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In the pressure-swirl atomizer a swirling motion is imparted to the fuel, leading it under the action of the centrifugal force, to spread out in the form of a hollow cone as soon as it leaves the exit orifice. This kind of atomizer finds its use in gas turbines and liquid propellant rockets. The need to minimize the combustor length usually leads to a spray angle of around 90o. The present work suggests a procedure for designing a pressure-swirl atomizer. The droplets Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD) and the spray cone angle are evaluated and made to fit the calculated atomizer dimensions. The SMD is estimated through the use of a model originally developed for fan-spray atomizers and extended for pressure-swirl atomizers. A pressure-swirl atomizer was manufactured following this design procedure. The discharge coefficient, the spray cone angle and the Sauter Mean Diameter were evaluated experimentally and compared with the theory used to design the atomizer. The spray Sauter Mean Diameter was measured with a laser scattering system.