Design and Development of Sprinkler Head for a Pivot Style Farming Irrigation System

Cascade Manufacturing位于马尼托巴麦格雷戈北部的田野里，是一家农业灌溉产品制造商，拥有强大的农业背景。Cascade Manufacturing和Cascade Colony Farms是业务合作伙伴，共同投资包括一个4500英亩的农场，拥有8个中心枢纽灌溉系统。两家公司总共雇用了10名员工来经营其农业和制造业业务。 Cascade Manufacturing用于灌溉作物的市售枢轴式农业灌溉系统具有可更换的喷头。虽然这些具有可调节的流量，但它需要手动更换组件。需要保持停止系统以根据需要调节流量，然而，只能进行有限的增量调节。 红河学院（RRC）的航空航天和制造技术访问中心（TACAM）正在与Cascade Manufacturing合作，后者现在已经开发了一种喷头的概念。这将取代现有的一个，并且使用控制面板在真实的时间中远程地提供流量的可调节性的显著增加。TACAM将与Cascade合作，将其从概念设计扩展到喷头的详细设计。新设计将有一个可调节的自动化机制，控制水流，以实现更有针对性的灌溉计划。 此外，喷头将有一个上游流量计，将检测是否有堵塞，表明一个地区没有得到尽可能多的水作为休息。可调节的喷头将完全打开，以帮助清除堵塞物。详细设计完成后，项目将进入原型开发阶段。还将进行测试和确认。 这种设计将减少由于需要不断更换喷头组件而导致的计划外停机时间。如果该项目成功实施，Cascade Manufacturing将有信心将上级灌溉系统产品引入市场。这将推动对装配工人、分销商和种植者的新需求，从而在该地区创造就业机会，并为季节性员工提供就业机会。此外，加拿大西部灌溉作物密度很高，主要是马尼托巴、萨斯喀彻温和阿尔伯塔。美国在中西部和西部地区的高密度作物灌溉方面有更大的机会。 这些州包括内布拉斯加州、堪萨斯州、得克萨斯州、爱达荷州、华盛顿和加州。这6个州的总灌溉面积超过3200万，采用中心枢纽灌溉。这将很容易为新的自动喷水灭火系统提供一个巨大的市场。

Cascade Manufacturing, located in the field, north of MacGregor, Manitoba, is an agricultural irrigation products manufacturer with a strong background in farming. Cascade Manufacturing and Cascade Colony Farms are business partners with shared investments that include a 4500-acre farm, with 8 center-pivot irrigation systems. Together both employ 10 employees to run its farming and manufacturing business. The commercially available pivot style farming irrigation systems that Cascade Manufacturing uses to water their crops have replaceable sprinkler heads. Although these have an adjustable flow, it requires manually changing out a component. There is a need to keep stopping the system for the flow to be regulated as required, however, only limited incremental adjustments can be made. The Technology Access Centre for Aerospace and Manufacturing (TACAM) at Red River College (RRC) is collaborating with Cascade Manufacturing, who have now developed a concept for a sprinkler head. This would replace the existing one and provide a significant increase in the adjustability of the flow remotely in real time using a control panel. TACAM will work with Cascade to take this beyond a conceptual design to developing a detailed design of the sprinkler head. The new design will have an adjustable and automated mechanism that controls the flow of the water to allow a more targeting irrigation plan. Additionally, the sprinklers will have an upstream flow meter that will detect if there is a clog, indicating that one area is not getting as much water as the rest. The adjustable sprinkler will open fully to help clear the clog. After the detail design is completed, the project will proceed unto prototype development phase. Testing and validation will also be performed. This design will reduce the unscheduled downtime due to the need to keep changing a sprinkler component. If this project is successfully implemented, Cascade Manufacturing will be confidently positioned to introduce a superior pivot-style irrigation system product into the market. This is going to drive new demands for assembly workers, distributors and growers, thereby creating job opportunities in the area and providing employment for otherwise seasonal employees. In addition, there is a high density of irrigated crops in western Canada mainly Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The USA has even bigger opportunities with high density crop irrigation in the Midwest and western United States. Those states include Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Idaho, Washington and California. The combined irrigated acreage in those 6 states is over 32 million with center-pivot irrigation. This should readily provide a large market for the new sprinkler system.