Development of Fluidics for Driving and Steering Unit of Orchard Sprinkler Boat

Small boat with no screw or rudder has been used for showering the canopies of orchards in Thailand. During the showering operation, the boat moves forward by a reaction force of two flat nozzles used for showering. This study discusses the drag coefficient of the boat and the feasibility of using fluidics as a driving and steering unit of the boat in place of conventional flat nozzles. A one-fifth scale model of the boat and a fluidics were built to determine its drag coefficient, the thrust imparted by the fluidics and boat traveling speed. The drag coefficient of the model was found to be inversely proportional to the Froude number and effective in predicting the traveling speed of a boat.