As the name suggests, it is a pesticide spraying mechanism installed on bicycle and driven by the same. To see the full project, please visit : https://www.behance.net/gallery/Cycle-mounted-pesticide-sprayer/9544929

2. What is GRIDS:
•
The Grassroots Innovations Design Studio is a collaborative project between the National
Innovation Foundation, Ahmedabad, and Srishti, Bangalore.
•
The NIF supports innovations from the grass roots; they collect, document, develop and patent
interesting and useful ideas and products made by ordinary people to solve problems that are local and
immediate.
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Srishti works with NIF to take these innovations to the next level so that they can become sustainable
and marketable products.
Reference: http://srishti.ac.in/content/real-people-real-designs-grids-srishti-grass-roots-innovation-design-studio

3. Relevance of the cycle mounted pesticide sprayer:
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The knapsack sprayers, generally used by farmers for spraying pesticides, involve continuous
pumping by one hand while holding the sprayer with the other. The whole process of spraying is very
tiresome and also leads to hand, back and neck pains by prolonged use, for any scale of
operation, with heavy backload.
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The knapsack sprayers require a lot of time to cover the bigger spraying operations, which increase
the cost of spraying as well as the hazard of pesticide mist getting into the eyes.
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Manual labour has also become scarce due to the migration of farm labourers towards cities.
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Other options, like tractor mounted sprayers, are too expensive and not of much use in small holdings.
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Since the bicycle requires less space to move, it can be used in a more versatile manner as compared
to power sprayers that are mounted on tractors.
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A labour saving device, it can be used to spray one acre of land in 45 minutes, thus covering more
area compared to manual spraying. It serves the dual function of a sprayer as well as a bicycle.
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Reference : ttp://www.nif.org.in/awards/awardprofile-details.php?profile_id=251&page=46&award_function_id=-1&st_id=7

4. Grass root innovator of the cycle mounted pesticide sprayer- Mr. Mansukhbhai Jagani
Image reference – Google Images

5. Details of Mr. Manasukhbhai Jagani’s design:
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He reversed the sprockets of a conventional bicycle, central sprocket to rear and visa versa.
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He removed pedals from the central sprocket and replaced them with piston rods, connected to the
mechanical brass cylinder pumps on both the sides.
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He put a PVC storage tank on the carrier, this tank supply liquid to the spray booms.
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A number of spraying nozzles are connected to the spray boom and their direction and height are
adjustable according to requirements. The spray booms can be folded back when not in use.
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While pulling along the bicycle, the movement of the bicycle is transferred to the pump assembly, via
piston rods, which pumps air into the tank to generate pressure for spraying through spray boom
nozzles. The flow of the liquid from the tank to the spray boom can be adjusted with the help of control
valve.
• Mr. Mansukhbhai Jagani’s design was not personally seen and examined by me. The above description of the design is based on the
analysis of the GRIDS team and information from
http://www.nif.org.in/awards/awardprofiledetails.php?profile_id=251&page=46&award_function_id=-1&st_id=7

6. Inspiration for the second prototype:
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It was my task, at GRIDS, to take inspiration from Mr. Mansukhbhai Jagani’s design and design a
working prototype of the cycle mounted pesticide sprayer.
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Mr. Jagani’s design, according to NIF, costs Rs.2200 [excluding the bicycle]. I was keen on making my
design cheaper than Rs.2200. One way to achieve it was to use what is already possessed by farmers.
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Mr. Jagani’s design, as claimed by NIF, is detachable. At the same time, it is not a simple task to
assemble and disassemble it. A workshop might be required to properly assemble it. Thus, it was my
prime motive to make my design as simple as possible in terms of its detachability; a farmer should be
able to assemble it on his own, without any expert help.
•
A research was undertaken by me to immerse into the field of agricultural practices and get more
inspiration.

7. Research:
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Along with basic desk research, I took help from two officers in National Bureau of Agriculturally
Important Insects, Bangalore. They informed me about various types of farmlands, pesticide spraying
techniques, pesticide spraying machines, farming issues, farming methods, farming processes, etc.
•
Some help was also taken from a government horticulture officer.

8. Six Objectives – laid down after initial research:
• Compact mechanism
Not every plantation can allow bicycle inside the field as it can crush the crops, for example – potato
plantation.
• Simple and cost effective design
To practically make this design sustain in a rural market, it is important to make it as cost effective as
possible. It should be simple enough for farmers to understand and repair it easily, to avoid extra
maintenance cost. Minimizing the use of customized parts in the design will help farmers in finding the
spare parts quicker. It is important to make this design durable to make it cost effective.
• Detachable design
It should be a kit that can be installed on any regular bicycle. Farmers need not buy a new bicycle or
customize an existing one to use this design.
• Pressure control
Too much air pressure inside the sprayer, generated due to constant cycling, can damage or explode the
sprayer or parts of it. It is also important to avoid any possible leakage or overflow of pesticides as excess
of it can harm the plant as well as the soil.
• Weight control
One of the purpose of this design is to reduce or omit the burden of carrying 20 liters of pesticide around the
field in a knapsack manual sprayer. The additional weight, of this design on the cycle, should not make it a
burden for the farmers.
• Aim and spray
The design should allow farmers to conveniently aim and spray at each crop, while on cycle.

9. Market exploration:
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A market survey was made to explore various kinds of sprayers and spraying equipment.
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Spraying cans, available in the market, vary from 5-6 liters to 8-10 liters to 16-20 liters.

10. Choice of sprayer – Kisan Kraft Knapsack Manual Sprayer:
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Due to its compact body and good capacity, a 16 liter Kisan Kraft Knapsack Manual Sprayer was chosen
for prototyping.
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The sprayer comes with a spray boom, valves and different types of nozzles.

11. Process:
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The First iteration considered having a bell crank mechanism. The idea was to convert the rotatory
motion of the crank into linear motion of the pump lever.
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Bell crank prototypes were made and tested on the bicycle.
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This iteration required a customized bicycle crank to attach the connecting rod of the bell crank.

12. •
The Second iteration considered attaching an egg shaped cam over the sprocket. The cam would
rotate with the sprocket and its tip would hit the lever attached to the bicycle frame. The lever will pull the
compression chamber down via a brake cable.
•
This iteration was simpler, in terms of its hardware.

13. To scale orthographic drawings of the bicycle – to design and test various iterations

14. •
For the final iteration, customized crank from iteration 1 and brake wire from iteration 2 were chosen.
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A droplet shaped chip was attached to the customized crank to avoid tangling of the brake cable
around the crank.
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The sprayer’s pump lever was removed and was replaced with a bolt. A brake cable was used to connect
the bolt and the droplet shaped chip.

15. The final working prototype

16. The objectives achieved with this prototype:
• Weight control
KK Knapsack Manual Sprayer has the compression mechanism integrated in its tank; this saves addition
of
extra pumps and attachments, cutting down a lot of weight. The Brake cable, which is used to connect the
sprayer to the customized crank, is an extremely light and efficient material.
• Simple and cost effective design
The knapsack sprayer used in this design is one of the most widely used type of manual sprayer by
farmers
in India. This design uses the default spray boom of the knapsack manual sprayer. Apart from the
bicycle, the total cost of this design would not exceed Rs.1500 [considering Rs.1000 for KK Knapsack
Manual Sprayer]. If a farmer owns KK Knapsack Manual Sprayer and a conventional roadster bicycle, he
won’t spend more than Rs. 500* to install this design.
The design has achieved considerable durability considering the choice of materials, components
and their placement.
• Aim and spray
The ball-socket joinery achieves this objective to a considerable extent
•
Compact mechanism
Considering the sleek design of KK Knapsack Manual Sprayer and the placement of all the components,
there is an approximately 15 cm of width added to the bicycle.
*this price is an estimation. A research is required to validate this amount

17. Future scope
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This prototype leaves few objectives incomplete for the future teams of GRIDS to work on.
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Pressure control in this design is yet to be figured out. A solution has to be figured out to install a relief
valve in the sprayer or a way to disengage the mechanism while cycling, to avoid excess pressure
generation. There might be a need to install a pressure indicator.
•
All the components are arranged properly, but this prototype has a makeshift design in terms of
detachability. More polishing and refining is required to make it detachable with least complexity.
•
Apart from the above two factors, overall, this design requires a lot more work and refinement to make it
a complete finished product. All six objectives can be taken to next level.