Abstract:
A system and method of mass-producing a bait station of wax matrix material for pesticide or insecticide delivery is disclosed. The apparatus and method includes a water-heated vat 110 which supplies liquid wax matrix material to molds which may be of various forms in accordance with the desired bait station to be manufactured. A fluid pump 120 pumps the wax matrix material from the vat through a tube 130 into molding tubes 140. At a molding tube station 140 the molds are filled and then carried by a conveyer belt 100 to a cooling tunnel 160. The wax-containing molds may be shaken by an in-line shaker in order to reduce air bubbles in the wax matrix. After the wax-containing molds are cooled by the cooling tunnel 160 the conveyer carries them to a labeling station 170, after which the finished bait stations are removed from their molds and packaged.
Abstract:
Apparatus and method is provided for applying agriculturally active substances in a controlled manner from the ground in the most effective droplet size range and at ultra low volumes so that efficiency is optimized while contamination of areas adjacent to the targeted area is greatly reduced. The method and apparatus comprise modification of spray units for controlled droplet atomizers comprising at least one tangential vortex crossflow fan having one or more controlled droplet atomizers in the throat of the fan and upstream of the mouth or wide emission opening of the fan, by positioning a wind deflector in the immediate vicinity behind the atomizer so that the atomizer is shielded from direct impingement of the wind generated by the fan and maintaining the liquid active agricultural substance at a temperature at which the liquid has an appropriate fluidity for the desired droplet size and operation of the modified spray unit within fixed parameters of pump speed, fan speed, atomizer turns and tractor velocity to achieve a narrow distribution of droplet sizes within the desired range while emitting relatively low volumes of the active substance in a specific area.