Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 69 (2009) 112115

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Computers and Electronics in Agriculture

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compag

Application note

Pocket PC software to evaluate drip irrigation lateral diameters

with on-line emitters
Jos Miguel Molina-Martnez a , Antonio Ruiz-Canales b,
a
Departamento de Ingeniera de los Alimentos y del Equipamiento Agrcola, rea de Ingeniera Agroforestal, Universidad Politcnica de Cartagena,
Paseo Alfonso XIII, 48, 30203 Cartagena (Murcia), Spain
b
Departamento de Ingeniera, Escuela Politcnica Superior de Orihuela, Universidad Miguel Hernndez, Crtra. de Beniel, km 3.2, 03312 Orihuela (Alicante), Spain

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 31 December 2008
Received in revised form 30 May 2009
Accepted 15 June 2009
Keywords:
Software
Irrigation
Pocket PC
LabVIEW PDA

a b s t r a c t
This communication presents the development of a freeware for mobile devices (Smartphone and pocket
PC). It was developed with a LabVIEW PDA program, and enables engineers and installers to calculate
commercial diameters to be used in laterals of drip irrigation, without the need for being at the personal
computer. Specically, this freeware allows users to immediately evaluate the sensibility to changing
demands (e.g. crop, water needs, spacing, etc.) in all the range of commercial diameters for drip lines
with on-line drippers. Input data required are: drippers ow rates, number of drippers, spacing between
the drippers, medium pressure in the lateral and pressure tolerance. As results, it shows with a gure
with light emitting diodes (LED), the commercial diameters that can be used. Other results implemented
in this tool are the maximum and minimum pressures for each diameter and a table that shows, on a
comparative basis, whether the pressure tolerance of every diameter is exceeded or not.
2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The requirements in agricultural production, the environmental protection and the water resources optimisation have made
farmers modernize irrigation systems. One aspect of these modernisations is the installation of drip irrigation systems (Valiantzas,
2003; Lpez, 1996).
Drip irrigation systems (or microirrigation systems) are characterized by high water use efciency (Rodriguez-Diaz et al., 2004).
Another advantage of this irrigation system is the precision in
water and fertilizers application under adequate design conditions
(Pedras and Pereira, 2001; Holzapfel et al., 2001).
In a recent review of hydraulic analysis and design methods of
microirrigation systems the challenges to design microirrigation
systems in the future were shown (Kang and Liu, 2004). These
challenges are: (1) to develop more perfect methods in order to minimize the total cost of a whole system (e.g. Kuo et al., 2000; Ortega et
al., 2004); (2) to improve present-day methods by applying modern
geographic information sciences such as geographic information
system (GIS), remote sensing (RS) and global position system (GPS)
for computerized input of eld topographic information; and (3) to
develop intelligent computer software with functions where this
eld topographic information can be input automatically, layout

Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 966 74 96 39; fax: +34 966 74 97 18.
E-mail address: acanales@umh.es (A. Ruiz-Canales).
URL: http://www.ingtec.umh.es/home.asp?area=ing (A. Ruiz-Canales).
0168-1699/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.compag.2009.06.006

and parameters of a whole system can be optimized automatically,

and ground plans and installation maps can be created automatically. The objective of this paper is to show software able to achieve
all the objectives partially. Nowadays this software is only designed
for drip line calculation in specics conditions but new tools are
being implemented to develop the project.
The drip line calculation is integrated in the hydraulic design
of drip irrigation subunits (Yildirim, 2007; Provenzano and Pumo,
2004; Ravikumar et al., 2003; Anyoji and Wu, 1994; Wu and Gitlin,
1982). The calculation of the drip line is carried out after the agronomic design. This design is based on several data (characterization
of chosen emitter, eld topography, etc.). In order to design an irrigation subunit, it is necessary to combine the hydraulic calculation
(ow, diameters and pressure of drip line and sub-main pipes) with
the irrigation net distribution plane.
Moreover, some specic agronomic features (plant frame, crop
water demand, etc.) are used in drip irrigation systems design (Cetin
and Uygan, 2008). The results of the design are the number and the
distribution of the emitters (Medina, 1997). As the crop grows it is
usual to add new emitters in order to supply the increasing crop
water needs. In some cases, when the farmer wants to increase the
plant density or he decides to change the crop and to maintain the
existing irrigation system, he has to adapt to the new situation. This
is to change the number of emitters in the drip line to the new water
requirements. In this case, if the ow and pressure required at the
beginning of the drip line are known, it is very useful to provide
software that allows the user to know if drip line is ready to these
changes. It is necessary for this software to be quick and precise. This

J.M. Molina-Martnez, A. Ruiz-Canales / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 69 (2009) 112115

software would indicate immediately the farmer or the installer

what decision he would make.
Some software is used under Windows (Rodrigo and Cordero,
2003) but not in mobile devices for agronomic and hydraulic design
in drip irrigation. One adequate solution is the installation of developed software for mobile devices as Smartphone or pocket PC. In the
last years there are a lot of programming languages used in mobile
devices. One of this is LabVIEW , which is a revolutionary system
of graphics programming used for applications that includes acquisition, control analysis and data presentation (Lajara and Pelegri,
2007). This software is being used in engineer applications because
of its great versatility and simplicity to use.
This paper shows developed software for this kind of mobile
devices that use LabVIEW PDA as programming language. This is
an executable freeware and it is not necessary to install LabVIEW
PDA . This programming language has some advantages. During
programming phase, this language allows to congure several algorithms that compute in parallel at once. Additionally, this language
allows implementing algorithms in a friendly and intuitive way.
Another advantage is presented during the phase of use: tables and
gures showed are very attractive and easy to use. The use of this
freeware is limited to the next conditions: (a) drip lines fed from
the extreme, (b) with no slope terrain, (c) on-line emitters at the
same distance from the beginning of the pipe to the rst emitter
and between emitters and (d) standard dimensions of the emitter
connection. This software can be downloaded from the next link:
(http://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-3851).

113

Table 1
Equivalent length of pipe fe (m) as a function of
the inner pipe diameter Diameter (mm).
Diameter (mm)

fe (m)

10.3
13.2
16.0
18.0
20.4
28.0

0.24
0.15
0.11
0.08
0.07
0.04

where Diameter (mm) is the inner diameter of the drip line and
Qdrip line (l h1 ) is the ow in the beginning of the drip line. Qdrip
line value is obtained multiplying the number of emitters Ne in the
drip line by the nominal ow of the emitter qe (l h1 ).
Pressure distribution in a drip line is shown in Fig. 1. The maximum of pressure coincides with the pressure in the beginning of
the drip line, hmax (m), which is determined by means of Eq. (5):
hmax = ha + 0.75Dh

(5)

ha (m) is the average pressure in the drip line.

The minimum pressure, hmin (m), is the same pressure in the
last emitter, which is determined by
hmin = hmax Dh

(6)

If the difference of pressure hmax hmin is under the value hp

(m), the commercial diameters are adequate. This value hp is the
pressure tolerance and is a required data.

2. Theoretical background
3. Software
The theoretical base of used formulas in the hydraulic design of
drip irrigation considers that ow distribution in a drip line is coming close to a continue distribution. A description of the calculation
procedure is described in the next lines.
Head losses Dh (m) in a pipe of length Length (m), have been
calculated with the next equation:
Dh = F J Lenght

(1)
(m m1 )

is the
where F is the Christiansens reduction factor and J*
unit head losses coefcient that includes major and minor head
losses.
The formula used to estimate the Christiansens reduction factor
is
F=

1
1
+
+
2n
1+

6n2

(2)

where the value of is 1.75 in Blasius formula for polythene pipes

and n is the number of emitters in the drip line.
Unit head losses J*, have been determined using an empirical formula that includes the minor head losses of the emitters by means
of the next expression:
J = J

Ee + fe
Ee

The graphic interface of the developed software consists of three

tabs:
(a) In the tap Home at the top of the screen, the data for calculation
is introduced, and at the lower part valid commercial diameters
are shown in green colour by means of light emitting diodes
(LED) (Fig. 2). Required data are: nominal ow of the emitter qe
(l h1 ), number of emitters Ne, drip line length Length (m), distance between emitters Ee (m), average pressure in the drip line
ha in centibars (cb) and pressure tolerance hp, too in centibars
(cb). After data introduction the button named Calculations
has to be pressed in order to show the results in the frame. In the
example of Fig. 2, only the diodes of the adequate commercial
diameters are coloured in green.
(b) The tab named Results (Fig. 3) shows, for every commercial
diameter, the head losses in the drip line Dh (m), maximum
pressure hmax (m) and minimum pressure hmin (m). At the
lower part, it shows a comparative vertical bar graphic that indicates the level of the allowed pressure tolerance hp (m), in blue,

(3)

where Ee (m) is the distance between emitters and fe (m) is the

equivalent length of the emitter that depends on the inner diameter Diameter (mm) of the drip line (Table 1) to estimate the minor
head losses. This software version is only for on-line emitters and
standard dimensions of the emitter connection.
Unit major head losses, J (m m1 ), have been determined using
the Blasiuss formula (with a standard temperature of 20 C) in polythene pipes:
J = 0.473

(Qdrip line)
(Diameter)

1.75

4.75

(4)
Fig. 1. Pressure distribution in a drip line fed by the extreme in a plane zone.

114

J.M. Molina-Martnez, A. Ruiz-Canales / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 69 (2009) 112115

Fig. 2. Home tab.

Fig. 3. Results tab.

and the values of the difference hmax minus hmin in meters

for every diameter. Moreover, as it is shown in Fig. 3, on the left,
only the diodes of the adequate commercial diameters are again
coloured in green, and all the result values are shown.
(c) The last tab Help shows the contacting data for the authors.

the ratio ((Ee + fe)/Ee) in Eq. (3). The result Dh of Eq. (1) is obtained
and used in the next operations (see at the centre of Fig. 4). The
value of the result Dh is different for every diameter. For this reason, the obtained value for the diameter 13.2, is named Dh 13.2
(Fig. 4, on the right in the middle). This value is calculated with a
double precision oating point (DBL). The values of hmax and hmin
are obtained by Eqs. (5) and (6) using the entry value ha and the
calculated value Dh. These results are calculated with a double precision oating point (DBL) and showed in the screen (Fig. 3). The
entry value hp is compared at the top with the difference between
hmax and hmin. Below, in Fig. 4, the subtraction value is shown
in the screen, in a vertical bar diagram (Fig. 3). For this case, is
assigned the name 13.2 to express this subtraction. In order to show
the results as a LED in two screens (Home and Results) is necessary to assign two different names of the same result (see 13.2 (2)
and 13.2 (3), respectively in Fig. 4, on the right). The corresponding LED is green in colour if this subtraction is less than hp. In
the opposite case, LED is not coloured (true and false values, TF).

The software ow chart is developed under a while loop structure that allows ending the software execution by means of the
button Exit (Fig. 2). The button Calculation determines the true
and false values (TF) of a case structure included in the while loop.
Pushing this button, the case structure takes the true value and
the internal programming is carried out. Fig. 4 shows the software
ow chart used to determine whether or not could be used the
pipe with a diameter of 13.2 mm in the drip line considering general data entry. In Fig. 4, on the left, entry values of qe and Ne are
introduced and multiplied to obtain the ow at the beginning of
the drip line (Qdrip line). Below, entry value Ee is operated with the
corresponding fe value (Table 1) to obtain the value (Jem), that is

Fig. 4. Software ow chart. The example is related to a pipe diameter of 13.2 mm, emitter spacing of 2 m.

J.M. Molina-Martnez, A. Ruiz-Canales / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 69 (2009) 112115

These graph values are showed in Figs. 2 and 3 for the diameter
10.3. A similar ow chart has been developed for the rest of every
commercial diameter (10.3, 13.2, 16.0, 18.0, 20.4 and 28.0). These
diagrams establish the algorithms to evaluate if the diameters of
commercial pipes are adequate for the drip line, and the results are
compared. All the results for every diameter could be shown in the
console.
4. Conclusions
This software allows users of drip irrigation systems to evaluate the sensibility to changing demands (water needs, emitters,
spacing, etc.) in all commercial diameters of drip lines. These calculations are executed at once for every commercial diameter in a
pocket PC. This allows to users makes these calculations immediately in the eld without the need of moving to the ofce and using
a PC.
Software has been developed with LabVIEW PDA . This is an
intuitive programming language and allows conguring several
algorithms that compute in parallel at once.
This software version is limited to drip lines, with on-line drippers, fed by the extreme in a horizontal land. It is an accessible freeware, contacting with authors or from the link (http://decibel.ni.
com/content/docs/DOC-3851).
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to express their gratitude to National
Instruments Spain, S.L. for its help spreading the developed software in its website: (http://sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-11093).

115

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