Development of Water Supply and Drainage Automation Equipment for Paddy Fields and Application to Flood Mitigation Systems

Abstract

Paddy rice agriculture is one of the main industries in the Asahikawa region. Due to the shortage of successors, reducing the workload of the elderly is an urgent issue. As one of these measures, there is a need for a device that automates the water supply and drainage of rice fields. Most of the devices currently being developed are not widespread because the cost of the entire system is high or the type of water supply and drainage is performed by an underdrain method. Therefore, in our laboratory, we are developing a device that can supply and drain water directly from a general open-ditch irrigation canal. The feature of this device is that it is automated by using an electric cylinder for the opening and closing mechanism of the floodgate and using the wedge gate method for sealing the floodgate. In addition, one of the factors that cause the flood to increase in scale is drainage from rice fields during heavy rains, and we are studying ways to apply this device to flood mitigation systems.