Agricultural Flow Meter for Small Turnouts and Ditches

As the economic value of water is increasing, so is the demand for increasingly accurate and cost-efficient means to monitor its distribution. This is particularly true in the worldwide agricultural industry where local and federal regulations necessitate valid flow measurements. Present methodologies for flow measurement of surface water in these environments are: Too expensive and labor intensive Too large for the application Only work under a limited set of flow conditions or channel geometry We propose researching use of pulsed acoustic Doppler technology in very small (less than 3 deep) open and closed channel environments. Pulsed Doppler technology offers the distinct advantage of integrating the water velocity throughout the total water column. A key factor in this research includes the miniaturization and feasibility for low-cost / highvolume manufacturing. The final product would be a device that could: Work under a wide variety of flow and silting conditions Be simple enough for laypersons to operate Be priced such that thousands of units could be deployed in to irrigation schemes around the world. Phase I will investigate the feasibility of this concept in conjunction with researchers at The Irrigation Training and Research Center at California Polytechnic University.