Jan 3, 2017

Irrigation Association’s Tree Drip Calculator receives an AE50 award

The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) has named the Tree Drip Calculator (TDC) as a winner of one of its 2017 AE50 awards. The product was created by the Irrigation Association’s Technical Advisor Bob von Bernuth PhD, PE, CID, CLWM, CIC.

Companies from around the world submit entries to the annual AE50 competition and up to 50 of the best products are chosen by a panel of international engineering experts. These judges then select the most innovative products they feel will best advance engineering for the food and agriculture industries.

The AE50 awards program emphasizes the role of new products and systems in bringing advanced technology to the marketplace. These engineering developments help farmers, food processors and equipment manufacturers increase efficiency, enhance quality, improve safety, and increase profits.

The TDC is a soil physics-based tool for designing drip irrigation systems for trees. All previous design procedures were based on empirical data and were manufacturer dependent. This tool is based on soils data produced by USDA ARS and specifications of ANSI/ASABE S623 (October 2015). The TDC guides the designer in selecting the proper emitter flow rate, emitter spacing and emitter placement and gives guidelines on run time for the crop evapotranspiration.

The awards will be presented at the ASABE Agricultural Equipment Technology Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017.