Industrial - Honours

DIM – Changing Sugarcane Irrigation

DIM is an irrigation module dedicated to sugarcane crop that combines two of the most effective types of irrigation to provide an effective and efficient irrigation system. The design connects to existing irrigation lines and utilizes overhead and subsurface irrigation for optimal growth of Australia’s largest sugar-producing area, Northern Queensland.

Duncan McGlinchey

DIM – Changing Sugarcane Irrigation

DIM the dual irrigation module, designed to incorporate two of the most effective forms of irrigation for sugarcane into a single, small, and easy to install module. It utilizes overhead and subsurface irrigation which have proven to be the best combination through multiple growth simulations utilizing past weather and soil data and demonstrates that with this combination the sugarcane crop can effectively utilize roughly 7% more water than with single system irrigation.

Overhead irrigation is done through the centre cylinder and acts similarly to pop-up sprinklers using water pressure to push it up. Subsurface irrigation is done through the 4 horizontal slots in the side of the module to slowly drip water into the surrounding soil.

DIM is designed to be connected to any established irrigation lines currently within these growing fields or can be easily installed with new lines. DIM is placed within the soil to allow subsurface irrigation to take place below the ground and overhead irrigation can be utilized above the surface. It is placed at set distances away from one another based on the size of field, this distance is calculated by predictive irrigation software that many farmers already utilize in the area to create irrigation schedules.

Duncan McGlinchey

Focusing on new age developing manufacturing technologies and material experimentation, Duncan aims to incorporate many of these systems into future designs, either utilizing new technology to provide new and innovative designs or simply re-imagining existing concepts with new processes and standards.