Automate Flood Irrigation
Why Farmers and Irrigators Need AutoFlood™ NOW
Farmers and irrigators face huge challenges related to the cost of labor, especially in states like California where new labor laws have increased the cost of labor 50% and more. At the same time, in some areas there are incentives to save precious water.
The revolutionary patented* AutoFlood almost eliminates labor costs and saves water at the same time.
Call Jack at (541) 472-8095 to talk about how AutoFlood can work for your situation or click to fill out our contact form.
*U.S. Pat. No. 10,039,242
How AutoFlood Works
AutoFlood retrofits to manually-operated delivery gates. The AutoFlood system senses when water enters an on-farm canal, wakes the system up, controls all the field gates, Pipe and Check-gates, and detects water as it moves down field so AutoFlood can optimize water conservation by virtually eliminating spill into drainage canals.
After AutoFlood irrigates a section of the field, it repeats the irrigation cycle automatically across the field until everything is properly watered. Irrigators can easily monitor and control AutoFlood via cellphone or pc.
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Unattended AutoFlood Operations
Detects water flow into on-farm canal and wakes up AutoFlow Opens and closes pipe (delivery) gates in user defined sequence:
- Detects flow down-field to calculate time to complete flooding
- Goes to sleep when irrigation is done and waits for water to re-renter canal.
Before
After
System Components
Gate Retrofit Assembly
The AutoFlood retrofit slips right into a standard "pipe" delivery frame once the old blade is removed. The new AutoFlood blade with its attached "A"-frame actuator platform assembly is ready to automate flood irrigation as soon as the frame is bolted to the canal and a battery is installed in the WT-50 enclosure. It will be able to "talk" to its Controller, open fully or partially as needed by the system, and collect and report its station data.
Water Present Sensor
Sensors are deployed down-field from the canal at a user-defined location. They detect irrigation flow as it goes down the field and transmits that data to the hub. The hub then calculates the unique transit time from the canal to the water-present sensor for that specific watering. The unique transit time is converted into a finish time to complete watering from the sensor to the drainage ditch.
Field Controller (Hub)
The hub is the brain of the on-farm AutoFlood system. It manages communication to all gates and sensors, while controlling gate position, Check gate position, and on-farm canal level, collects and transmits data to the internet including battery voltage, and station data. It performs calculations for water flow transit times, and much more. The hub also generates system alarms that are communicated to end users via cell-modem, text or email, or can also be picked up locally through the 900 MHz radio network. Irrigators will define their irrigation sequence preferences and generally customize how AutoFlood will work for them by changing AutoFlood setpoints in the Controller.
Automated Check Gates for On-Farm Canals
Check-gates are used in on-farm canals to manage proper water level (head) at pipe gates. Typically, Check-gates divide an on-farm canal into sections and are closed and opened as irrigation operations move downstream along the canal to assure sufficient head at the most upstream pipe openings of each segment. AutoFlood also can use the Checks to manage canal level against system intolerable extremes of water level.
