Key Skills:
Solidworks
HSMWorks
Prototyping
CNC Machining
Quality Assurance
Machine Shop Management
Matlab
Soldering
Arduino
At MIT’s Global Engineering and Research (GEAR) Lab, I worked with Professor Amos Winter and his team to improve the sustainability of drip irrigation by reducing the energy required to water crops. We designed and tested an irrigation system that used only 50% of the energy required by conventional drip irrigation.
Drip irrigation is a method of watering crops by running water through a network of hoses with carefully designed holes, or “emitters.” By modulating the water pressure in the hoses, the emitters can deliver the exact amounts of water necessary to sustain the crops. This approach conserves water, reducing losses due to evaporation or runoff.
Conserving Water with Less Energy
At MIT’s GEAR Lab, we sought to improve the efficiency of drip irrigation through optimization of pressure compensating drip emitters. This type of emitter releases a constant amount of water once a minimum activation pressure is reached.
We approached farmers who told us that the high activation pressure of the available emitters required them to use expensive, fossil fuel powered generators.
We made it our goal to design drip emitters with a lower activation pressure, allowing them to use cheaper, more environmentally friendly solar-powered generators.
Pressure compensating emitters ensure a constant flow rate using a flexible membrane whose geometry changes based on the pressure exerted on it by the water in the hose.
I made analytical and computational fluid models of drip emitters, using Matlab and various fluid modeling applications. These models informed us of how varying geometries would affect flow rate and activation pressure.
Based on my findings, I created various CAD models of promising emitter geometries in Solidworks. I then used HSMWorks to create toolpaths for CNC milling prototypes into aluminum blocks.
I selected milling and metrology tools to machine features requiring milling bits as small as 1/32” to a precision of ±0.001”.
I spent hundreds of hours machining, producing up to five prototypes per day. I created and maintained a robust versioning system to coordinate with a larger team and report the test results of dozens of prototypes.
I also used the shop CNC Mill, CNC Lathe and other machines to create various electromechanical fixtures, test setups, and measurement tools to ensure the quality of prototypes and measure their performance.
As a result of our modeling, prototyping, and testing, we produced several geometries which reduced the activation pressure to one seventh the industry standard at several flow rates.
Sustainable Irrigation for Developing Countries
Partnering with Jain Irrigation Systems, we created injection molds to mass produce our designs, producing large quantities of two varieties of drip irrigation emitters to test in the field.
In line emitters, which are integrated inside of the hose as the hose is assembled
On line emitters, which can be inserted into hoses at any point
I traveled with a team from GEAR to test our prototypes in Jordan and Morocco. We partnered with local farmers to test our emitters on their fields. The results of our tests showed that our emitter designs reduced the required pump energy to water crops by 50%. Fields which previously required fuel pumps to sustain crops could, with our emitters, be sustained with cheaper and more sustainable solar powered pumps.
Our work has resulted in two pending patents and one published paper. I also wrote my undergraduate thesis on some of my work at MIT’s GEAR Lab.
Patents:
Channel-Less Drip Irrigation Emitters and Methods of Using the Same. 20220046870. 2021.
Systems and Methods for Designing and Modeling Pressure-Compensating Drip Emitters, and Improved Devices in View of the Same. 20220046869. 2021.