Author(s)

Young J. Han¹, Ahmad Khalilian^2*, Jose Payero², Nicholas Rogers¹

¹Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
²Edisto Research and Education Center, Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Clemson University, Blackville, SC, USA.

Center pivot irrigation systems usually apply a relatively uniform amount of water to fields that are often inherently variable, which could lead to significant waste of water and energy. To address this issue, our team is now developing an Intelligent Center Pivot (ICP) by integrating sensor-based irrigation scheduling with variable rate irrigation technology. However, before this technology can be applied in commercial production, it is necessary to educate growers about its practicality and potential benefits. The objective of this study was to develop a portable tabletop intelligent center pivot model (ICPDemo) to demonstrate and promote adoption of the ICP technology. This paper describes an ICPDemo constructed in 2014, including the design specifications, electro-mechanical design, control strategy, and performance. The ICPDemo has performed according to design specifications and is successfully being used to demonstrate the benefits and effectiveness of ICP technology for irrigation scheduling.

Irrigation, Center Pivot Irrigation, Electro-Mechanical Model, Sensors, Control, Variable Rate Irrigation

Han, Y. , Khalilian, A. , Payero, J. and Rogers, N. (2016) Development of a Portable Electro-Mechanical Educational Model for Variable Rate Center Pivot Irrigation Technology. Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 8, 449-458. doi: 10.4236/jwarp.2016.84038.