variavel0=<b>Marcelo Bacci Silva</b> - mbsilva@mecanica.ufu.br Universidade Federal de Uberlândia
<b>Alexandre Antônio Santana</b> - xande-santana@bol.com.br Universidade Federal de Uberlândia
<b>Eduardo Borges de Miranda</b> - Universidade Federal de Uberlândia 
<b>Aristeu da Silveira Neto</b> - aristeus@mecanica.ufu.br Universidade Federal de Uberlândia
<b>Abstract.</b> A fundamental knowledge of drop formation in a spray nozzle-plate system permits reduction of water and energy consumption, thus improving the agricultural production. The object of this study is to present an experimental methodology that conducts to analysis of parameters that influence the drop generation over a spray nozzle-plate system. The methodology used to quantify the drop spectrum is based in high speed images recording technique to capture the high frequency phenomena in order to better understand the physics aspects involved. By means of this methodology, it is possible to characterize the drop spectrum of the existing spray-nozzle systems and also to suggest new types of these systems. Preliminary results demonstrate the viability of this methodology, which, in turn, can lead to broad practical application.
<b>Keywords.</b> drop spectrum, mean drop size, high speed recording, spray nozzle-plate, experimental design.