Drip Irrigation
Our group is developing low-cost and low-power drip irrigation systems to impact the lives of smallholder and marginal farmers worldwide and to help protect the global supply of freshwater.
Drip irrigation delivers water through a piping network to drip emitters that release the water directly at the base of the crops, avoiding water losses due to evaporation, runoff, and infiltration. Drip can reduce water consumption by 20-60% compared to conventional flood or furrow irrigation. Because irrigation accounts for over 70% of freshwater use, large-scale adoption of drip irrigation would reduce the consumption of freshwater and be an asset for regions experiencing water shortages and groundwater depletion.
Two key barriers to the adoption of drip irrigation are the high initial cost and lack of electrical grid power to pump water. Our goal is to create off-grid, solar-powered drip irrigation systems that would be economically viable for the 500+ million small- and medium-scale farmers worldwide.
Drip irrigation is a water-efficient technology but can be expensive
Furrow irrigation can waste water to runoff but is inexpensive
An example of a solar-powered drip irrigation system is shown below as well as our groups approaches to addressing this problem. The solar-powered drip irrigation system has a pump that pull water from a water source and pushes it through a network of pipes. The pipes deliver water to the root-zone of the crops through drip emitters. Various sections of a farm are irrigated by opening and closing different valves. The pump is powered by solar panels and can include energy storage such as batteries. A controller can be used to manage the energy flow in the system and different sensors, such as weather sensors, can help determine the exact crop water demand.
Our group is addressing this problem from multiple angles:
Low-pressure Emitters are being developed by redesigning the internal features of pressure-compensating drip emitters to reduce the required system pressure; this pressure reduction enables the use of lower-cost pumps and power systems.
The System and Performance Model was created to consider the interconnected modules within a solar-powered irrigation system and to optimize the overall configuration of the system at a given site for the lowest lifetime cost and highest revenue.
An Irrigation Controller is being designed to explore how predicting and optimizing irrigation schedules can minimize system costs, energy, and water use even further.
Stakeholder interviews are being conducted in Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and the Middle East, to better understand the irrigation needs and constraints of our target users.
With these efforts, we aim to reduce capital costs to the point where solar-powered, off-grid drip irrigation systems become an affordable option for resource-constrained farmers.
Low-Pressure Drip Emitter Development
Uniform water distribution across a field can be maintained by using pressure-compensating emitters, which maintain a constant flow rate at any pressure above a minimum threshold called the 'activation pressure.’ Reducing this activation pressure can drastically reduce the required pumping pressure, thereby reducing the initial capital and operational cost of the systems. By creating an analytical model of the internal geometry of these emitters, our group has successfully developed online emitters that have an activation pressure of ~7 times lower than conventional emitters without requiring major modifications to the manufacturing process.
In order to evaluate the performance and benefits of this technology, we conducted field trials with our low-pressure emitters in the Middle East and North Africa—regions where the consumption of freshwater exceeds the natural replenishment rate. In these field trials, our low-pressure emitters were shown to reduce energy consumption by 43% compared to conventional emitters, while providing comparable uniformity. This energy reduction could lead to savings of 22–31% in the capital cost of a pump and emitters and the energy cost for a typical drip irrigation system.
On-line pressure-compensating emitter developed by MIT GEAR Lab that has an activation pressure ~7 times lower than conventional emitters
We have also designed, and are now manufacturing and testing, low-pressure versions of in-line style emitters. These improvements are predicted to lower the capital cost of a solar-powered drip irrigation system with a surface water source by approximately 40%.
System and Performance Model
Our group has developed a systems-level optimization model for a drip-irrigated farm, incorporating information about the local climate and crops to analyze tradeoffs between the solar panels, battery and/or water tank storage, pump, and field layout in order to minimize the overall system cost. This model will act as a decision-making tool for irrigation companies and farmers to help them design the most cost-optimal irrigation system. This system-level viewpoint will also provide insights into how to reduce power and costs even further from a technological breakthrough perspective. Additional field trials are planned in order to evaluate and validate this system model.
Irrigation Controller
Our group is developing an irrigation system controller that most efficiently uses the solar power provided to the farm. On three levels, we assess crop water requirements and energy availability by the week, hour, and second. This helps us build an ideal schedule for farmers given their specific resources and needs. This energy-efficient schedule can allow farmers to use smaller power systems, reducing their capital and maintenance costs. We are developing ways this complex schedule can be used with a fully automated farm or a fully manual farm, ensuring that farmers of all levels can adopt this technology. The video and photos below describe our work on this controller.
Our team has conducted numerous field pilots to validate our technology in Kenya, Jordan, and Morocco.
Publications
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Identifying Opportunities for Irrigation Systems to Meet the Specific Needs of Farmers in East Africa
Georgia D. Van de Zande, Susan Amrose, Elliott Donlon, Pulkit Shamshery, Amos G. Winter V. Water (2024) || download
Quantifying the Energetic Cost Tradeoffs of Photovoltaic Pumping Systems for Sub-Saharan African Smallholder Farms
ZhiYi Liang, Amanda Shorter, and Amos G. Winter V. Irrigation Science (2023) || download
Creating a Solar-Powered Drip Irrigation Optimal Performance model (SDrOP) to lower the cost of drip irrigation systems for smallholder farmers
Fiona Grant, Carolyn Sheline, Julia Sokol, Susan Amrose, Elizabeth Brownell, Vinay Nangia, Amos G. Winter V. Applied Energy (2022) || download
Analytical model for predicting activation pressure and flow rate of pressure-compensating inline drip emitters and its use in low-pressure emitter design
Julia Sokol, Jaya Narain, Jeffrey Costello, Tristan McLaurin, Dheekshita Kumar & Amos G. Winter V. Irrigation Science (2022) || download
Energy Reduction and Uniformity of Low-Pressure Online Drip Irrigation Emitters in Field Tests
Sokol, J., Amrose, S., Nangia, V., Talozi, S., Brownell, E., Montanaro, G., Abu Naser, K., Bany Mustafa, K., Bouazzama, B., Bahri, A., Bouizgaren, A., Mazahrih, N., Moussadek, R., Sikaoui, L., Winter, A., Water (2019) || download
A Hybrid Computational and Analytical Model of Inline Drip Emitters
Narain, J., & Winter, A., ASME ASME Journal of Mechanical Design (2019) || download
Shape and Form Optimization of Online Pressure Compensating Drip Emitters to Achieve Lower Activation Pressure
Shamshery, P., Wang, R., Tran, D., & Winter, A., ASME Journal of Mechanical Design (2017) || download
Modeling the Future of Irrigation: A Parametric Description of Pressure Compensating Drip Irrigation Emitter Performance
Shamshery, P., Wang, R., Tran, D., & Winter, A., PLOS ONE (2017) || download
Control of Flow Limitation in Flexible Tubes
Wang, R., Lin, T., Shamshery, P. & Winter, A., ASME Journal of Mechanical Design (2016)
Peer-Reviewed Conference Articles
Development and validation of a fully analytical model for designing pressure-compensating flow devices for drip irrigation and other applications
Ghodgaonkar, A., Sokol, J. and Winter, A.G. Bulletin of the American Physical Society (2021). Phoenix, Arizona
Machine Learning Method for Forecasting Weather Needed For Crop Water Demand Estimations in Low-Resource Settings Using A Case Study in Morocco
Sheline, C. and Winter, A. ASME IDETC/CIE, (2021) Virtual.
Feasibility of Pairing a Low-Cost Positive Displacement Pump with Low-Energy Pressure Compensating Drip Irrigation Emitters for Smallholder Farms in Africa.
Engelkemier, S., Grant, F., Landis, J., Sheline, C., Varner, H., Zubajlo, R., Sokol, J., Winter, A., ASME. IDETC/CIE, (2019) Engineering for Global Development. Paper #IDETC2019-98128
DEM Study of Clogging in Millimeter Scale Channels in Drip Irrigation Emitters.
Narain, J., Winter V, A.G., 71st Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics, (2018) Atlanta, GA.
A Hybrid Computational and Analytical Model of Inline Drip Emitters.
Narain, J., Winter V, A.G., Proceedings of the 44th Design Automation Conference (DAC), ASME IDETC/CIE, (2018) Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Development of a system model for low-cost, solar-powered drip irrigation systems in the MENA region.
Sokol, J., Grant, F., Sheline, C., Winter, A., Proceedings of the 44th Design Automation Conference (DAC), ASME IDETC/CIE, (2018) Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Determination of Resistance Factor for Tortuos Paths in Drip Emitters
Narain, J., & Winter, A., 43rd Design Automation Conference ASME IDETC/CIE (2017)
Designing a Low Activation Pressure Drip Irrigation Emitter with Constraints for Mass Manufacturing
Shamshery, P., & Winter, A., 21st Design for Manufacturing and the Life Cycle Conference ASME IDETC/CIE (2016)
A Mathematical Model for Pressure Compensating Emitters
Taylor, K., Shamshery, P., & Winter, A., ASME IDETC/CIE (2015)
A Novel Pressure Compensating Valve for Low-Cost Drip Irrigation
Wiens, J., & Winter, A., 38th Mechanisms and Robotics Conference, ASME IDETC (2014)
Bio-Inspired, Low-Cost, Self-Regulating Valves for Drip Irrigation in Developing Countries
Zimoch, P., Tixier, E., Joshi, A., Hosoi, A.E., & Winter, A., 25th International Conference on Design Theory and Methodology, ASME IDETC/CIE (2013)
Conference Presentations
Cost-Optimized Solar-Powered Drip Irrigation Systems
Grant, F., Sokol, J., Sheline, C., Winter, A., AEAB2019 - Applied Energy Symposium: MIT A+B. May 22-24, Cambridge, MA (2019)
Design of low-energy, low-cost drip irrigation systems through pressure reduction and system optimization
Sheline, C., Grant, F., Sokol, J., Winter, A. 1st WASAG International Forum on Water Scarcity in Agriculture. March 19-22, Praia, Capo Verde (2019)
Experimental apparatus for rapid prototyping of pressure-compensating inline drip irrigation emitters
Sokol, J., Narain, J., Winter, A., 71st Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics, November, Atlanta, GA (2018)
DEM Study of Clogging in Millimeter Scale Channels in Drip Irrigation Emitters
Narain, J., Winter, A., 71st Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics, November, Atlanta, GA (2018)
A Novel Bio-Inspired Pressure Compensating Emitter for Low-Cost Drip Irrigation Systems
Wang, R.Q., Shamshery, P., & Winter, A., World Environmental and Water Resources Congress (2016)
A Respiratory Airway-Inspired Low-Pressure, Self-Regulating Valve for Drip Irrigation.
Wang, R.Q., & Winter, A., APS Meeting (2015)
Validated Analytical Model of a Pressure Compensation Drip Irrigation Emitter
Shamshery, P., Wang, R. Q., Taylor, K., Tran, D., & Winter, A., APS Meeting (2015)
A Missing Puzzle Piece in Murray's Law: the Optimal Angle of Junctions.
Wang, R. Q., Taylor, K., Tran, D., & Winter, A., APS Division of Fluid Dynamics Meeting (2014)
Theses
Feasibility and Design of Solar-Powered Electrodialysis Systems for Agriculture Applications
Jacob Easley, Master’s Thesis (MIT, May 2022)
Quantifying the Energetic Costs of Photovoltaic Pumping Systems (PVPSs) for Sub-Saharan African Smallholder Farms
Zhi Liang, Master’s Thesis (MIT, May 2021)
Parametric design and performance validation of low-cost, low-pressure drip emitters and irrigation systems
Julia Sokol, PhD Thesis (MIT, August 2020)
Lowering the Cost of Solar-Powered Drip Irrigation Systems for Smallholder Farmers Through Systems-Level Modeling, Optimization, and Field Testing
Sheline, C., Master's Thesis (MIT, Sept 2019)
Development and Validation of a Systems-Level Cost Optimization Tool for Solar-Powered Drip Irrigation Systems for Smallholder Farms
Grant, F., Master's Thesis (MIT, Sept 2019)
A hybrid computational and analytical model of irrigation drip emitters
Narain, J., Master's Thesis (MIT, 2017)
Modeling and Designing the Future of Drip Irrigation: A Validated Parametric Analysis Used to Design Low Power, Pressure Compensating Drip Emitters
Shamshery, P., Master's Thesis (MIT, 2016)
Reducing the Power Required for Irrigation: Designing Low-Pressure, Pressure-Compensating Drip Irrigation Emitters and High Efficiency Solar-Powered Pumps for Emerging Markets
Taylor, K., Master's Thesis (MIT, 2015)
Press
MIT News front page article on October 25, 2023, and accompanying MIT MechE video, No Drop to Spare
Carolyn Sheline and Georgia Van de Zande won audience choice at the 2023 MIT Water, Food, and Agriculture Prize
Aditya Ghodgaonkar’s emitter work is highlighted in an MIT JWAFS 2022 Fellow Video
Five MIT PhD students awarded 2022 J-WAFS fellowships for water and food solutions, on MIT News
Drip team members Georgia Van de Zande, Carolyn Sheline, and Julia Sokol won first place in the 2020 J-WAFS World Food Day Video Competition
Responding to Jordan’s Drought and Water Scarcity with Behavioral Change, Agrilinks (2020)
Collaborating for Irrigation Access Solutions: Where Policy and Engineering Meet: A J-WAFS Connection Brings Together Two MIT Research Teams Helping to Advance Irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa, on MIT News
PhD candidate Julia Sokol and her work on drip irrigation, on MIT News
Drip irrigation work featured on local web TV specialized in agriculture, on Al Filahia-TV
Drip irrigation Project under the Spotlight - Watering the world, on MIT News
GEAR Lab Students win awards, on Tata Center News