(Engenharia na Agricultura, 2009-05-29) Amaral, Luís Gustavo Henriques do; Ramos, Márcio Mota; Silva, Demetrius David da; Cecon, Paulo Roberto; Freitas, Letícia Cibele da Silva Ramos
In open channel irrigation systems, frequent fluctuations in water level together with high sensitivity of water delivery structures cause large variations in supplied discharge. The present study aimed to develop and calibrate a discharge regulator capable of minimizing the effect of such fluctuations. The regulator has eight rectangular orifices around the circumference of a sliding tube, which allows water flow from the main channel to the derivatives. The hydraulic head over them is adjusted by the action of a float that follows fluctuations in water level, thus minimizing the discharge variation. The equipment built from fiberglass was installed in an experimental concrete channel and submitted to functional evaluation and calibration. This automatic discharge regulator attended to the purpose for what it was conceived, providing an easy to operate low cost equipment, to supply discharges between 0.0033 and 0.0307 m 3 s -1 .
