CLIENT: Jolly Farmer
STATUS: ongoing
Pennecon (formerly The Panel Shop) was contracted by Jolly Farmer Products Inc. to design and program an irrigation control system for a new section of the client’s greenhouses. This greenhouse section held 10 bays each containing a mobile irrigation boom that traveled the length of its bay. This system allowed for up to 80 individual zones in each bay that could be programmed with a variety of parameters. As the boom moved into a particular zone the system would respond with zone specific speed, watering rate and fertilizer type depending on how it was programmed. The core of this project was a SQL system that generated zone parameters which could be passed via a SCADA system and then wirelessly to the various booms. The various parameters could be monitored or altered remotely via tablets or local HMI touchscreens located on each boom.
After successfully implementing the first 10 bays the client has constructed a further 6 which have since been installed, programmed and commissioned. During this second phase, Pennecon was requested to implement a similar solution into the client’s older, existing infrastructure as well. The first of these retrofits has been commissioned and tied into the SCADA and SQL systems which has acted as a proof of concept to allow our client to modernize their existing booms with a more advanced control system. Over the next couple of years, the client intends to implement this retrofit onto all their existing booms beginning in mid/late 2019.