Diseño de un sistema inteligente de riego para plantas medicinales, aromáticas y condimentarias

<p>Medicinal aromatic and spices plants are present in the expansive majority of Latin American territory due to the traditional medicine that encompasses all of this territory (Berm&uacute;dez et al., 2005). Medicinal plants do not require specific care besides humidity and irrigation because these types of plants are in the natural world (Industrial et al., 2005; Molins, 2012). The goal of this work lies in the design of an irrigation system that can be controlling both automatically and manually by sprinkling and dripping that allows the revival of the medicinal aromatic and spices plants both in research and in the application of formal and informal health systems. The design of this system is proposing for the Agroecological farm of the Central University of Valle of Cauca, UCEVA, it has two large units: electric-electronic unit and hydraulic unit. In the first one, a LOGO SIEMENS V8 3.0 PLC and HMI LOGO TDE user interface are used that will be friendly and easy to interact for them. This system includes an extension of digital inputs and outputs that allows it to be scalable that is the number of solenoid valves can be expanding without modifying the electronic systems, only the physical hydraulic systems and the PLC programming software. In addition, the system has an analog signal card that connects humidity, temperature and pH sensors. The main board&#39;s electrical grid is single-phase at 110 VAC and its energy demand is supplied by a 450-watt photovoltaic system with a 1000-watt inverter that allows the expansion of the system as its electrical requirements increase. In the second unit, the hydraulic system works by gravity an elevated tank is supplied by a pen-type pump submerged in the farm tank from this two hydraulic lines are taken, one in 4 &rdquo;for the drip irrigation system which reduces the distributed valve system (SDV) to &frac12; &#39;&#39;, this system is double in parallel with ball valves and solenoid valves. This valve set consists of 10 normally closed solenoid valves controlled at 110VAC and has a 4 &rdquo;water pressure control and flow control valve; the other line leads to the hydroflow system that controls the sprinkler irrigation that is used in the summer season due to the high temperatures that the cultivation of medicinal plants can reach. The design includes the implementation of electrovalves automatically controlled by the PLC with an alternating manual system, in case of failures in the electronic control or maintenance without the need to affect the drip irrigation system. The automatic management of the irrigation of medicinal plants allows this field to resurface as a great bank of medicines to be discovering as a complement to traditional medicine and the basis of preventive medicine (Berm&uacute;dez et al., 2005; Industrial et al., 2005).</p>