Energy-saving irrigation management

• Main Authors: Andreev Sergey, Zaginaylov Vladimir, Matveev Andris
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: EDP Sciences 2018-01-01
• Series: MATEC Web of Conferences
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201824506014

A significant part of the water resources used in agricultural production comes for irrigation. Due to the strong dependence of soil moisture on weather factors, the irrigation process must be carefully managed. To date, irrigation management is mainly carried out either as a function of soil moisture or according to a predetermined program. The article shows that both methods of management are imperfect since they can lead to a violation of agrotechnical requirements and waste of water. In order to improve the quality of irrigation and eliminate overspending of water resources, it was proposed to manage the water in a combined way. In this case, the formation of the control action occurs according to the results of the comparison of the controlled variable and disturbing influences with the reference values. The controlled value is the soil moisture, and as disturbing influences are considered the temperature and humidity of the air, atmospheric pressure, wind speed, precipitation. In addition, the proposed irrigation management method takes into account the forecast of the synoptic services on precipitation, their intensity and duration. To obtain information on the controlled value, as well as on disturbing influences, appropriate measuring devices are used, and information on the prediction of precipitation is delivered from a specialized server via the Internet. Before starting to use the control method, the agrotechnical requirements, the type, age and vegetation period of the plants are determined and set. The inclusion of irrigation equipment is carried out in accordance with the program and shut down - depending on the magnitude of the control signal.