Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Overview of the glasshouse and equipment

The following images will give you a broad overview of the glasshouse structure itself and some of the irrigation, heating, and labour monitoring equipment

Greenhouse Specifications

Greenhouse Type  Faber
Material                   Glass
Screens                   Energy and Shading
Bay Size                  8m
Span Size                5m
Height                       6m
No. of Spans            8
Total Length             45m
Total Width               24m
Total Area                1500 sq metres









Powerplants Nutrimix Fertigation System


The Priva Nutrimix MT series from Powerplants provides greenhouse crop fertiliser dosing systems designed for high capacity. It’s an accurate water and fertiliser injection system for greenhouse crop production (vegetables and flowers) and nurseries. Based on a desired EC and pH setting, they have also been specifically designed to interface with the Priva range of controllers (Priva Maximizer, Priva Vega and Priva Intégro) to provide the most accurate level of control.
Benefits of the Nutrimix
This greenhouse crop fertiliser  system is constructed using Australian sourced components, so the system can be easily maintained and adapted. Parts are readily available in Australia in case of breakage.
The Nutrimix includes high quality sensors for accurate EC and pH sensing. There are two EC and pH sensors - the second sensor allows the control system to check one sensor against the other, thereby preventing the possibility of crop damage due to poorly calibrated sensors.
Venturi fertiliser injection with integral A and B control provides flexibility in fertiliser solutions. Venturi's also fail shut in case of irrigation pump failure which protects the system from fertiliser and/or acid/alkali overdose.
Venturi flow indicators provide a visual feedback of suction flows thereby allowing the user to ensure that the A & B tank draw-off is balanced. Optional chemical injection allows for the automatic injection of chemicals into irrigation water.
The system includes a filling pump as standard matched to the irrigation pump. No extra pump is required for operation.
The irrigation pump provides sufficient capacity to inject fertiliser and provide the volume and flow required for irrigation.
Both pumps are stainless steel for long life.
A pressure sustaining valve ensures that any excess capacity is recirculated back to the mixing tank. This protects the irrigation system from over-pressurisation due to blockage, valve jam etc.
The system includes a suitable high quality irrigation disk filter as standard to protect irrigation drippers and/or micro-sprinklers.
Easy to use switching panel for manual control in case of emergency, etc. Bypasses are also incorporated in order to provide water even if the irrigation pump breaks down.
Quality, Accuracy, Reliability and Support
High quality aluminium frame
High grade mixing tank
Integrated Priva EC & pH interface
Dual temperature compensated EC sensors included as standard
Dual high quality pH sensors supplied as standard
A and B fertiliser injection (recipe) using high capacity venturi injectors
Optional multi recipe option adding the ability to control A2/B2, A3/B3 and A4/B4 recipes
Adjustable outlet pressure control using a modulating pressure sustaining valve
Pressure gauge panel with 3 pressure gauges: fill pressure, discharge pressure and post filter pressure (indicates when the filter needs cleaning)
Tank level control using variable float valve
Switching panel with rotary auto/off/manual control switches
Acid/Alkali injection using dedicated venturi injector
Flow indicator on each fertiliser venturi injector
Bypass valve between filling and irrigation pumps


                                                           
                                           Priva Vialux UV Treatment Plant


Effective disinfection of irrigation water

Priva Vialux UV systems are specially designed to provide effective and efficient disinfection of irrigation water in horticulture.

They use the principle of High Density UV, making them suitable for disinfection of either large or small volumes of water. Disinfection of drain and surface water enables expensive water and/or fertilizers to be recycled.

The operation of the Vialux is as simple as it is effective. The system demands little energy and minimum maintenance.

Investment and operating costs are very competitive. The composition, acidity and temperature of the water are not altered.

Experience with Vialux in the field over time, has shown it to be a reliable and easily controlled system offering growers a complete solution for disinfection of surface or drain water.

The Vialux is available in a number of versions with increasing levels of lamp power and capacity.

Only the addition of a water filter (e.g. a sand filter) is needed to complete the disinfection unit.

What is UV disinfection?
UV stands for ultraviolet light. The active UV-C, which has a wavelength of approximately 254 nanometres, alters the DNA of micro organisms, such as microbes, bacteria and moulds, destroying them in the process. UV-C light also makes viruses inactive.

The permeability of UV-C light, called the T10 transmission, is an important factor in the process. A high T10 transmission figure facilitates water disinfection.

Total or selective disinfection
The UV-C intensity of the Vialux has ample power to render fungi, bacteria and viruses harmless. The PPO (Plant and Environmental Research Centre) has carried out a number of biological tests to establish minimum UV-C dose levels to prevent the spread of disease through water.

For selective disinfection (microbes, moulds and bacteria), with Priva Vialux this dose is 80 mJ/cm².

For total disinfection (including viruses), the minimum UV-C dose is 250 mJ/cm².

To disinfect the Pepino mosaic virus, which occurs in tomato crops, a dose of 150 mJ/cm² is required. These doses render pathogens completely inactive.

Vialux properties
The water to be disinfected is passed through the stainless steel exposure Chamber at a defined speed.
The high-pressure UV-C lamp is located in this chamber. The lamp, enclosed in a quartz tube, irradiates the water passed through the chamber with UV-C.

A wiper mechanism working together with minimal acid dosing cleans the quartz tube. The high power of the HD/UV lamp means that one lamp in one chamber is sufficient, whereas other UV systems require between ten and thirty lamps and chambers. The UV-C intensity is measured by a UV-C sensor.

A computer controls and protects the whole disinfection process and ensures that the chosen UV-C dose is delivered.

Automatic calculation and power control
The Vialux always operates using the correct T10 value. In addition, the Vialux has three power levels. If the dose decreases because the water has a reduced T10,the lamps are switched from the low to the medium power level or from the medium to the high power level. If the dose remains too low, the process is interrupted, the water is automatically diverted to the drain tank and the unit raises an alarm to ensure that the crop never comes into contact with partially disinfected water.

Reserve power
Calculations to determine the required capacity of your Vialux system are based on a radiation power of the lamp at the end of its life, assuming it is operated at the low power level. This means that there will always be available a reserve capacity of approximately 35%.

Turbulence
The design of the exposure chamber ensures a turbulence current for all water capacities, starting with minimum flow of 1.5 m³/hour. The turbulence in the water current ensures that the water is evenly exposed to the UV-C light and is irradiated with the same UV-C dose selected.

Most significant advantages
• No increase in water temperature
• No change in the composition or pH of the water
• Completely automatic, safe and reliable
• Automatic cleaning
• Power level control and water flow control
• Automatic T10 calculation
• Simple design, one exposure chamber - one UV lamp and one UV-C measurement
• Low investment and operating costs
• Suitable for the drain water from your growing medium
• Blending of drain and sump and/or surface water
• Disinfection of drain and surface water alternately
• Also suitable for Ebb and flood and NFT water




PrivAssist Labour Registration System

Collection and analysis of labour and production data from the nursery

Informed decisions are dependent on the availability of accurate data. The more accurate the data, the better the decision making.
PrivAssist enables efficient and reliable collection and retrieval of important nursery data by the workforce while the work is going on. At any time,the system provides up to date information about who has being doing what, when and where.

PrivAssist is particularly suitable for processing labour and production data.

From the data collected, an analysis of the production and operational performance for each location and employee can be reviewed immediately.

This not only enables employers to discover how variations in production can be corrected, but also provides an insight into how all the operational processes on the nursery are progressing.

The data is recorded on mobile terminals on the nursery or in the packhouse, networked to the central PC.

Insight into performance
The main benefit of PrivAssist lies in the fact that performance can be easily and accurately measured. It provides a clear insight into the productivity of individual employees.

Information on performance has a motivating effect. Once the employee has entered data, he/she can immediately be provided with feedback, e.g. with the number of kilograms harvested per hour.

The performance of the employee will be more result oriented and time will be used more efficiently. PrivAssist will improve the selection of new personnel and allow casual workers to be paid on a performance related basis.

Insight into production variations
No two sections are the same. There may even be production differences between two rows, not only in quantity but also in quality. PrivAssist will highlight these variations. Production is recorded for each individual location.
Differences of less than 10% – which are barely noticeable to the naked eye – will become apparent.

Insight into Pests and diseases
Any infestation of crops by pests and diseases can be entered at the terminals while working on the crop. The exact location of the pests or diseases is recorded and action can be taken immediately to combat them.

Improved work planning
PrivAssist provides a direct link between a personal computer and the workplace. At any point in time, the progress of work in the greenhouse can be monitored and redirected as necessary.

Latest technology
Smartline uses the latest RFID technology, already proven in the world of logistics and is highly suitable for use in horticulture.
Where barcode systems frequently suffer from dirt or humidity, selection of this technology ensures trouble-free operation. The system incorporates electronic labels that can be programmed for any location on the nursery. The same applies to all carts or containers. Using the additional Smartline equipment, there is the option of re-programming the labels yourself.

The advantages of Smartline
• Error-free information always at your disposal.
• Simple to operate.
• You save time
• Language problems are eliminated
• The system is reliable, using the latest,solid state technology, suitable for
horticulture.
• Smartline can be implemented with existing PrivAssist systems.
• The system can be customized


 

                                              Presha Boiler for Hydroning Heating System