DESIGN AND TESTING OF DEVICE FOR MEASURING THE LONGITUDINAL UNIFORMITY OF REEL HOSE IRRIGATION MACHINE

Abstract

During the cultivation of crops, irrigation is included in necessary working operations like tillage, fertilization and sowing. For irrigation, we require the highest quality of work. Therefore, in this contribution, we focused on monitoring the quality of work of a hose reel irrigation machine. For determining the longitudinal uniformity of winding a hose on a reel, the development of a digital device was necessary. During the development, we had to design its two basic parts – the hardware and software. After construction of the device, its function was tested directly in working conditions of the particular reel hose irrigation machine. The results of our developed device were compared with the results of the Ecostar 4000 (Bauer, Austria) microcomputer, both with the same hose winding speed. On the microcomputer, we set the hose winding speed to +2.1 m*h-1. The average measured value of speed using the first device Speedmeter SM1 (2000, KSVS) was 11.7 m*h-1. The difference between the set and measured speed was 0.4 m*h-1 (absolute error of measurement, the relative error of measurement was 3.42 %). In the second case, the measurement was performed using a more modern device – Speedmeter SM2, which allows saving of results into its internal memory (2012, KSVS). The average measured value of winding speed was 12.26 m*h-1, which represents the relative error of measurement 2.77 % compared to the set value of 12.6 m*h-1. Based on the results obtained, we recommend the maintenance of the irrigation machine.

Keywords

• hose reel irrigation machine
• coefficient of uniformity
• quality of work