1Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Sam Higgin bottom University of Agricultural Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj-211007, Uttar Pradesh, India
2Central Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute, Budni-446, Madhya Pradesh, India
*Email Id: mukundfmtti2017@gmail.com
Online published on 12 February, 2021.
A study was conducted to perform the performance and economic evaluation of Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) sprayer. The test of SPV sprayer and economic analyses was compared with knap sack sprayer and manual operation. The field test was conducted in vegetable crops i.e., okra and tomato. The efficiency and effective field capacity of SPV sprayer were maximum 88.75% and 0.71 ha/h at 200 ml/min discharge, whereas it was 87.14%, 86.30% and 0.63, 0.70 ha/h at different discharge rates of 100 ml/min and 150 ml/min, respectively. Theoretical field capacity of SPV sprayer were found maximum 0.80 ha/h at 200ml/min whereas it was 0.70 ha/h and 0.73 ha/h at 100 ml/min and 150 ml/min, respectively. The SPV operated sprayer had higher field capacity compared to manually operated knapsack sprayer and manual operation. The minimum operational cost of SPV per hectare was found Rs. 221.8 which is less than manually operated knapsack sprayer (557.6 Rs./ha) and manual operation (1462 Rs./ha). Thus, the SPV operated sprayer (for discharge rate 200 ml/min) is economical as compared to manual operation as well manually operated knapsack sprayer, and it is very useful to small scale farmers.
Solar power, Spraying, Knapsack sprayer, Solar sprayer, Economics
