Development and Evaluation of Low Cost Drip Filter

Abstract

Irrigation water is many a time contaminated with physical, chemical and biological impurities. Proper filtration is of paramount importance to prevent clogging in drip irrigation system thereby aiding in reduced maintenance of the micro irrigation system. This study was conducted on Development and Evaluation of Low cost filters in the Network project on “Engineering Interventions in Micro Irrigation Systems (MIS) for improving water productivity” under Consortia Research Platform on Farm Mechanization and Precision Farming during 2018 to 2020. The objectives of the study are to develop low cost filters and to test the developed system in the field for efficiency in terms of pressure drop throughout discharge and quality of output. It was observed that the discharge from the filter increases as the time increases. Pressure drop and head loss in the filter system increases with flow rate. Filtration efficiency is a percentage of sand particles divided by the TSS removed by the filter. Efficiency of the filter increased from 25% to 64% (double chamber filter) and 23% to 62% (single chamber filter) with flow range of 5 m3/h to 30 m3/h. As flow rate increases, soil particles retained and efficiency of the filter increased with increase in head loss. Filter materials and screen filter removed the sand particles effectively. Uniformity coefficient of 0.95 was observed in single chamber filter which is suitable for small farm application.