In a full cone spray the droplets are distributed into a volume which is limited by a cone, having its origin point at the nozzle orifice. Such spray pattern is commonly used in a large variety of industrial processes, since it is the one which allows to distribute in an even way the water flow onto a surface: the full cone spray pattern is therefore useful, as a typical example, to evenly spray cooling liquid on a still surface. Another typical use is to distribute liquid droplets within a certain volume, like for example evenly distributing water droplets in the inside volume of a cooling tower.
Because of the wide number of processes performed by means of full cone nozzles the original shape has evolved into a range of specialized types, where the full cone spray pattern, or a pattern similar to a full cone one, is obtained by different techniques.