André Luis Casali

Inspeção técnica de pulverizadores agrícolas: histórico e importância

The technical inspection projects of agricultural sprayers have been carried out in several countries for a long time, aiming to obtain information and guideusers of this equipment. Considering the search for minor human health and environmental contamination during the use of pesticides as well as the importance of high efficiency applications, these projects are implemented in regions where they have not been done. In this way, the projects will work as an aid for users and inspection of conservation and use of sprayers. Although Brazil is an agricultural country, there is not a policy directed towards this kind of project. Such a policy would come to the crop producers aid by optimizing applications of pesticides. Furthermore, it would not only decrease environment contamination but also provide humanity with healthier food. This project has already been accomplished in several Brazilian universities, which proves the importance of its compulsory and periodical implementation on the equipments. The aim of this review was to describe the history, the scope, the ways of accomplishment and results obtained with these projects in several nations, drawing attention to the importance of technical inspections regulation in Brazil. Taking into account the positive result obtained with inspections in several countries, the great number and the precarious conditions of equipment used in Brazil - already proved in national projects - the regulation of technical inspections of sprayers in the country is essential.

Distribuição dos comandos de operação em tratores agrícolas nacionais com até 55 kW de potência

This work aimed to compare the location of the operation controls in four new tractors in the range of 55 kW, John Deere 5603, Massey Ferguson 4275 New Holland TL75E and Valtra A750. As reference the standards ABNT/NBR ISO 4253 (1999) for determining the Seat Index Point (SIP), and ISO 15077 (1996) for determining the regions of range for the operator seated and the position of controls operation in reference to the SIP. In the analysis of longitudinal vertical profile, the frequently used controls were present in greater numbers in the Comfort Zone in the tractor Valtra A750 (38,5% of controls). In the same profile, the tractor John Deere 5603 showed 60,0% of its controls located within the Access Zone, which also showed the lowest percentage of controls in the Inaccessible Zone of the tractor (20,0% of controls). In the upper horizontal profile, the tractor Massey Ferguson 4275 showed 60,0% of its controls in the Comfort Zone, while Valtra A750 showed the highest percentage of controls located in the Access Zone and the lowest percentage in the Inaccessible Zone with 38,5 and 23,0%, respectively.

NOTA TÉCNICA: CONFORMIDADE DE MANÔMETROS UTILIZADOS EM PULVERIZADORES AGRÍCOLAS

The manometers are important to calibrate agricultural sprayers in order to supply hydraulic pressure required by the kind of spraying nozzles, solution volume and agrochemical used. This study was done to evaluate these devices using five parameters: Operational conditions, external diameter, pressure accuracy, glycerin level in manometers and duration of use on sprayers. Thirty six sprayers were eavluated on-farm through random on-site visits. The results showed mean duration of 16 years of use of sprayers, 8% were without manometers, and more than 30 % had damaged manometers. Among the manometers in good operational conditions (61.1 %), only 31 % had good pressure accuracy (± 10 %). Thus, only seven (19.4%) sprayers equipped with manometers were fit for use.

Validação de teorias de simulação para operações com escarificadores em solo argiloso no planalto do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil

The objective of this research was studied theories used specially to simulate real field situations contrasted by empiric data obtained in real real working conditions in mechanized agricultural clay soil with the results obtained in similar studies conducted in other countries. We tried to the graphical representation of the demand required traction force and slippage through the use of Prediction software version 1.0, contrasted with results obtained by applying the theories of prediction Cn, Bn and Mn. Predictive theories Cn, Bn and Mn have good correlation with experimental values, however, there is an overestimation by the theory compared to the values measured experimentally, for traction force and slippage, causing a tractor design inadequate.