Vicar technology: sure bet for faster and smarter spraying

European mist blower spraying technology is now available in South Africa, which allows users to work faster and with greater efficiency

- Glenneis Kriel.

About 40 years ago, Italian turbine engineer Vincenzo Caroli revolutionised spray technology in Europe through the development of Vicar blower sprayers in conjunction with LTS in Germany.

What makes this technology unique, according to 88-year-old Mike Heath, a consultant who has seen a whole revolution of machinery in his days, is the fact that it works with radial turbine technology.

This technology has been unavailable in South Africa until four years ago, when Ikapa Trading in Grabouw started importing three Vicar models from LTS.

IMPROVED TURBINE TECHNOLOGY

The technology presents a major improvement on axial flow turbine technology that has been the standard in South Africa for the past 30 years.

Heath explains that the biggest challenge with all mist blower sprayers is that air cannot be bent, but needs to be manipulated to where it is needed without causing turbulence.

With axial flow blower sprayers, propeller blades are used to move the air. The air moves in a linear direction, parallel to the fan, but then loses speed as it moves into housings and various deflectors to channel it into different directions and aim it on target.

Radial sprayers, also known as centrifugal blower sprayers, do not use a set of propeller blades, but a single turbine that looks like a water wheel, to suck air in.

The air is then moved radially into the enclosed casing at a 90° angle to the inlet.

Curved ducts with special directional fins cast in rotating heads guide airflow to avoid frictional losses between the turbine wheel and the air outlet, resulting in the volume and speed of air being equal from all outlets.