What do a refinement gutter and a cloaca pipe have in common ? For one , you ca n’t just spray them clean-living once they get pestiferous . So it ’s not surprising that IPSAM Technology and tomato grower Den Berk Delice came together last year to develop a peregrine refinement sewer cleansing and disinfection motorcar .
The final result after one year ; uninfected gutters in all of the grower ’s greenhouses and , for the car builder , an extensively field - tested simple machine that they can also build for other growers , contractors , and machine rental firms . After all , as more and more growers are view their acreage acquire , the sewer in greenhouses are becoming longer , and the virus press is increase .
Pieter Verboven , labor manager at Den Berk : " We used to hire a auto for cleaning the gutter that work with a high - pressure water jet-propelled plane , just like this machine , but when our greenhouses got bigger and the gutter longer , the machine no longer sufficed . Then we start looking for something new , something better , but we could n’t give rise such a auto ourselves , and we could n’t feel what we wanted . "
The car has already cleaned the gutters in Den Berk ’s greenhouses over about 20 hectares
200 + metersWhat followed was a headphone call from Pieter to IPSAM Technology . There he explain that in Den Berk ’s big greenhouse , the gutters were now 210 meters foresightful and therefore difficult to scavenge properly . The motorcar detergent builder from Essen , which is near the tight - produce tomato grower with a total of nine cultivation locations , understood the job . Samuel Hanssens , general handler at IPSAM Technology : " We chop-chop saw similarities between closed cultivation gutters and sewage tobacco pipe . Fortunately , the cleaning of a 200 - meter sewage pipe has n’t made us flinch for a tenacious time . "
However , IPSAM Technology was not yet active in greenhouse horticulture . But it was combat-ready in Agriculture Department . This is where the fellowship originated . In the 1950s , founder Christ Vandekeybus train a pasture pump that helped oxen pump up water supply and drink . Later , countless other ( farming ) machine were explicate , including slurry tankers , whereby vacuum engineering made it possible to vacuum out Herbert George Wells , and finally the reaming and cleanup vehicle , in which a similar applied science also create it potential to clean sewers .
Compact and manoeuvrableHowever , such large car are not very practical in the nursery . That ’s why Pieter ask the builder of the hold and make clean trolleys for a summary and manoeuvrable machine that could also be transported on a trailer . However , that logistical aspect was ultimately not the most challenging for the builders . It turned out that the greatest challenge lay in bridging the entire length of the gutter and being able to houseclean with sufficient force without have to use the tremendous water volumes that are usual in sewer cleansing . Pieter : " Until now , we had to push the nozzle into the gutter manually in club to be able to clean the long cultivation gutter to their end . "
Six months after the first talks , the fiat be in August 2020 to construct a car for Den Berk Délice with a desire livery appointment : early December 2020 . unforesightful placard , but the deadline was meet . In December , the automobile made its first rounds through the glasshouse .
At that time , tests had already been done in the glasshouse with a gutter cleaning trolley . It was determined which appendage parameters were optimal as a ground for further production development . Then , the blueprint of the machine was start . It is equip with lead . Pieter : " you’re able to equate the car in term of dimension and way of drive with the machines that grower use during crop changes to withdraw and shred plants . "
The political machine during the test phase
FinesseBecause the growers wanted to utilise the political machine during the crop changes in December , the first trial during the development phase were convey in a greenhouse that was still plant . " Not ideal , but we were able to see what was want to make clean the gutters properly " , Pieter recalls . " I really study a lot from these bozo about gamey - air pressure water jetting . Even with machines like this , it ’s all in the fine contingent . "
Samuel and Business Development Manager Matias Maris of the motorcar builder can only harmonize with the latter . Matias : " In fiat to have enough index to scavenge and disinfect the entire gutter , we had to aline the heart decently , test various types of hosepipe , adjust the duration and diameter of hosiery and also try other sewer head . The result is that we have now found the ripe combination of pump , hosiery , head , and control . "
CertaintyThe machine has already cleaned around 20 hectare at Den Berk . The love apple grower has appointed two people to operate the machine . They always go with the machine , from locating to location . Pieter : " We used to strip the gutters with the rented simple machine during crop changes with three masses , and that was quite the task . Now , with this machine , we can do it with one person . "
Although it is not the most important matter , IPSAM Technology also deliberately focuses on lying-in savings . Matias : " In addition to the cleaning power , the challenge in the intent was to incorporate all the other desired functionality into one machine , such as the gutter disinfection whereby germicidal is supply to the high - force per unit area water spirt via a dosed injection , the management of the released rinsing water by collection and intervention , as well as the mobile and remote persona of the installation . "
The machine can clean and disinfect 200 metre of gutter per 7 minutes , including changeover time when change between gutters . Pieter : " You have define metre for a alteration of crop , so the machine had to fork out an improvement in time and , above all , the certainty of clean gutter . We now have the latter , and the former is also a good affair . We can now clean and disinfect the gutters more quickly , although you’re able to see that due to the high computer virus pressure in horticulture , we are presently even going around the glasshouse doubly . When it come to implant viruses , we err on the side of cautiousness . "
MultifunctionalThe machine detergent builder and the grower take care back on an intensive collaborative project in which both sides invested a lot of time . Nevertheless , the machine is not single to Den Berk . Samuel : " The machine is freely usable from us , and on top of the basic purpose , it is potential to bestow supernumerary customized options . "
The love apple agriculturist grease one’s palms one machine and thus has the auto under their own management . " In two fourth dimension three months a class , we always have a crop change in one of our glasshouse . By having the machine under our own management , we are flexible and can also take the clip to thoroughly clean the machine ourselves after function . "
Besides cleaning the inside of the closed cultivation gutters , the machine can also be used for cleaning the exterior of polish gutter and roof gutters . Matias : " It is possible to link up 2 or 3 shooting iron to the machine . This induce the machine multifunctional and also operable outside the harvest change season by both growers and , for example , also by contractors or machine rental companies . And that does n’t have to be just in tomato polish , Matias emphasizes . " We can also clean drip gutter as you find them in strawberry polish with this machine . "
For more information : Samuel HanssensMatias MarisIPSAM Technology[email protected][email protected]www.ipsam.com
Pieter VerbovenDen Berk Délice[email protected]www.denberk - delice.be
