular nozzles were tested in order to make clear the difference of their droplet size distributions and water application patterns, and to evaluate the effect of energy saving by noncircular nozzles.Circular nozzle usually produced greater application radius and larger droplet size at the end of the spray, however, noncircular nozzles gave higher uniformity coefficient than circular nozzles.The main factors affecting droplet diameter at the end of the spray were analyzed and found that nozzle shape is one of the important factors.Analysis of energy saving by noncircular nozzles was conducted and found that the pressure for square nozzle can be 16.7 to 28.6% lower than for circular nozzle for a given discharge.