The boom, a hollow fiberglass tube 1 inch in diameter, delivers air from a fan, powered by the tractor PTO, to the atomizer at low pressure. The air is used to atomize liquid into droplets, as well as to develop a high momentum jet to agitate the crop canopy thereby increasing droplet penetration and coverage. Air travels through the hole at the center of the atomizer as well as two narrow ports on both sides of the center port. The air exiting the side ports is directed toward the center of the main vertical air port where liquid is discharged. The main function of the air coming from the side ports is to give the discharging liquid a spray pattern that is similar to the pattern obtained from a standard flat fan nozzle.
Liquid is pumped to each atomizer on the boom via a separate manifold attached to the boom.
When the air and liquid meet, the liquid is atomized. An orifice disc is used to control the amount of liquid flow to each atomizer. With Shear Guard TM PLUS, it is possible to choose the droplet size that will give the best performance and still minimize drift. The operator can adjust the velocity of air and thus change the droplet size from the cab regardless of the ground speed. The range of droplet size produced by this atomizer is from 100 to 500 microns.