WO1999008506A1

WO1999008506A1 - A mobile irrigation unit

Info

Publication number: WO1999008506A1
Application number: PCT/GB1998/002445
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ernest Joscelyn Clerk
Original assignee: Whalley, Kevin
Priority date: 1997-08-14
Filing date: 1998-08-14
Publication date: 1999-02-25
Also published as: AU8741998A; GB9717291D0; GB2328134A

Abstract

An irrigation unit (1) is mounted for movement along a gutter (5) for carrying water (21), and comprises a spray assembly (19), a means (20, 23) for collecting water from said gutter, and a means (13) for pumping water, the edges (4) of said gutter acting as rails along which said irrigation unit can move; and said irrigation unit further includes a motor (12) which is capable of powering said irrigation unit and pumping the water.

Description

A Mobile Irrigation Unit

This invention relates to means for irrigating large areas of land with controlled volumes of water, the water being delivered by an irrigation unit moving along a gutter.

Conventionally, large areas of land are irrigated by irrigation canals which flood the land to be irrigated. Also, irrigation units mounted on wheels have been designed to move in a radial direction so as to irrigate a circular area of land. The disadvantage of these methods is that it is difficult to reach all the areas of the land to be irrigated and to control the amount of water being delivered to the land.

According to the invention, there is provided an irrigation unit mounted for movement along a gutter for carrying water and comprising a spray assembly, means for collecting water from said gutter, and means for pumping water, the edges of said gutter acting as rails along which said irrigation unit can move, said irrigation unit further including a motor, said motor being capable of powering said irrigation unit and pumping the water.

The unit according to the invention allows irrigation of large areas of land with controlled volumes of water, the water being delivered by the moving irrigation unit and giving substantially the same coverage of water for all areas being irrigated. The water flows in gutters instead of irrigation canals from where it is collected by the irrigation unit, travelling on top of the gutter, and is piped to a spray assembly, under pressure, to spray the area being irrigated. Preferably, the gutter is provided with a sump from which water is collected by an intake section of the spray assembly.

Preferably, the spray assembly comprises two nozzles, one capable of delivering water to areas close to the unit, the other capable of delivering water to areas remote from the unit.

According to one embodiment, the irrigation unit comprises a carriage, preferably in the form of a frame, with wheels which travel above the gutter using the edges of the gutter as rails. Preferably, the unit is provided with flanged wheels. Within the frame is set an engine or motor, to supply power, and a water pump. On top of the frame is a spray assembly connected to the water pump. The engine or motor drives at least one of the wheels to move the irrigation unit along the gutter and the engine or motor may also supply power to the water pump. The pump has a means for transporting water from the gutter to the spray assembly, wherein this means extends below the frame into the water flowing in the gutter. The pump draws the water into the transporting means and pumps the water at high pressure into the spray assembly.

As the irrigation unit moves along the top of the gutter, an area is irrigated whose width is defined by the furthest trajectory of the streams of water issuing from the spray assembly.

If large areas of land are to be irrigated, this could be done by irrigating a series of adjoining areas of land which would be irrigated by individual irrigation units and gutters.

Preferably, the rate at which the irrigation unit moves is proportional to the rate at which the water is pumped. As the irrigation unit will need to travel at a particular speed to deliver a specified volume of water to irrigate the land, various gear ratios may be required between motor and driven wheels. The irrigation gutter may comprise lengths of guttering joined together. Alternatively, the gutter may be a single strip of guttering. The gutter could be set on a frame or a trench could be dug and the gutter set in the trench with the rim or edges of the gutter above the ground level. Preferably, the rims of the gutter are curled.

A particularly preferred embodiment will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view of an irrigation unit. Figure 2 is a front view of the irrigation unit in Figure 1.

Figure 1 is a side view of the irrigation unit 1 with two of the four wheels 2, 3 (the other two wheels are not shown) resting on the rims 4 of the gutter 5, the wheels 2, 3 are provided with flanges 6. Two of the wheels 2 are attached to a driven axle 7, the other two wheels 3 are freewheeling. The frame 8 has a floor 9 and the four perpendicular uprights 10 are extended beyond the floor 9 to locate the axles 7, 11 on which the wheels 2, 3 are set. On the floor 9 is an engine 12 and a water pump 13. One of the axles 7 is provided with a pulley 14 and the water pump 13 also has a pulley 15. The engine 12 drives both the water pump 13 and the axle 7 by means of a double pulley 16 attached to the engine shaft 17. All the pulleys 14, 15, 16 are of a size so as to provide the gearing for the operation of the correct speed of the unit along the gutter 5 and also to provide the right pressure of water 21 to be delivered to the spray assembly 19.

A pipe 20 extends from the pump 13 downwards into the water 21 in the gutter 5. The gutter 5 has an extended section, or sump, 22 at the bottom which is narrower than the gutter 5, and in this section the pipe intake 23 collects the water 21 for the pump 13. The intake 23 is of a shape which conforms to the shape of the sump 22. The pump 13 collects the water 21 from the gutter 5 and transmits the water 21 to the spray assembly 19 under pressure. The spray assembly has two nozzles 24, 25, one delivering the water to the outer areas being irrigated and the other delivering water to the closer areas. The nozzles 24, 25 rotate under pressure from the water 21. The driven axle 7 rotates in bearings 26 fixed on the extended portion of upright 10.

Figure 2 is a front view of the irrigation unit 1 shown in Figure 1 showing in cross section the gutter 5. The upper portion of the gutter 5 is curved, and has a lower sump 22 in which the intake section 23 of the collection pipe travels, the level of the water 21 in the gutter is above the lower sump 22 of the gutter 5. The rims 4 of the gutter are curled to provide a surface area on which the wheels 3 (2 not shown) can rotate. The curled rims 4 also provide rigidity for the guttering.

If water from a rotating spray assembly can cover a circular area of land with a diameter of 22.35m (i.e. 70.25 m ) at a rate of 10cm of water an hour then an irrigation unit comprising a rotating spray assembly which moves forward at a rate of 1.6km an hour, can irrigate an area eight times larger (i.e. 562.5m2). Also, in order to cover the land with 2.5cm of water the irrigation unit would have to travel at 0.8km per hour.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. An irrigation unit mounted for movement along a gutter for carrying water and comprising a spray assembly, means for collecting water from said gutter, and means for pumping water, the edges of said gutter acting as rails along which said irrigation unit can move, said irrigation unit further including a motor, said motor being capable of powering said irrigation unit and pumping the water.

2. An irrigation unit according to claim 1, wherein the spray assembly comprises two nozzles, one capable of delivering water to areas close to the unit, the other capable of delivering water to areas remote from the unit.

3. An irrigation unit according to claim 1, wherein said unit comprises a carriage with wheels which travel above the gutter using the edges of the gutter as rails.

4. An irrigation unit according to claim 3, wherein the wheels are flanged wheels.

5. An irrigation unit according to claim 1, wherein the rate at which the irrigation unit moves is proportional to the rate at which the water is pumped.

6. An irrigation unit according to claim 1, wherein the gutter is provided with a sump from which water is collected by an intake section of the spray assembly.

7. An irrigation unit according to claim 1, wherein the rims of said gutter are curled.

8. A kit comprising the irrigation unit according to claim 1 and lengths of guttering.