Automated Farm Tunnels: Scaled Prototype

Authors

Axel Anderson, Trinity UniversityFollow
Bryan Granizo, Trinity UniversityFollow
Samuel Studebaker, Trinity UniversityFollow

Document Type

Report

Publication Date

5-2018

Abstract

The use of covered tunnels in agriculture has increased dramatically in the Texas Hill Country over the past few years. These tunnels are similar to greenhouses but do not have climate control so they need natural venting for humidity and temperature purposes, which means that the plastic covering the tunnel (see Figure 1) needs to be raised and lowered repeatedly. The first generation of these tunnels seen in Figure 1 did not have a mechanism to roll the plastic up or down, but the second generation tunnel shown in Figure 2 has implemented a pipe, which will be referred to as the “plastic rolling pipe”, that goes down the length of the tunnel and is turned by a gear box to raise or lower the sides. The plastic rolls around the pipe and pulls the pipe up the tunnel or unravels and allows the pipe to descend.

Comments

Final Project Report for ENGR-4367 Mechatronics

Repository Citation

Anderson, Axel; Granizo, Bryan; and Studebaker, Samuel, "Automated Farm Tunnels: Scaled Prototype" (2018). Mechatronics Final Projects. 10.
https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/engine_mechatronics/10