BERMAD Irrigation Blog

Irrigation modernization is imperative for optimizing agricultural productivity, especially in regions facing water scarcity and burgeoning demand. The Santa Cruz de Alcolea Irrigation Consortium embarked on a comprehensive modernization initiative in 2016, forming the UTE Alcolea to spearhead this transformation.

Mechanized irrigation was developed during the 1940s to include center pivot, lateral move, and linear move irrigation machines in cultivated fields using minimum labor and infrastructures. These machines must often move over diverse terrain, including sloped areas and muddy fields. They represent relatively large irrigation units from the hydraulic and irrigation perspectives.

• Optimizing resources has become vital for growers to optimize their resources to improve productivity and ultimately increase profits, while keeping track of resource availability, analyzing processes and monitoring amounts and costs.

BERMAD IR-172 Flow Control and Pressure Reducing Valve has already proven to be an effective and reliable solution. Moreover, it is an essential component for pressure and flow control installed in the Bermad Outlet Management System (or OMS), which is an irrigation control head installed across many projects in India supplying irrigation water for farmers' associations.

Large agricultural water delivery projects require advanced area parcellation and management in order to provide a stable supply of irrigation water to thousands of farmers. In BERMAD’s approach, the entire area (command area) is divided into different zones and sub-zones, each managed by the OMS (Outlet Management Systems). Each OMS is equipped with 4-12 valves, a water meter and pressure sensors, all controlled by one Omega irrigation controller which communicates with the cloud through cellular or RF communication. As a result, each sub-zone is consecutively irrigated in shifts, according to the planned irrigation schedule. The entire command area is managed and controlled by BERMAD’s cloud application which is connected to all Omega controllers in the field.

As energy costs and global food shortages continue to rise, water associations are focusing on irrigation infrastructure projects that can cost-effectively and efficiently deliver irrigation water. Irrigation water supply projects can broadly be divided into three key areas:

Water scarcity drives the need for efficient water use

As a global agricultural powerhouse, irrigation is critical to India’s agricultural growth. Climate change, insufficient rain, and increased consumption due to rapidly developing urban populations and industrial areas have led to water scarcity. During the last decades, the irrigated land area in India has expanded extensively. Traditionally, irrigation in India was mainly carried out by gravity and surface irrigation (flood irrigation) through open canal networks. However, canal irrigation systems are inefficient and lead to poor utilization of irrigation potential.

OMEGA irrigation controller series together with BERMAD Cloud, Web App and Smartphone App offers an advanced cloud-based control solution for your irrigation and 24/7 connectivity with your installation over the internet. Omega is a standalone battery-operated controller that offers a user-friendly and cost-effective solution for irrigation systems, water distribution, data acquisition and pre-paid systems (districts & consortiums).

Irrigating with the lowest possible pressure is becoming more common due to the cost increase of energy & pipes as well as upgrading irrigation systems from flood to pressurized irrigation. In the upcoming webinar, we will share some of BERMAD's solutions for low pressure applications and for optimizing irrigation system pressure helping to reduce projects cost, minimizing water losses and allowing uniform irrigation

As the agriculture industry continues to undergo a digital transformation, BERMAD continuously strives to provide new ways to deliver data quickly and easily. In other words, Smart Metering. Mag meters provide data on flow indications, totalizers, line pressure & temperature, logs and much more. In this webinar, we will talk about the benefits of using mag meters in collecting accurate data and making it available anywhere, anytime.

OMEGA irrigation controller series together with BERMAD Cloud Web access and smartphone app offers an advanced cloud-based control solution for your irrigation and 24/7 connectivity with your installation over the internet. Omega is a standalone battery-operated controller that offers a user-friendly and cost-effective solution for irrigation systems, water distribution, data acquisition and pre-paid systems
(districts & consortiums).

Big Irrigation nets, delivering pressurized water in controlled conditions to many farmers (sometimes along thousands of hectares) are probably the most cost-efficient, environmentally oriented solution in the very demanding scenario of the globally growing demand of agriculture production. BERMAD has long-term experience in designing, producing, and implementing control solutions for such infrastructures, largely proven in hundreds of Irrigation Consortiums in Southern Europe.

With rapidly growing demand for infield pressure control solutions, irrigation system designers must find solutions to prevent fluctuations during pressure regulation and increase reaction speeds in order to provide more economical and reliable irrigation solutions. Based on BERMAD's best-selling 100 and 200 series valves, we're now able to deliver two advanced solutions: BERMAD's Double Chamber 100 Series, which offers faster closing speed for better pressure regulation when upstream pressure changes and Top Pilot valves, available in both 100 and 200 series, which deliver optimal performance in the most challenging irrigation environments.

BERMAD invites you to watch our webinar series which takes a comprehensive look at the key issues facing irrigation today. Six webinars covering irrigation design; control problems & solutions along the irrigation field; air valves, water meters & irrigation control valves; irrigation in greenhouses; review of case studies and answers to questions from the field.

Adapting irrigation infrastructure to changing needs in the world of agriculture

Today, as the world of agriculture is undergoing rapid modernization and everyone is talking about agrotechnology, there are still areas where it is necessary to close a gap of hundreds of years in irrigation infrastructure.

The Olmos project in Peru, is a mega project diverting water from the Huancabamba river. The project was a joint venture between the Netafim drip irrigation company which designed and executed the project, Valmont Industries, which supplied the center-pivot irrigation systems, and BERMAD which designed and supplied unique automatic hydraulic solutions for this project.

Climate change is already causing continued drought in Morocco. That’s why the country has allocated around 80% of its water resources to combat desertification, a major problem in a country where a significant portion of GDP comes from agriculture. The government’s ‘Green Morocco’ project is focused on undergoing irrigation modernization in large agricultural areas — mainly a transition from sprinklers to drip irrigation.

Pressure and flow value optimization are an integral part of irrigation system design. With constant and often dramatic fluctuations in demand flow and supply pressure, valves and other components need to ensure dynamic pressure and flow control across the entire system.

We’d like to introduce you to our new 3-way and 2-way integrated Top Pilot Series, which is ideal for computerized irrigation plot valves in drip and sprinkler irrigation systems.

Hydraulic flow control can be used to increase the efficiency of irrigation systems, optimize water usage, and balance and protect hydraulic systems.

Mechanized irrigation systems such as Center Pivots and Linears are used to irrigate large cultivated fields.

In a recent BERMAD webinar, “Pressure Sustaining, Circulation and Relief in Irrigation Systems”, our Application Engineer Sarit Hatzbany took a closer look at pressure sustaining principles of operation and the key differences between relief, circulation and inline sustaining valves.

In a recent BERMAD webinar, “The Optimal Approach to Irrigation Design” our Global Irrigation Unit Manager, Yiftah Enav presented BERMAD's Design Approach when facing the multiple considerations in project design.

Yiftah chose to start our Webinar Series by presenting basic terminology combined with theoretical rules-of-thumb referring to achieving optimal irrigation uniformity.

How to Eliminate Pressure Surges?

There are two common methods for surge suppression:

When we need to limit the flow using hydraulic methods (as opposed to electronic methods), the flow is not continuously measured & sampled (only during setting). Therefore, pilots are designed to hydraulically sense the differential of pressure or force/velocity associated with the varying flow.

Recently, one of our customers asked how is it possible for two pilots to operate on the same hydraulic control valve without interfering with each other's operation. In this short blog, we will describe how hydraulic flow control valves with two pilots operate.

Water hammer due to valve closing is unfortunately a common risk as valve closing dramatically reduces flow – "blocking" the water path. In this short blog, we look at the problem and recommended solutions.

Problem:

Water hammer caused by valve slamming at closing.

• Valve: IR-2"-100 series, commanded by external pressure (no specific application is detailed)
• Working pressure: 50 meters / 73 psi
• Command pressure: Not specified
• Flow: 4 l/s (14.4 m3/h) / 63.4 gpm
• Flow velocity: 2m/s / 6.5 f/s 

What are Flow Control Valves?

Flow control valves are designed to maintain a constant pre-set maximum flow regardless of fluctuating demand or varying system pressure. Flow limiting is required at the outlets from main systems to consumers like secondary systems (main line to hydrant line; hydrant line to distribution line), reservoirs, etc. in order to protect the supplying system from over consumption.

The customer, Hainan Shuangyi, required a solution for delivering water from a reservoir on the Beipan River to an orchard irrigation reservoir on the top of a nearby mountain.

As water supply systems such as this one are prone to water hammer, a solution was needed to help protect the mainline from surge damage.

An internal control valve, also known as a tubeless valve, is commonly used as an on/off valve in residential landscaping and turfs applications.

The use of internal control valves is less common in commercial irrigation but can be found quite often in greenhouse applications as they allow operational flexibility (N.O. valve and N.C. valve). Internal control valves can be also found installed in the in-field headworks of some agricultural communities around the world.

CCRR Callen is a 1.872 Ha irrigation consortium with 70 users who grow corn, barley, wheat and alfalfa. The consortium wanted to modernize its irrigation infrastructure because it was outdated, inefficient and required intensive manual operation (the previous system was based on ditches and open channels).

Water has always been a precious resource. Today, it is becoming even scarcer and there is an increased focus on energy costs, increased efficiency, and environmental concerns including smarter use of fertigation and chemigation systems.

We hope you read and enjoyed  part 1 of our “Things you may or may not know about BERMAD” series. To refresh your memory, in this post we included interesting facts about BERMAD and our solutions.

For example, the fact that the name BERMAD comes from BEREZ (which means valve) and MAD (which means meter).

If you are a farmer or grower anywhere in the world, you probably recognize BERMAD as a trusted name in irrigation. You may already know that BERMAD has been manufacturing proven hydraulic control valves, air valves, and water meters for irrigation systems since 1965, including innovative products for both field and greenhouse applications. And you may even have received irrigation system design assistance from our engineering team, or taken advantage of one of our instructional videos.

Since 1965, BERMAD has been interacting with the world’s major designers, entrepreneurs, irrigation companies, dealers and end users – accumulating knowledge and experience in planning and implementing diverse applications that meet a wide range of agricultural irrigation needs.

Nowadays, more and more irrigation system designers are choosing plastic over metal components. Bermad’s IR-100 Series is at the leading edge of this trend. This innovative line of engineered plastic control valves provides unique benefits & features compared to other standard control valves.  

In this video you will learn about a typical installation and operation of a pressure reducing system for irrigation. The system includes two branches installed per operation cycle settings. One branch controls pressure, while the other branch is kept closed in a backup position.

For over 10 years, the Bermad 100 Series Plastic Control Valve has been one of the world's best water control valves. Colin Kirkland, Product Manager for Bermad Australia, will run you through the key benefits and design features of the 100 Series valve.

In component design, there is a delicate dance between versatility and specificity. Designing for a specific application helps to ensure that you get exactly what you need. However, it can be highly advantageous both in the field and throughout the distribution and merchandising process to have a component that is suited to a wide variety of applications and situations. The trick to creating such a component is to minimize or eliminate performance compromises while still providing a versatile product. 

BERMAD is proud to introduce the latest in our line of hydraulic irrigation control valves: the IR-105-4"L/6"R. This high performance plastic valve offers flexible control valve sizing, and can accept a variety of control features. These features can serve as a 4", 5" or 6" Main Irrigation Control Valve, large scale Plot Valve or as a control valve for main supply systems.                                          

Traditionally, most irrigation components such as pipes, emitters, filters, water meters and control valves, have been constructed of Metal. However, the trend over the years have been pointing more and more towards using Plastic.

Imagine this scenario:

Your irrigation system has been working flawlessly, and you are looking forward to your best harvest ever. But suddenly, you notice that some of your plants are starting to droop.

Electrical power failures and fluctuations are common occurrences worldwide, especially in many rural areas. While short-term power loss doesn’t typically result in immediate crop damage, it can have devastating effects on an irrigation system due to the water hammer effect.

To design an effective and efficient irrigation system, it’s important to consider the effects of air. Air can cause all sorts of troubles in your system if it’s not carefully controlled through the use of air valves.

While canal systems were once effective for irrigation and traditional farming in India and used for hundreds of years, modern technology together with heavy subsidies from the local governments in India, has made pressurized pipe systems, with SCADA control a better and more effective option.

At the upcoming Irrigation Association (IA) 2016 show in Las Vegas, BERMAD will demonstrate our vast expertise in providing highly technical products and support that directly integrate into today's irrigation systems. This capability differentiates us from anyone else in the industry.

BERMAD has been a regular exhibitor over the years at one of the largest agricultural trade shows in Europe, EIMA International Exposition of Machinery for Agriculture and Gardening. 2016’s show was no exception.  16 members of our team from Italy, France, Spain and Israel attended the event in Bologna, Italy earlier this month, demonstrating our newest and most popular products and our vast expertise in agricultural water flow management and irrigation applications to a record-breaking crowd of 285,000 attendees from 140 countries. 

BERMAD has been exhibiting our unique solutions at EIMA for over 20 years, and several BERMAD representatives will be in attendance at this year’s show – including representatives from BERMAD Italy and other European BERMAD locations.

The Internet of Things (IoT) and digital disruption have taken many industries by storm—and the agriculture sector is joining the fray as well. While there are long-standing theories regarding IoT use cases in agriculture, sensor usage and big data are becoming more practical. 

It’s hard to have a generalized conversation about irrigation system equipment and solutions because each different agricultural situation has its own nuances and challenges. However, presenting the main challenges and their solutions in a catchy though professional way can assist even the most experienced irrigation designers to understand, apply and present these solutions. 

For 50 years, BERMAD has been the recognized pioneer and world-leading provider of high quality hydraulic control valves. Today, we’re announcing our new website and blog as new means for us to strengthen our leadership in agricultural irrigation control and automation.