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| Comparison and selection of smallscale irrigation machines with multiple sprinklers based on grey relational analysis |
| Research Center of Fluid Machinery and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, China |
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Abstract According to the requirements of farmers, four technical and economic indicators of specific energy consumption, annual construction cost, coefficient of irrigation uniformity and operation time were established based on pipeline hydraulics and practices of irrigation systems for the selection of smallscale irrigation machines with multiple sprinklers. Three typical field sizes of 0.67 hm2, 3.33 hm2 and 6.67 hm2 were determined based on the average land area per capita in the provinces where the machines were well applied. According to grey relational analysis (GRA), irrigation in Jinan, Shandong province was taken as an example to evaluate and select proper alternatives among six available smallscale irrigation machines for each field size. In the calculation, configurations of the machines were obtained by genetic algorithms and validated with field tests. The results show that the proposed approach can summarize the characteristics of each machine well and can outline the affecting factors on the overall machine performances. The evaluation results are in good accordance with practices. Higher pressures of sprinklers result in higher energy consumption, and more sprinklers lead to larger annual construction cost and longer operation time. The selection of irrigation machines may be impacted by the field size and the irrigation quota, thus it should be analyzed according to actual situation.
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Received: 09 December 2013
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2014, Vol. 35 
