Developing a monitoring and control system for irrigation pumping units

Abstract

Production of a product with lower expenses is a situation that every farmer wants to be in and monitoring is an important tool used to provide understanding and a record of performance of a process. This project provides a way to monitor and log information about the performance of an irrigation pumping unit over an extended period of time, thereby allowing the farmer to use this data to make informed decisions on maintenance and overall efficiency of a pumping unit. The system consists of two main elements: a user configurable data logging station and a second element that controls the interaction between the user and the first element. Furthermore, each of these elements has an extended set of features as follows: The data logging element is able to log data from a set of separate sensors with outputs ranging from a 0-5V analogue voltage through to a pulsed signal output. It also is able to communicate with a PC so that the information that is logged can be downloaded to a comma-separated-variable file for further analysis in a standard spread sheeting package such as Microsoft Excel. The interfacing element is made up of a numerical key pad for input of information into the system and a two by sixteen character liquid crystal display that presents the user with current readings from the sensors. There is a system of software procedures that allows these two components be independent and still communicate with each other thus allowing the input and display element to be in a separate location to that of the sensors and the data logging element. Currently, the system is able to read inputs from four separate sensors and store data for over two months, however, these limits are both easily upgradeable to eight or more sensor inputs and enough memory to last for over twelve months of data.