Tag: Senmatic

Posted on by

Senmatic Bio Venturi

Bio Mixer development
The product was developed in the beginning of this year and has now been tested for a few months. “ A lot of people have already shown interest and we’ve even already sold some.” The product was developed in cooperation with customers in Germany and Austria, who went to Senmatic’s local dealers with the question for a way to easily add biomass to their irrigation water. Together with the dealers, they worked it out.

“Growers want to add microorganisms or bio-fertilizers to the irrigation water, without changing the EC. Therefore, the dosage should be proportional to the amount of irrigation water and automatically controlled for each culture, via the fertilizer mixer. You can see and follow the EC on the bio mixer.”

The Bio Venturi is a part added to the Bio Mixer. It is suitable for the adding and precise dosage of bio-fertilizers, nematodes, H2O2, Bactimos, beneficials and microorganisms. The Bio Mixer is suitable for all kinds of crops in greenhouses, indoor farms, as well as in outdoor, open field crops. Johnny Rasmussen, Business Development Manager with Senmatic: “We took the knowledge from the grower and our expertise and brought that together. Now we have the bio venturi.”

Helping the grower
The bio venturi, which is added to the AMI Penta Bio Mixer, saves the grower many labour hours. “When the grower wants a certain amount of organic matter on his tables or in his drippers, he has to add that organic matter by hand. That used to be work which took quite some time. Now, instead of doing it manually, it’s done by the computer which is more precise, so it saves money as well.”





Posted on by

Senmatic developments and updates

Amigo Penta Unit
VLT drive
Senmatic setup
Senmatic unit

On our latest installed Amigo Penta Senmatic unit, we have done it a bit differently.

Traditionally we use a system pump and wrap around design to inject the fertiliser. As we use a mixing tank, we need the use of a small booster pump which is already incorporated within the unit. The system pump incorporates a variable speed drive or Hydrovar unit.

Within this project we have removed the Hydrovar (but kept the same pump) and added a variable speed drive that the Penta computer can see, understand and control. In simple terms we can dial in the pressure required at source to deliver the correct pressure for each valve group. If the valve is further away with a higher pressure loss then we increase the pressure at source for that valve.

Separately, we have included a Bio Venturi dosing unit. This is a separate Venturi leg on the rig with additional flow monitoring and control alongside the new software. This control leg has been designed for introducing Hydrogen Peroxide, Nematodes and other additives at highly accurate levels. This will replace the need for a speed control pump for the injection of hydrogen peroxide on this system.

The unit has a mini PC that allows Senmatic engineers to give instruction, fault find and update the system from a technical aspect. A simple Sim card will allow the data transfer.

SuperLink 6 can also be added to this min PC which will allow any user on the internet to view the control computer and alter settings (password protected).

The SiiP sensors are a set of sensors and software that Penny UK and Senmatic have introduced over the last 12 months specifically for soft fruit growers. The agronomists and growers have been using delayed readings to give alerts to the state of the irrigation and plants and then manually assessing or altering the irrigation.

We now read the moisture, run off, EC slab, temperature, pH or light level within the crop every few milliseconds and alter subsequent irrigations continuously (with growers permission). This uses the latest glasshouse technologies within the field.

Various sensors are available to suit the growing methods of individual farms.

NDJ Click Tiff on table tops
Field
Field
Field
SiiP layout

Posted on by

Senmatic LCC4 Climate controller

We recently commissioned Senmatic LCC4 to a well known horticultural plant producer. As seen on photos Full vent control for 4 compartments, automated programming based on crop requirements.

Climate control is the most important factor in order to grow premium quality horticultural plants. Couple this with the importance of efficient and responsible energy consumption, then a Senmatic LCC4 must be considered as the ultimate solution to meet all the demands of a modern horticultural operation. The user-friendly controller that can have up to 16 compartments. Outdoor weather station, greenhouse climate sensors as humidity, temperature, light, C02. Heating control, screen control, LED control and so much more.

Also the LCC4 is based on state-of-the-art technology and an advanced operating system and is therefore easy to update and expand with more functions and capacity.

We see Senmatic as the ultimate solution that any grower needs. A user clear friendly display will show each control zone on the nursery. With the ability to view graphs of all data collected by the computer through Superlink 6 Software. Overseeing the current and forecast weather, the conscientious grower will quickly and easily be able to see what is happening inside and outside the glasshouse.

If you are looking to step up your growing controls to be more precise, give us a call and we are happy to quote a fully automated system.

Posted on by

Second AMI Penta fertilizer Mixer installed in Scotland

Bringing glasshouse technology onto the field. Second AMI Penta fertilizer Mixer installed in Scotland for precise fertigation with irrigation control for a soft fruit farm. Having the SIIP system in place this will become automatic, taking moisture, drainage and climate readings from the field. Based on user targets, the software will take control over crop requirements and adjust accordingly.

AMI Penta sets even greater focus on the plants’ need for precision fertilizing and accurate acidity in the irrigation water at the right time. We have never seen a more precise dosing of EC and pH, giving the plants the required nutrients at the right pH.

AMI Penta fertilizer mixer is easy to operate with well-arranged menus shown on a large 10.1″ touch screen.

Many languages are available and switching between them is very simple. This minimizes the risk of human errors in companies employing people of different nationality.

Current setup controls 16 valves for growing tabletop strawberries. For each group, you can choose between 20 different recipes with information about EC, pH and the fertilizer mix. Irrigation time and volume can be set individually for each valve. Adjustments by radiation, drainage or climate.

The software in AMI Penta is based on a standard operating system and is easy to update and expand with more functions and larger capacity when needed. AMI Penta will be connected to one central PC with the SuperLink 6 central control program for further analysis. Graphics that you can build on like chill units, GDH and disease forecast models.

It’s an exciting new development that will help you focus on more precise growing.

To read more about about Senmatic SIIP, see our page below.

Senmatic SIIP
Posted on by

First Senmatic Penta mixing rig in Scotland

Senmatic Penta mixing rig

The very first installation of the Senmatic Penta mixing rig in Scotland in what I think it is fair to say under ‘challenging’ conditions, which at this time of year it often is! Just a few more pieces to add and adjust and the bags will be wetted up.

The Senmatic software is using glasshouse technology for the field and the control that the irrigation team will have, is second to none. As I’m sure the picture shows, the stainless steel construction is demonstrating a high quality piece of equipment designed for many years of service.

The unit is also capable of running the Senmatic SiiP sensor system for autopilot or semi autopilot control. This is something that owner will look at later in the season as maintaining a high level of autonomous control via the computer is becoming a must for any grower.

Posted on by

Fruit Logistica Berlin 2020

Commercial Director Stewart Penny and Technical Manager Simon Taylor spent two full days at the trade fair, Fruit Logistica in Berlin on 5th and 6th February.

Key highlights for the Penny team, was working closely with two of our suppliers, Senmatic and J Huete both of whom had stands at the show. Indeed J Huete’s sister company Hydroponic Systems were also in attendance.

The technology available to the global fruit market is a real eye opener and something which kept the team busy for the two days.

The UK fruit industry is on the edge of some real change and with the catalyst of Brexit, growers and suppliers to the industry have to not only ‘think up’ innovative ways to grow more fruit and save money, these ideas have to be available to be implemented now! So we have to look at innovation globally understanding the solutions already out there so to speak.

J Huete, Hydroponics and Senmatic are all leaders in their respective fields and are ready to be at the start of the changing face of UK soft fruit and Penny UK are ready to introduce and manage the uptake with our existing range of completely complimentary products.

Posted on by

SSCR Soft Fruit Winter Meeting

Senmatic took part in the joint Soft Fruit Winter Meeting And Information Day organised by Scottish Society for Crop Research (SSCR) and Bulrush Horticulture Ltd at the West Park Conference Centre, Perth Road, Dundee on 13th February 2020.

The day was open to anyone in the soft fruit industry and many key people in the industry attended.

The day was full of interesting subjects and we should like to thank the presenters and the organisers for that. Scottish soft fruit growing is, like many areas of the UK in this industry, on the cusp of some radical changes and this is why we felt the Senmatic mixer unit with SiiP would be well received.

Our technical team said hello to quite a number of growers and advisers, eager to understand how the automated SiiP system could add value to their growing systems. It’s frankly a combination of labour saving combined with growing better fruit. This is not a new concept, far from it, but the new decoder SiiP system is totally new and opens ‘glasshouse technology to the field’.

It was a good event and we enjoyed having the opportunity to meet old and new costumers.