Fertigation Mixing Device with Segmented Filtration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Fertigation systems face challenges in efficiently dissolving water-soluble fertilizers with insoluble matter and require expensive, low-insoluble-material fertilizers to prevent clogging, making the process complex and costly.
Innovation Solution
A device with a container divided into mixing and filtering compartments, equipped with a filter screen, mixing means, and an electronic system, allowing for the dissolution and filtration of water-soluble substances, enabling the use of fertilizers with higher insoluble content and simplifying the fertigation process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If fertilizers with low insoluble material content are used to prevent clogging, then reliability of irrigation system is improved, but cost of fertilizer increases
Solution Approach 1:
The device divides the container into two separate compartments: a mixing compartment for dissolving fertilizer and a filtering compartment for removing insoluble particles. This segmentation allows the use of cheaper fertilizers with higher insoluble content while preventing clogging through physical separation, resolving the contradiction between reliability and cost.
Solution Approach 2:
A filter screen positioned between the mixing and filtering compartments acts as an intermediary element that captures insoluble particles from the fertilizer solution. This mediator allows the system to use lower-cost fertilizers while maintaining system reliability by intercepting harmful particles before they reach the irrigation equipment.
2Device complexity
If expensive low-insoluble-material fertilizers are used, then equipment complexity is reduced, but loss of substance increases due to leaching
Solution Approach 1:
The device extracts and removes insoluble particles from the fertilizer solution through the filter screen before the solution enters the irrigation system. This extraction process enables the use of conventional fertilizers that would otherwise be unsuitable, reducing substance loss by allowing precise fertigation application without requiring expensive specially-formulated fertilizers.
3Quantity of substance
If conventional fertilizers with high insoluble content are used directly, then cost of fertilizer is reduced, but harmful factors increase due to clogging
Solution Approach 1:
The filter screen converts the harmful insoluble particles into a beneficial separation process. Instead of discarding these particles as waste that causes clogging, the system captures them in the filtering compartment, allowing their removal while enabling the use of cost-effective conventional fertilizers. The harm is transformed into a manageable separation task.
4Reliability
If filtration is added to remove insoluble matter, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The filtering function is merged with the existing fertilizer dissolution container by dividing it into two compartments. Rather than adding a separate external filtration system that would increase complexity, the filter screen is integrated directly into the container structure, combining mixing and filtration functions in a single unified device.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device effectively removes insoluble matter from fertilizer solutions, allowing for cost-effective use of fertilizers with higher insoluble content, reducing equipment complexity and waste, and ensuring efficient distribution in irrigation systems.
Implementation Method 1
separated by a vertically positioned filter screen comprising a filter
Implementation Method 2
dissolving in an aqueous liquid an essentially water-soluble substance comprising insoluble solid matter
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
The present application provides a device (1) for dissolving in an aqueous liquid an essentially water-soluble substance, optionally comprising insoluble solid matter, and, optionally for filtering the aqueous solution of the essentially water-soluble substance to remove the insoluble solid matter. The device (1) comprises a container (2) for holding an aqueous liquid, wherein the interior of the container is divided into two separate compartments, respectively a mixing compartment (12) and a filtering compartment (14), separated by a vertically positioned filter screen (13) comprising a filter; a mixing means positioned in the mixing compartment; an outlet (17) in the lower half of one of the walls or in the base of the mixing compartment (12) for removal of the insoluble solid matter from the mixing compartment (12); a grid (4) positioned above the mixing compartment (12) comprising means for opening a bag (5) positioned on or above the grid (4), and an electronic device (20), optionally comprising a digital display, connected to a sensor (19).