Chile creates a unique frost control system in the world
What was initially a mobile platform to combat frost has been transformed into a device that generates wind energy, helps fruit production and optimizes livestock productivity. A unique technology in the world developed by Chilean scientists.
Frost, a meteorological phenomenon that occurs when the temperature is below the freezing point of water, is a problem that affects the field especially. Farmers know how to prevent their crops from being irretrievably lost.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), climate change has increased extreme events, such as floods, droughts and frosts.
In the municipality of Machalí, about 100 kilometers south of Santiago, a group of experts has successfully applied a Chilean invention. The technicians deploy a mobile platform with an articulated arm at the end of which there is a portable propeller. The objective is to control the frosts that hit agricultural production.
"To give the project a little more innovation, we thought that the air current generated by the propeller could serve not only to control frost, but also as an important input in agriculture", explains the director of the innovation agency Chile Sustenta, Rodolfo Cortés.
Scientists use the air generated by the propellers to hydrate or dehydrate the fruit, as appropriate, by applying hot air or by spraying fresh water.
The characteristics of this platform, of New Zealand origin but manufactured with Chilean technology, make it a useful device for any season of the year.
Thanks to the height of the structure, the device is also used to generate wind energy, which can be directed towards poultry houses, stables and other agricultural facilities.
According to researcher Thomás Fichet, an academic at the University of Chile, "The idea is to apply this technology to new services that make it a multipurpose tool in the agricultural and forestry area".
It is also efficient in terms of fuel consumption. Its creators detail that the platform requires five liters of oil per hour, an amount significantly lower than conventional systems, which require fifty liters.
The project is supported by the University of Chile and the Government of the O'Higgins region, one of the Chilean areas most affected by heavy frosts in the last three years.
The Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Furche, recently commented that one of the reasons for introducing this technology in the Chilean countryside is to protect the production of cherries from the country, the most important in the world, from frost.
The engineer Rodolfo Cortés is proud of the invention.
“Chile is up to date”, he says. This innovative technology is adding value to the wind and makes the mobile platform a unique tool in the world to control fierce frosts and other agricultural problems.
Source: Reuters
ARTÍCULOS RELACIONADOS
