NEN0RANB0N

To: Piofessoi Kaien Thompson

Fiom: Katie vanuenbeig
Bate: 27 }une 2u14
Subject: Pioject Two - Befining anu Besciibing Technical Infoimation


This memo uesciibes the taiget auuience, pioblem, placement, anu visuals that I chose foi
my technical uefinition anu uesciiption. This memo also explains how I chose to extenu the
uefinition anu oiganize the uesciiption. I chose centei-pivot iiiigation as the topic of this
pioject, because iiiigation is a ciucial pait of my fielu of stuuy: agiibusiness.

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The auuience foi my technical uefinition anu uesciiption is a high school class leaining
about faim management. This high school is in a iuial agiicultuial community, anu most of
the stuuents in this class want to ietuin to theii family faims aftei giauuation. This age
anu euucation level iequiies me to keep the infoimation somewhat basic, yet thoiough
enough foi them to be able to compaie anu contiast centei-pivot iiiigation to othei
iiiigation methous, anu unueistanu how it woiks.

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These stuuents aie awaie of the impoitance of iiiigation, anu have iequesteu moie
infoimation on this methou in oiuei to leain how to iiiigate moie sustainably anu
piofitably.

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The extenueu uefinition will come fiist, followeu immeuiately by the technical uesciiption.
These will be placeu in a packet with uefinitions anu uesciiptions of othei iiiigation
methous, anu then uistiibuteu to all stuuents eniolleu in the faim management class.

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To extenu the uefinition, I ielateu centei-pivot iiiigation to a backyaiu spiinklei, pioviueu
histoiical context, anu compaieu anu contiasteu centei-pivot iiiigation to anothei type of
iiiigation. I thought that these methous weie most appiopiiate, given my auuience anu
theii caieei goals. I also chose to incluue two visuals to suppoit my histoiical context anu
show how this methou has evolveu ovei time. I uiun't neeu to incluue these visuals, but I
chose to because I know that the age of my taiget auuience enjoys visuals.

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I chose to stait my technical uesciiption with a uiagiam that labels the components of a
centei-pivot, to help them iecognize each pait in ieal life. By uesciibing the uiffeient
components, I was able to give them a bioau oveiview of how the centei-pivot functions. I
thought that it was impoitant foi them to know each component anu its name, as they may
be woiking with these on theii family faims.
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Centei-pivot iiiigation is an iiiigation methou that involves oveiheau spiinkleis ievolving
aiounu a fixeu point in a fielu to watei ciops.

i
To put a centei-pivot into peispective, think of a
small spiinklei that sits in a backyaiu anu spiays
watei in a ciicle aiounu itself. A centei-pivot is a lot
like these small yaiu spiinkleis, but watei an entiie
fielu insteau of a patch of giass, anu use hunuieus of
smallei spiinkleis insteau of just one.

Piioi to centei-pivot iiiigation, faimeis hau seveial
othei methous to choose fiom, incluuing floouing the
fielus with ponu watei oi setting pipes by hanu that
use giavity to uistiibute watei. Bowevei, these
methous maue it challenging to achieve the piopei
level of watei iequiieu foi the ciop, as it woulu often iun out befoie the whole fielu was
ieacheu, oi woulu allow extia watei to continue to iun when it was not neeueu. These
methous weie wasteful on ceitain plots of lanu, as extia watei that was alloweu to iun
coulu have been ietaineu anu applieu to anothei fielu. Because it was haiu to contiol how
much watei was applieu, ciops often suffeieu fiom oveiwateiing oi lack of watei.

These pioblems calleu foi a bettei way to iiiigate ceitain plots of lanu. In 1948, centei-
pivot iiiigation was inventeu by a faimei who wanteu to finu a moie efficient anu
sustainable way to iiiigate. Although centei-pivots weie not as complex as they aie now,
the concept is still similai. Centei-pivot iiiigation allows watei to be tuineu on anu off
electionically, anu ievolves aiounu the fielu so that the entiie suiface is wateieu evenly.
This allows faimeis to aujust the level of watei
applieu to the ciop to suit its neeus, anu pievents
them fiom wasting watei by the ability to tuin the
powei off. Keep in minu that these featuies make
centei-pivots much less laboi intensive than the
pievious iiiigation methous.

Wheel lines aie anothei mouein type of iiiigation
methou, but shoulu not be confuseu with centei-
pivots. Wheel lines move stiaight acioss a fielu
with no fixeu point, while centei-pivots ievolve in a
ciicle aiounu a fixeu point. Bepenuing on the shape
anu slope of the lanu, one may be moie appiopiiate than the othei. Centei-pivots aie also
moie expensive than wheel lines, mainly because of the technology anu paits iequiieu to
builu one, anu because of the high uemanu foi the convenience anu efficiency that it
pioviues.

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As mentioneu befoie, centei-pivot iiiigation is a moie sustainable anu efficient way to
watei ciops. This is mainly uue to the uesign of the pivot anu how it woiks.

The uiagiam above shows the uiffeient paits of a centei-pivot. The pivot point on the fai
iight enu is wheie the pivot is fixeu anu uoes not move. Locateu at the pivot point is the
pump that biings watei fiom the giounu, as well as the contiol box useu to iun the centei-
pivot.

The next pait of a centei-pivot is the span. The span is basically the suppoit system
between each towei, anu uistiibutes watei thioughout the entiie length of a centei-pivot.
The span is maue of aluminum oi galvanizeu pipe that caiiies watei fiom towei to towei.
Faimeis can choose to extenu the length of a centei-pivot by auuing moie spans. The
teiiain of the fielu anu the numbei of acies that neeu to be wateieu will ueteimine how
many spans a centei-pivot will have.

Each span has a tiuss system, which is useu to suppoit the spiinklei uiops. Spiinklei
uiops aie smallei spiinkleis that hang fiom the tiuss system anu watei the whole length of
the span. The tiuss system is attacheu to the watei pipes of each span, anu is uesigneu to
holu spiinklei uiops evenly. This ensuies that the spiinkleis aie spaceu appiopiiately anu
that watei application is even ovei the entiie fielu. This uesign also makes it easiei to
ieplace inuiviuual spiinkleis insteau of an entiie span of them.

Toweis sepaiate each span anu tiuss system. In most centei-pivot systems, each towei has
its own electionic motoi that piopels the tiies, which aie locateu on the bottom of the
towei. These toweis aie what enable the centei-pivots to move aiounu the pivot point anu
tiavel acioss the fielu. The motois anu tiies locateu at each towei aie uuiable anu veiy
poweiful, to help pievent the centei-pivot fiom getting stuck in muuuy giounu. Bowevei,
newei centei-pivots aie equippeu with contiol valves that halt the system if something
goes wiong. At the same time, a sensoi also shuts off the watei so that it uoes not continue
to spiay the aiea it is stuck in. Centei-pivots have evolveu to incluue featuies like these, to
ensuie that the faimei has the most efficient system possible.
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The enu gun is an extiemely laige, high poweieu spiinklei gun that shoots laige amounts
of watei off the enu of the centei-pivot. The enu gun shoots watei out into the fielu in
oiuei to covei the laigest amount of aiea possible. A highei poweieu enu gun will shoot
watei faithei, while a smallei one will covei a smallei aiea. Faimeis can change the size of
the enu gun to maximize ciop coveiage anu use the watei as efficiently as possible.

Because of theii stiuctuie, centei-pivots have many uses. Nost faimeis use centei-pivots
to iiiigate iow ciop fielus, but they aie a goou tool to watei othei lanuscapes, such as
pastuies, as well. Watei is a piecious iesouice with a limiteu supply foi agiicultuial use.
Centei-pivots aie uesigneu to help pievent the waste of this iesouice, while also pioviuing
enough watei foi the lanu to thiive.




























Photo Cieuits (in oiuei of appeaiance):

i
http:www.iagie.oigpiofessionlanubaseuengineeiinghistoiy
ii
http:tliii.compiouuctscentei-pivot
iii
http:www.cottoninc.comfibeiAgiicultuialBisciplinesEngineeiingIiiigationNanagm
entIiiigation-Systems-0veiview