TSMC Successfully Develops Green Energy Smart Water Control Gate to Help Enhance Efficiency of Agricultural Water Use
Water is a precious resource for sustainable development of a country. According to the statistics of the Water Resources Agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, rice irrigation accounts for 70% of the total water consumption in Taiwan. How to enhance the efficiency of agricultural water use and integrate water resources management is an urgent issue for Taiwan. It is also one of UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). TSMC fulfills its corporate social responsibility and actively participates in the "Smart Irrigation Program" jointly launched by the Water Resources Agency (WRA) and the Taiwan Chia-Nan Irrigation Association. Since 2018, the patented Green Energy Smart Water Control Gate technology has been provided to the WRA for free as a low-cost management tool for smart irrigation.
Automatic Irrigation System: Water-saving Efficiency has Increased by 10%
Traditionally, it requires people to manually operate water gates to control irrigation water. Due to large areas of agricultural land, 1,300 workers in charge of water gate control often have difficulty adjusting water control gates accurately in real time during weather changes, resulting in a loss of water resources.
To implement the Smart Irrigation Program, TSMC Fab 6 demonstrates its innovation in green manufacturing. Using solar power to run optimized mechanical modules, along with IoT cloud surveillance technology, TSMC successfully developed the Green Energy Smart Water Control Gate technology. It is powered by solar panels and paired with the Field Hydrological Data Collection and Automatic Irrigation System to adjust the gate height and control precise water levels in order to truly achieve goal of smart irrigation. In the future, farmers will be able to monitor irrigation with a smart phone or tablet, and enhance maximum irrigation efficiency with minimum amounts of water, saving up to 10% of water used.
Green Energy Smart Water Control Gate
15 watts of solar energy for supply and power storage; no power lines needed.
The water levels of irrigation channels and fields are monitored by ultrasonic sensors to determine the degree of opening of the gate and the operation duration time.
It enables low-power wireless remote control within a radius of 50 kilometers, allowing farmers to check their fields only with a mobile phone.
Information, such as temperature and soil temperature and humidity, is controlled; irrigation demand is accurately calculated.
The Patent is Provided to the Government for Free; Expected to Save Three Months of City Water Consumption
In October of 2018, TSMC Senior Vice President J.K. Lin signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with WRA and the Taiwan Chia-Nan Irrigation Association on the Smart Water Management–Irrigation Advancing Program to provide the Smart Water Control Gate patent for free. Starting from this year, the Smart Water Control Sluice Gates will be adopted in a two-year term in the Wu-Shan-Tou irrigation trial area for the 88 hectares of the first rice harvest irrigation. It is estimated to save 95 million tons of water if the technology implemented in all first rice harvest area in the Chia-Nan area, equivalent to three months of water consumption in the Tainan City. This will set a new milestone for the cross-field cooperation between the agricultural industry and the technology industry.