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TRADESHOW COVERAGE

Pump Users Symposium

Turbomachinery/ChemInnovations

MINExpo

PUMP SYSTEM OPTIMIZATIONUpgrades Maximize Effi ciency

of 82-Year-Old Pump

The Leading Magazine for Pump Users Worldwide August 2012

pump-zone.com

Instrumentation, Controls & MonitoringS P E C I A L S E C T I O N

The Leading Magazine for Pump Users Worldwide

pump-zone.com

August 2012

20 AUGUST 2012 www.pump-zone.com PUMPS & SYSTEMS

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Instrumentation, Controls & Monitoring

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PUMPS & SYSTEMS www.pump-zone.com AUGUST 2012 21

Central Florida has a climate that is perfect for growing just about anything. Despite its abundant resources and mild winters, a killer frost can quickly wipe out an entire crop. A smart and effi cient water-use strategy can provide a protective layer

of warmth, acting as one of the weapons in a grower’s frost-fi ghting arsenal. However, the equipment has to be available when needed, even if the local power grid is down.

Windmill Farms Nurseries, Inc., is a second-generation agricultural enterprise located near Sebring, Fla. Started 40 years ago as a row crop and cattle operation, it moved to farming citrus groves. During the past 15 years, it has grown into a year-round plant nursery.

Windmill grows more than 150 varieties of containerized perennial ornamental/land-scape plants and ground cover. h e nursery annually produces about 5 million plants—in 1- and 3-gallon pots—on 75 acres. h ree crops per year are produced and shipped through its own fl eet of refrigerated semitrailers to customers throughout Florida and the eastern U.S. Windmill has experienced 300 percent growth during the past 6 years and expects further growth in 2012. Windmill Farms is owned by brothers, Jason and Eric Cord.

Pump Control System Provides Frost ProtectionBy Dan Vnuk

Automated irrigation pump control protects a Florida

nursery’s crops.

Pump and motor controllers manage irrigation at a large Florida nursery.

Pumps move water from the pond

as needed for irrigation and

protection during cold weather.

Photo courtesy of FW Murphy


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Computerized Water Supply SystemWindmill recently completed a $300,000 irrigation project with South Florida Water Management District. Development for the project included the construction of a recovery pond to capture water runoff and the installation of a computerized system to monitor the recovered water in each zone.

“h e installation of the new water-management system

was actually a 5-year process,” says Jason Cord, Windmill vice president. “Like a lot of other businesses, nurseries have turned to automation to smooth production and continue growth.”

During that process, Windmill chose a monitoring system for the two pumps at the retention pond. h ese pumps, one driven by an electric motor and the other by a diesel motor, are responsible for moving water from the pond for irrigation. For

Jason Cord, the chosen system was the best fi t for the project and the climate.

“It can use variables such as sun-light and temperature to control water fl ow and pressure,” he says. “It is critical during the colder months when frost is a concern.”

h e system will play an important role in the overall water usage through-out a crop’s life cycle. However, the climate protection that an automated system off ers was the deciding factor.

“While the automated system will eventually monitor usage from propa-gation through the growth cycle, per-haps its biggest asset is protection from freezing,” Jason Cord says. “If I lose a crop to frost, my whole spring is shot. If the pumps go down when it is 28 or 30 degrees, I’ll lose a lot of material for shipping. We’ve had cold snaps as early as November, but being able to pump water to protect the crop in January and February is most critical.”

Before the half-acre retention pond was dug, the nursery used wells to tap groundwater for the individual plots. “We would have 5 acres here and 7 acres there, each with its own well that had to be monitored, which meant that I would have to be here many hours a day, seven days a week,” he says. “We would constantly have to adjust the amount of water needed as the tempera-ture changed or when the sun came up and went down.”

Normally, the electric motor pump supplies all the usual life-cycle needs of the nursery. However, the diesel unit is also brought online for extreme demand periods. h e control system is set to start the diesel-engine unit whenever the temperature drops to 36 F, ramping up all the pumps to 30 psi. h e water will ice-in the plants, keeping a layer of warmth from a pocket of air that forms between the leaf and the ice surround-ing it.

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and applications. It can be used with a remote modem or in a SCADA system that has a Modbus RTU available via an RS232 or RS485 port. h e dedi-cated, micro-processor-based, single-engine controller fea-tures fi eld-adjustable operating parameters that can be changed without the need for a laptop computer.

h e controller handles auto-start and time-stamping through a simple clock setup. If engine troubleshooting is needed, it can display all vital engine and equipment informa-tion including diagnostic codes while separate LEDs indicate amber alarm and red shutdown status. h e controller will also store the last 10 shutdowns with date and time stamp informa-tion. It comes standard in a National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) 4 enclosure with IP66 Rated sealing.

Built-in functions include an engine run mode without the need for an operator, engine throttling to demand, service

The diesel engine controller brings a second pump online when temperatures drop to 36 F.


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PUMPS & SYSTEMS www.pump-zone.com AUGUST 2012 25

Instrumentation, Controls & Monitoring

reminders and TSC1 messaging. Typical applications include irrigation and water pumping, standby generator controls, off -highway and construction equipment, commercial marine and gas compressors.

P&S

Dan Vnuk is a freelance journalist who writes for FW Murphy, a provider of instrumentation and controls for engines and engine-driven equipment. For more information about FW Murphy products, call 918-317-4100 or visit www.fwmur-phy.com.

For more articles on pumps in

agriculture and irrigation applications,

visit www.pump-zone.com


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The diesel unit, which can pump up to 4,000 gallons

per minute, also functions as a variable speed drive

and can hold the pressure at design point because

of a separate controller.

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