Pressure measurements at critical locations in the irrigation system (distributed pressure measurements) wereused to optimize operation of an electric pumping plant equipped for variable speed operation. Operation of the pumpingplant was optimized in terms of providing adequate irrigation coverage with minimum energy use. The pumping plantsupplied water to a single center pivot on undulating topography. The center pivot was equipped with a supervisorycontrol and data acquisition system for variable rate water application. Electrical demand of the irrigation system wasevaluated under four variable speed pumping control schemes. Disregarding inefficiencies of the variable frequencymotor controller, distributed pressure measurement resulted in 15.8 and 20.2% energy savings compared to constantspeed pumping for uniform and variable rate irrigation, respectively. When the efficiency of the variable frequency motorcontroller is accounted for, distributed pressure measurement resulted in 7.5 and 12.4% energy savings compared toconventional constant speed pumping for uniform and variable rate irrigation, respectively. Use of distributed pressuremeasurements to control the variable speed pumping plant was highly effective in minimizing energy use whilemaintaining the pressure required throughout the irrigation system.
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King et al. (2000) studied this question.