Design and Testing of a Remote Control-Based Integrated Flow Regulation and Measurement Device

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The present article "Design and testing of a remote control-based integrated flow  regulation and measurement device" deals an interesting  topic. Although the experimental design is to develop  a flow measuring device and authors discuss  most of the section. However I have a  minor suggestion to add a sections in the last dealing with  their applications part and why this device is  more adventageous than other related device present in the market. 

Author Response

First of all, we would like to thank you in particular for your approval of our article and your suggestion is much needed. After consideration, we have decided to add an evaluation of the device by adding "Compared to other relevant devices on the market, the device is simple in construction, less costly and the regulation meets production needs" at the end of the conclusion. However, we have not added an application comparison section to the text. I will explain it in the following two points.

1. The focus of this paper is on the design of a device that can be used for flow regulation and flow measurement and the study of its regulation performance. This paper does not deal with its application in specific irrigation scenarios. The specific applications will be investigated in a separate paper.
2.  This paper is also devoted to the development of a remote-control algorithm for the device. We all know that the control effect of the control algorithm is only of specific research value for the specific object under control. If I were to impose the control algorithms mentioned in this paper on other relevant devices on the market, there would be no good control results. Therefore, we do not consider it necessary to make the described comparison.

Anyway, thank you very much for your suggestions, but we would not add new treatments to this article. We will consider your suggestion and apply it in our next paper on the application of the device.

Reviewer 2 Report

1.     The author should clearly summarize the innovation points of this paper. From the introduction and relevant charts, what new ideas were forward about the flow control device？Only realizing remote control could not support it as a research paper.

2.     It is regrettable to find that the literatures cited in the introduction were basically written by Chinese people, which does not meet the requirements of international journals. In fact, the reason why flow control devices cannot be used on a large scale is because of their high cost. What is the advantage of this test device?

3.     The flow direction shall be indicated in Figure 1.

4.     There was no KV in formula (2).

5.     Lack of detailed test datas to support the quantitative relationship between flow and valve opening degree under different pressures.

6.     Lack of test data analysis of flow rate and pulse number.

7.     The relevant parameters in the paper were only carried out under pure water, fertilization was not applied. However, the introduction mentions relevant fertilization devices, and the relationship between flow and opening degree under different density and temperature should be supplemented to increase applicability.

Author Response

Thank you for your advice. Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The comments and suggestions are given in the attached file

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thank you for your advice. Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

The paper is of interest, but some improvements are needed.

 

2.2 Driver Module

Line 108 - Please mention the source of the formula (1)

 

3. Experimental Study

Lines 202 and 210 - Please mention the source of the formulas (4), and (5), and if original, please mention

 

We recommend authors to consult more bibliographical resources, and if there are no more sources concerning their study, to mention it.

 

Author Response

Point 1: 2.2 Driver Module

Line 108 - Please mention the source of the formula (1)

Response 1: The reference for Formula 1 will be inserted.

Feng; B. Li; S. Han Mechanical principles and mechanical design. 2ed.; Higher Education Press: Beijing, 2014; p 147-175

 

Point 2：3 Experimental Study

Lines 202 and 210 - Please mention the source of the formulas (4), and (5), and if original, please mention

Response 2: Formulas (4) is the formula we obtained by fitting polynomials, and the expression in the text does lack clarity. Formulas (5) is our proposed calculation based on the definitions of these parameters, so in the text we have also inserted references to the sources of the parameter definitions here.

In the text,” Therefore, the relationship between opening and flow rate can be established, and the relationship equation is as follows. “

replaced by

” A polynomial was fitted to the test data to establish the relationship between opening and flow. The relationship established is as follows. “

References for Formulas (5)

Feng; B. Li; S. Han Mechanical principles and mechanical design. 2ed.; Higher Education Press: Beijing, 2014; p 147-175

Point 3：We recommend authors to consult more bibliographical resources, and if there are no more sources concerning their study, to mention it.

Response 3: Two formulae do have bibliographic sources not indicated in the text, which will be added to the reference list and cited.

 

 

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

• The paper does not explain the current status of remote control flow

Author Response

Add the following text to line 64 of this document. And add three references related to remote flow control.

“T. lv and H. Ruan [25] have implemented remote control of the flow with the help of PWM technology and variable frequency pump technology respectively.”

1. Masseroni, D.; Arbat, G.; de Lima, I.P. Editorial-Managing and Planning Water Resources for Irrigation: Smart-Irrigation Systems for Providing Sustainable Agriculture and Maintaining Ecosystem Services. Water-Sui 2020, 12.10.3390/w12010263
2. T. Lu Research on intelligent water and fertilizer integration irrigation system based on Internet of Things. Master's Thesis, North China University of Water Resources and Hydropower, Zhengzhou, 2019
3. D. Zhu; H. Ruan; P. Wu; J. Li; L. Lu Remote fuzzy PID control strategy for fertilizer conductivity of water and fertilizer machine. Journal of Agricultural Machinery 2022, 53, 186-191

Reviewer 3 Report

Nill

Author Response

Thanks for your advice. It is your suggestions that have made this paper even better. Thanks again.