ISO 9898:2000

Overview

ISO 9898:2000 - Equipment for crop protection - Test methods for air-assisted sprayers for bush and tree crops - defines laboratory test methods to measure the performance of mounted, towed and self-propelled air-assisted sprayers (including pneumatic types) used in vineyards, orchards, hops and other bush/tree crops. The standard focuses on reproducible methods to quantify air flow, liquid distribution, power consumption and spray pattern characteristics with the objective of reducing drift and environmental contamination.

Key Topics and Technical Requirements

• Scope and objectives
  • Applies to air-assisted sprayers for bush, vine and tree crops; test methods are laboratory‑based and intended to characterise sprayer performance.
• Test conditions and setup
  • Machines tested in working order; report deflector/nozzle orientation and air outlet geometry.
  • Environmental conditions, PTO speed (nominal 540 ±5 r/min; 1000 ±10 r/min for 1000 r/min machines), fan gearbox positions and fan blade pitch must be recorded.
  • Test liquid: clean water (report any tracer/dye); report temperature and humidity.
• Power consumption
  • Total working power (fan, pump, etc.) measured (e.g., torquemeter) with liquid flow turned off and at manufacturer‑recommended maximum pressure.
• Air flow measurement
  • Reference method: chamber test stand with measuring tubes (chamber dims: 4.6 m × 6.15 m × 3.7 m). Typical tube diameters and flow ranges are described for accurate q (m3/h) calculation.
  • Alternative methods: Prandtl tubes, hot‑wire, small propeller anemometers, laser and ultrasonic anemometers (with minimum sampling, probe size and ≤5% measurement error requirements).
  • Defined grid sampling patterns for suction or outlet cross‑sections (centroidal rings or rectangular grids) and minimum numbers of measuring points.
• Air velocity and direction
  • Static tests: scan at 0.5 m from outlet; use five‑hole Pitot, vane decoders or laser anemometers; temporal integration over set intervals to report mean velocity and angle.
• Liquid distribution
  • Static and dynamic tests; use lamellae vertical patternator (Annex A) with measuring height examples (e.g., 4.5 m from ground) and specified collector spacing/distances (vineyard 1.25 m, orchard/hops 2.0 m, overlapping canopies up to 2.5 m).

Applications and Users

• Manufacturers - product development, design validation, performance tuning and declaration of technical data.
• Test laboratories / certification bodies - standardized test protocols for compliance, type approval and comparison.
• Regulators / environmental agencies - assessment of drift risk and environmental contamination mitigation.
• Farm machinery purchasers and extension services - informed procurement, operator training and selection of sprayers suited to canopy types.
• Researchers and agronomists - comparative studies of spray delivery, nozzle/fan interactions and drift-reduction strategies.

Related Standards

• Normative reference in ISO 9898: ISO 13441-1, Air-assisted agricultural sprayers - Data sheets - Part 1: Typical layout.
• Prepared by ISO/TC 23 (Tractors and machinery for agriculture and forestry), SC 6 (Equipment for crop protection).

Keywords: ISO 9898, air-assisted sprayers, test methods, crop protection, sprayer performance, air flow rate, liquid distribution, spray pattern, drift reduction.