Application example: Tension irrigation system
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The aim was to find a method that would enable plants to achieve consistently optimal assimilation through a precisely regulated water supply. The only equipment available on the market regulated water supply by delivering a defined volume of water per unit of time, often depending on soil moisture values measured in the plant substrate.
Development of a device for the continuous supply of water to plants at a fixed water tension. The process should be able to supply a plant with exactly the amount of water that is currently being removed by evapotranspiration at any given time. In this way, soil moisture conditions should remain constant even when water consumption varies greatly.
The invention was developed as part of a joint project between the Technical University of Central Hesse (THM) and ecoTech GmbH and is protected by patent (EP 3 348 138 A1).
| Pressure step module |
| 12 Columns with sintered glass plates |
| Mechanical Vacuum Controler |
| Water storage tank with integrated pressure measurement |
| Compensation vessel |
| Vacuum storage vessel |
Technical University of Central Hesse
Department of Life Science Engineering
Microbiology, Molecular Biology and Immunology
Prof. Dr. Stephanie Gokorsch
35390 Giessen
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Harald Weigand
Technical University of Central Hesse
harald.weigand@lse.thm.de
Project partner:
Dr. rer. hort. Thorsten Kraska
University of Bonn
Institute for Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES)
Klein-Altendorf Campus
Official partner of ecoTech GmbH
We are delighted that our equipment has been in use at the University of Bonn since 2018. Here, the equipment is used to test and develop new sustainable plant substrates for greenhouse operations.
Outstanding features:
Since measurements of soil moisture in plant substrates are both error-prone and time-consuming, substrate moisture measurement should be avoided. At the same time, it was necessary to take into account the fact that the pressure conditions prevailing in a water source have an influence on the rate of water replenishment, so that varying pressure in the water source leads to undesirable changes in substrate moisture.
By counteracting the negative pressure in the storage vessel, i.e. by increasing the absolute pressure inside it, the overall tension is kept constant. This state corresponds, so to speak, to an equilibrium between the soil-plant-atmosphere system and a groundwater surface that does not drop despite the release of water into the atmosphere.