• time;2025-07-08 14:32:41

Photovoltaic intelligent sprinkler irrigation machine demonstrated at Yanglingliangke Smart Agriculture Demonstration Base (data photo)

On June 25th, at the Yanglingliang Science and Technology Smart Agriculture Demonstration Base, a photovoltaic intelligent sprinkler is accurately spraying water, delivering "timely rain" to crops. This innovative achievement, developed by Professor Zhu Delan's team at Northwest A&F University, has become a "technological tool" for efficient management of summer crops.

The sustained high temperature in summer accelerates the water transpiration of crops, resulting in a significant increase in water demand compared to other seasons. The traditional flood irrigation method not only wastes water resources, but may also lead to uneven irrigation, affecting crop growth. The emergence of photovoltaic intelligent sprinkler irrigation machines has solved these pain points. The top solar panel converts strong summer light into clean electricity, the bottom navigation wheel can autonomously shuttle along the channel, and the dual nozzles can form a water curtain radius of 30 to 50 meters, like weaving an "irrigation network" for farmland. Traditional flood irrigation can easily create irrigation blind spots in complex plots. Our equipment can automatically adjust according to the terrain, with a water-saving rate of over 40%, "said team member Zhang Guiyuan.

This device integrates multiple innovative technologies and becomes a powerful assistant for summer crop management. Its photovoltaic drive solves the problem of power shortage in arid areas; Mechanical navigation technology has broken through terrain limitations, allowing for flexible adjustment of spraying angles and paths even when facing complex terrain such as hills and terraced fields; The modular design enables it to operate independently and combine to cover contiguous farmland.

Zhu Delan introduced that the team is promoting the upgrade of AI technology and plans to replace open channel water supply with buried pipelines, achieving seamless connection between zero occupation of farmland and intelligent regulation, and promoting irrigation technology towards the 4.0 era.

In summer crop management, the water-saving advantage of photovoltaic intelligent sprinkler irrigation is particularly significant. At the demonstration base, technicians calculated a water-saving account: compared to traditional flood irrigation methods, using this equipment to manage 1000 acres of farmland can save 80000 cubic meters of water resources per year, equivalent to the storage capacity of 160 standard swimming pools.

In the center of the demonstration base, seven types of water-saving irrigation equipment form a "technology matrix", visually demonstrating the technological iteration of summer crop management. Zhu Delan stated that in the next step, the team will build an intelligent irrigation cloud platform that integrates meteorological monitoring, soil moisture, and crop growth data to tailor irrigation plans for summer crops.

Source: Shaanxi Daily

Editor: Guo Yuexia Editor: Xia Yunge Reviewed by: Zhao Feng