Development of a target oriented smart irrigation system with a single nozzle

In today's world, increasing importance of water results in finding alternative new ways to save more water. In general, the studies are focused on area irrigation and some alternative solutions are applied for only spot irrigation. This study was achieved in the department of mechatronics and was carried out to develop a smart irrigation system with single nozzle that can be used to irrigate the predetermined spots in specified time with certain amount of water as applied in horticultural production systems or landscape areas. Within the scope of this study, a smart system was developed which can be adjusted for x, y axis movements. Also, valve positions were adjusted with the help of gears. For that, three different stepper motors were used for the movements to desired points in a certain amount of time. In these experiments which were done by placing containers around the developed irrigation system, the ratio of the total amount of water collected in containers to the amount of theoretical water to be collected was determined and the success rate was found to be 95.3% at a minimum and 96.8% at a maximum rate. Since, developed smart system irrigates only the designated points, reduced water consumption with more efficient usage can be achieved.