NARO has revealed that installing a sheet type heat exchanger in a water flow such as agricultural irrigation canals can exchange heat approximately 15 times more efficiently than installing it underground. Agricultural irrigation canals widely used in rural areas can be effectively used as heat sources for heat pumps by this research result. It also helps to reduce the consumption of energy for cooling and heating of greenhouses and its operational costs. Read more
We have developed "Smartphone version of disaster prevention support system for irrigation pond", which is a new user interface of "Disaster prevention support system for irrigation pond" published in September 2018. It is now possible to report damage status while inspecting the risk information on the pond, thereby enabling the rapid sharing of disaster information of irrigation ponds. Currently, user IDs are distributed to prefectures and municipalities nationwide, and they are being used on a trial basis. Read more
NARO has developed a technique to collect groundwater in a labor-saving manner using a commercially available water sampler for wells in order to measure the age of groundwater. In the dating method with the concentration of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) as an index, which is a dissolved gas in groundwater, the time required for sampling can be reduced by up to 60 to 70%. Also, this method does not use a pump, hence the survey equipment can be simplified and lightened thereby reducing the burden on investigators. Read more
NARO International Symposium 2018:Research and applications of water control and management in agricultural and rural areas was organized by Institute for Rural Engineering, NARO at Tsukuba International Congress Center on October 26, 2018. In this international symposium, prominent researchers from France, Netherlands, Taiwan and Japan gave presentation about the global trends, recent advancements and efforts for practical applications in water management research in rural engineering.
The Institute for Rural Engineering, NARO (NIRE) has developed a water management control system that efficiently distributes water based on its usage by linking the pumping stations controlled by the land improvement district and the automatic hydrants in farms managed by farmers using ICT. The Irrigation and Drainage Automation System (iDAS) is expected to contribute in labor saving for facility managers in paddy field irrigation areas, saving in use of agricultural water, and saving in energy consumption of pumps.Read more
