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Polyurethane cobra head spray nozzles (sometimes called duck foot or flood nozzles) are heavy-duty industrial components designed primarily for wet screening, moisture control, and dust suppression.
As they are molded from durable polyurethane, they are highly resistant to abrasion and corrosion, making them ideal for handling high-pressure hydromining and mineral slurry flows or for agitating
Australian Mining Product and Services (AMPS) offer these nozzles in standard 3/4″ BSP or NPT threads, using a helpful color-coding system to identify orifice sizes (e.g., 3mm White, 5mm Green, 7mm Blue).
It is usually recommended to install a 1.0 mm aperture protective strainer at the water inlet to keep them operating smoothly
Common types by spray pattern
- Flat fan: a wide, even sheet of liquid. Used for painting, coating, cleaning, and agricultural boom sprayers.
- Full cone: a round, filled-in pattern with good coverage. Common in washing, cooling, and dust suppression.
- Hollow cone: a ring-shaped pattern with fine droplets. Used for gas scrubbing, humidification, and some crop spraying.
- Solid stream: a concentrated jet for high-impact cleaning or tank washing.
- Fogging or misting: very fine droplets for cooling, humidity control, and dust control.
- Air-atomizing: uses compressed air to produce very fine droplets, often for coating or precise dosing.
What to consider when choosing one
- Flow rate and pressure: nozzles are rated at a specific pressure, and flow changes with pressure.
- Droplet size: fine droplets give better coverage but drift more, while coarse droplets resist drift but cover less.
- Spray angle and distance: these determine coverage width at the working height.
- Material: brass is cheap, stainless steel resists wear and chemicals, plastic suits fertilizers and light chemicals, and ceramic or carbide lasts longest with abrasives.
- Liquid properties: viscosity, corrosiveness, and any solids that could clog it.
Typical uses
Garden hoses, pressure washers, agricultural sprayers, spray painting, industrial cleaning, fire suppression, cooling towers, and food processing
Spray nozzles are typically used on vibrating screens, such as those in aggregate, sand, coal, and mineral processing.
What they do
Spray bars sit above the screen deck and wash fines and clay through the apertures, rinse oversize material clean, and keep the mesh from blinding. They’re also used to help dewater or classify material.
Common nozzle choices
- Flat fan: the most common choice. Several nozzles on a header pipe create overlapping curtains of water across the deck width. Spray angles of 40° to 80° are typical.
- Full cone: gentler, more even coverage when you want rinsing without much impact.
- Deflector or rinse nozzles: a wide, low-impact sheet for delicate material or fine rinsing.
Key setup points
- Pressure: usually around 2 to 4 bar (30 to 60 psi) for general washing. Higher pressure helps with sticky clay but wears nozzles faster and can push fines into the mesh.
- Spacing and overlap: space nozzles so adjacent patterns overlap slightly at the material surface. Tilting each fan 5° to 15° off the header axis stops neighboring sprays from colliding and disrupting each other.
- Height: commonly 300 to 500 mm above the material bed. Too close gives narrow, harsh patterns, and too far loses impact.
- Placement: put spray bars where the material is spread out and stratified, often a third to halfway along the deck, with additional bars further down for final rinsing.
- Orifice size: pick one big enough to resist clogging, especially if you use recycled or process water.
Materials and wear
- Stainless steel: a good general choice for durability and corrosion resistance.
- Hardened steel or ceramic-insert nozzles: best for gritty recycled water.
- Polypropylene or polyurethane: cheap and corrosion-proof but wears faster in abrasive water.
Reliability tips
- Put a strainer or filter upstream, since most blockages come from debris in the water.
- Use quick-change or clamp-on fittings so you can swap nozzles without shutting down for long.
- When possible, mount spray bars on the stationary frame or gantry rather than the vibrating body to reduce fatigue and loosening.
- Check patterns regularly. A worn nozzle widens its orifice, so flow rises while impact drops.
