Patent ID: 7108203

Claim:
A spray nozzle assembly comprising a nozzle body with a liquid flow passageway having a liquid discharge orifice for directing a high velocity liquid flow stream along a predetermined axis, a spray tip fixed to said body having an upstanding impingement pin that defines a primary impingement surface spaced from said liquid discharge orifice and dispose transverse to said axis whereby a liquid stream directed onto said impingement surface strikes said impingement surface and breaks up into a laterally spreading dispersion of liquid from said impingement surface, an air supply for directing pressurized air through said body, an air guide disposed about said axis upstream of said impingement surface and formed with an internal surface defining an annular air flow passage for enhancing the velocity of the pressurized air and directing the air in a curtain about the liquid flow stream for striking the laterally spreading dispersion of liquid to further break up and atomize liquid into liquid particles, said annular air passage having a flow passage area greater than the area of said liquid discharge orifice with the ratio of the area of the annular air passage to the area of the liquid discharge orifice being between 1:2 and 1:3, said spray tip defining an expansion chamber about and downstream of said impingement surface for preventing atomized liquid particles from commingling together and reforming into larger particles, and said spray tip having a plurality of discharge orifices spaced downstream from said impingement surface and communicating with said expansion chamber through which said atomized liquid particles are discharged from said chamber while being further atomized.