Using solenoid valves effectively can help address common irrigation challenges in hydroponics. Commercial hydroponics can benefit greatly from solenoid valves, in addition to solving these attendant challenges. We are the leading solenoid valve supplier in Zambia.
What Are Solenoid Valves?
A solenoid valve is a valve that can be controlled automatically. They are distinguished from manual valves by being able to be controlled remotely. The flow of a substance through a manual ball or gate valve is controlled by pulling a lever mechanism, as with your home’s water tap.
Unlike manual valves, solenoid valves are remotely controlled, which makes them ideal for applications where fluid or gaseous substance needs to be controlled.
Here is a basic explanation of how a solenoid valve works. But you might want to know what a solenoid is. Before we move forward, let’s discuss that briefly:
What is a solenoid?
Solenoids are coil wires that use electromagnets. A magnetic film is great when a current is run through this coil wire, hence the term ‘electromagnet’.
Magnets create motion by pulling or repelling materials that are sensitive to them, like metal. Electromagnets have the advantage of being electrically control over permanent magnets. If you cut off their power supply, you will stop the linear motion they enable.
By switching on and off electrical current, a solenoid valve’s piston moves back and forth as an electromagnetic field enables disable. In this way, the valve is actual and remotely control, and motion is great.
It is the automatic control solenoids provide to control valves that make them suitable for applications such as switches, car starters, and – for our purposes – hydroponics and irrigation.
Your trust washing machine and dishwasher are among the many electrically power and control gadgets in your home right now that use solenoids.
We will now discuss hydroponics, one of the solenoid control valve applications that are growing in popularity.
Hydroponics As A Solenoid Control Valve Application
Unlike the soil we commonly plant on in our fields, hydroponics grows plants without soil. It is possible to use a growing medium inste of natural water and fertile soil that use in traditional agriculture.
Sand, clay pellets, coconut fiber, perlite, and vermiculite are some of the growing mediums used in hydroponics. There are a lot of options when you look at it. This growing medium plant in a bucket and use grow plants.
The setup requires a method for watering and fertilizing these plants, as you have already figured out. The containers in which the plants grow deep in trays or pipes containing mineral nutrient solutions from which they will draw water and nutrients.
Aira Euro Automation is the leading solenoid valve supplier in Zambia. We offer various types of industrial valves like ball valves, butterfly valves, control valves, globe control valves, and many more.
Are hydroponics a practical way of growing food?
It is a great way to propagate plants and grow food using hydroponics. The reason for this is that they do not need land to farm. Both commercial and hobby farmers are becoming increasingly interested in this.
- You use 20% less space when you grow vertically (with growing towers).
- Open-field agriculture uses up to 20 times more water than this method. Because the plants already sit in the water irrigation, there is no runoff through which water can wast.
- Due to uniform growing conditions and consistent water and nutrient supply, plants grow the same and will taste the same, too. Also, the plants don’t need a lot of cleaning after harvest, which preserves their quality and taste.
- There is less labor requir – As you do not grow in open soils, you do not need to deal with weeds. Moreover, there is no mud to clean because there is no mud to deal with.
Minimizing food waste – since it is much easier to grow less food than people can consume. In hydroponics, you can cultivate just a few plants at once, using no more water or fertilizer than the plants need to grow, which isn’t possible with traditional agriculture. Commercial hydroponics allows you to have a better understanding of your input requirements.
Also, read “How to Install a Threaded Ball Valve”
Hydroponic systems are easy to scale up
Food production through hydroponics can be highly profitable when scaled up. Space efficiency means a smaller area to manage, which reduces production transport and lighting costs. Vertical farms, which are only feasible with hydroponics technologies, can also benefit from space efficiency.
When you use solenoid valves to control your irrigation, you can run a profitable farm while working a regular job, as we will see shortly.
If there is such a thing as hands-free farming, hydroponic systems provide it. This technology allows you to grow plants anywhere.
A practical and economical way to beat world hunger
Hydroponics is the future of agriculture, to be honest. In the face of burgeoning population growth, increasingly scarce tillable land, fast-depleting water resources, and climate change, hydroponics technology is the most reliable way for the world to beat hunger. Almost every input you need in your operation uses less or more efficiently.
Having cleared that up, let’s move on to the meat of this article – practical applications of solenoid valves in hydroponics systems:
Solenoid Control Valve Applications in Hydroponics Systems
Hydroponics and solenoid control valves complement each other perfectly. Hydroponics operations benefit greatly from solenoid control valves because they can effectively scale.
We have already shown you how a basic hydroponic system works, so you can imagine a network of pipes running throughout. It is impossible to run a hydroponics system without a way of pumping water and nutrients to the plants.
By hand, you could fill the reservoirs with water, aerate and mix in the nutrients, and irrigate the plants using any drip irrigation system without ever needing solenoid valves.
It would mean you would have to be on your farm 24 hours a day or hire paid help. Again, you would never be able to scale your little operation in this manner.
Hydroponics systems need a self-controlling fertigation system
A fertigation controller is essential for automating and scaling your hydroponics operation. A nutrient solution apparatus allows you to prepare water + soluble fertilizers and deliver them to your plants. When fertilizing and watering your plants at the same time, you are fertilizing and irrigating them at the same time.
Because they can do so much more than stand irrigation controllers, fertilization controllers use where you would normally use stand irrigation controllers. In addition to monitoring sunlight, humidity, and other factors that affect how much water and nutrients your plants require to grow properly, they can help you manage individual sections of your farm.
The purpose of fertigation controllers is to prevent you from having to move around pulling switches all day long to determine when and which parts of your farm are to fertigation. Depending on the section and frequency of irrigation, your fertigation controllers can program to irrigate different zones throughout the day at different times.
The solenoid control valves requir to operation fertigation controllers based on this understanding alone. As your hydroponics farm grows and your planting patterns become more complex, you will need more solenoid control valves.
In hydroponics, you wouldn’t even be able to install a fertigation controller without your solenoid valves. A fertigation controller eliminates over watering and overfertilization costs by fertigating when necessary.
Here are some solenoid applications for a small hydroponics system you can set up at home to grow food for your consumption as well as to supply a restaurant down the road to earn some extra income:
Using solenoid control valves with irrigation controllers
The solenoid valve controls the flow of water to where you need it, while the irrigation controller lets you program your irrigation cycles. As a result, the solenoid valves actuate your controller.
Your irrigation system will actuate different solenoid valves to pre-program watering times and frequencies to ensure that different sections of your farm are water when you want them to.
Temperature and moisture sensors can use in more advanced close-loop irrigation controllers to determine when your plants need water, rather than relying on a simple timer. As part of these controllers, solenoid valves play an important role as well. It’s even more so.
A solenoid valve is a vital fitting in a hydroponics system that enables you to automate the system so it can run in your absence or at scale, where your piping system is the backbone and primary method of watering and fertilizing your plants. In other words, solenoid valves allow you to increase production and effectively commercialize your hydroponics business.
Solenoid valves in action
In a typical hydroponics system, solenoid valves control the following tasks:
Filling your reservoirs automatically – The consequences of forgetting to refill your reservoirs are obvious; there will be no water to pump to your plants.
You connect a solenoid valve to your main pump and set it to refill periodically. Water can move into drip pipes gravity if your reservoir tank elevate.
You would still need a solenoid valve connected to a minicomputer or controller on the waterline to control flow. Alternatively, a ball valve would have to fit, which would have to open and close manually.
To control water flow, you could install a gate valve, which will still need to monitor. The place would flood if you return otherwise.