Collaborative project: High speed system for cost effective and flexible production of drip irrigation pipes from polymer materials (HOKOFLEX) – Subproject 4 | FISA - Forschungsinformationssystem Agrar und Ernährung

Collaborative project: High speed system for cost effective and flexible production of drip irrigation pipes from polymer materials (HOKOFLEX) – Subproject 4

Project

Project code: 2815503111
Contract period: 01.02.2013 - 31.01.2015
Budget: 189,806 Euro
Purpose of research: Applied research

The use of water saving drip irrigation is hindered by high investment costs of the pipe systems. A cost reduction by 50 – 75 % is possible, if the productivity of the production machine can be doubled and both the costs of the machine and use of pipe and dripper material can be reduced. The throughput is limited by presently used laser technology to open the irrigation holes in the pipes. The approach is to extrude thin walled pipes at high speed. Simultaneously new flat drippers are injected into the soft pipe, welded with the pipe wall and opened. To achieve this, the University of Erlangen has to find materials which allow both extrusion at the very high speed as well as welding in a short contact time. By a new dripper design blocking of water flow in the channels is to be hindered. The drippers will be designed by Maintools and produced by Maincor with tools from Maintools Formenbau. The suitability for application will be demonstrated by irrigation experiments in the laboratory, in a greenhouse and in an experiment in the field. Basic experiments are planned to show the use of biodegradable materials. A demonstrator with first samples is planned in 04/2013, a prototype in 07/2014.

show more show less

Section overview