Reducing Energy Requirements for Sprinkler Systems

Kincaid, Dennis C. (1982) Reducing Energy Requirements for Sprinkler Systems. pp. 263-271. In: Proc. Irrig. Assoc. Techn. Conf. 1982/02.

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Abstract

According to the 1980 Irrigation Journal Survey, sprinkler irrigation is
practiced on approximately 4.1 million acres in Washington, Idaho and Oregon.
Of that total, approximately 75 percent is irrigated by hand move, side roll
and solid set systems. Much of this land is on rolling hills with fairly
shallow soils and is unsuitable for surface irrigation. The soils are mostly
medium- to low-intake rate soils which are less than optimum for center pivot
application. For these reasons, farmers in the Pacific Northwest will continue
using stationary lateral systems despite rising energy costs. Power
rates in Idaho are expected to increase approximately 15 percent per year.
High levels of application uniformity are easily obtainable with center
pivot systems. However, stationary system uniformities are generally lower
and may be reduced to unacceptable levels as farmers attempt to reduce power
costs by lowering system pressure. The objective of this study was to determine
whether pressure could be reduced on existing systems without making
major changes in sprinkler spacing.
Two types of outdoor grid tests were conducted to measure uniformity. The
first type was standard single sprinkler patterns (SSP) as described in
ASAE S-330. The second type was lateral sprinkler patterns as described by
Hart and Heermann (1976). The lateral tests will be described first.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
NWISRL Publication Number:	0486
Subjects:	Irrigation > Sprinkler irrigation Mass Import - autoclassified (may be erroneous)
Depositing User:	Dan Stieneke
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2010 21:57
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2017 18:33
Item ID:	1027
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/1027