Irricad from AEI

Irrigation Digitizing Software

Irricad is AEI SOFTWARE's flagship product, offering substantial benefits to designers of all types of pressurised irrigation systems.  It is a totally integrated, stand alone design facility which removes most of the tedious aspects of design, yet still allows the designer to make important decisions.  The package provides an opportunity to maintain a high level of client service, even when time is short.  It also discriminates our client's services from that of their competitors.
 
The package is also routinely used by a large range of commercial irrigation companies (suppliers, dealers, consultants, etc.) in about 30 different countries around the world.  It is also used by educational institutions in irrigation design courses or masters projects.

IRRICAD For Windows Technical Specifications

General Information

IRRICAD was developed in NZ by AEI Software. It is a stand alone, graphically based, computer aided design package developed specifically for designing pressurized irrigation or water supply systems.

Systems that can be designed cover the full range from small residential irrigation systems, commercial turf , horticultural irrigation, agricultural (mainline systems for traveling irrigators, for example), through to golf course irrigation. It is also being used to design small rural township water supply systems and large stock water schemes.

 IRRICAD is far more than a drawing package because it combines the advantages of CAD drawing with powerful hydraulic pipe sizing and network analysis techniques, and also provides automatic selection of pipe fittings thereby generating a complete bill of materials.

 Some of the main features are described below.
 

Input Features:

IRRICAD has a number of features in the input section that enhance the drawing process such as zooming in and out, the ability to move, rotate and change items, different line thicknesses, colours and types, grids, and many others. One very useful example is a selection lasso, which is like putting a rope around the section of interest and allows you to globally change items within the lasso very quickly. There are many more utility features, too many to list here, but all intended to make the designers job easier.

 Drawing : Most of the features normally found in CAD drawing programs are available and can be used to draw the physical layout of a property or land area. These include lines, rectangles, circles, arcs, curves, text, labels, and symbols. Items can be drawn with a mouse or digitized in from a scaled plan, or imported from other CAD packages via DXF files. Symbols can be drawn here and saved for later use. Details such as valve installations or sprinkler installations can be imported. The drawing features can also be used for drawing farm plans or other drawings not necessarily related to irrigation design.

Site Data: Spot heights or contour lines can be drawn or digitized in and IRRICAD will interpolate between them and use them in its hydraulic calculations. Contours may also be imported from other CAD or surveying packages directly via DXF files.

 Outlets: Individual sprinklers or drippers can be selected from the dialog windows and placed anywhere on the plan. Full circle, part circle or valve -in-head sprinklers can be used. Also included is the facility to specify demand points (pressure and flow) in designs. This is particularly useful for designing mainline systems.

 Valves: Valves can be selected from the pop-up windows and placed anywhere on the pipe lines. The friction loss through valves is calculated in the design section of IRRICAD. Other miscellaneous hydraulic items such as isolation valves, check valves, pressure gauges etc. can be selected and used in the design.

 Pipes: Pipes can be drawn in and the size specified by the designer or left for IRRICAD to size during the design process. Branched systems, looped systems (ring mains) or combinations of both can be entered.

 Spraylines: Spraylines (pipelines with equally spaced sprinklers or drippers) can be easily entered with the spacing either fixed or adjusted to fit evenly between two points and to be as close as possible to the designer specified spacing.

 Tapes: Systems containing laterals with built in emitters such as drip lines or tapes can be designed in IRRICAD. The design routines are able to calculate the flow into a tape based on its input pressure, length and slope.

 Blocks: Blocks of laterals containing rows of sprinklers, drippers or tapes can be easily and rapidly entered in a triangular or rectangular configuration. The sprinkler or dripper is selected from pop-up databases. The boundaries of the block are then drawn in using a mouse or digitizer and IRRICAD  automatically fills the block with parallel rows of sprinklers or drippers at a specified direction. Several hundred sprinklers or drippers can be entered in seconds.

 Cut Pipes: Cut pipe is a facility used to connect a submain or manifold across a set of lateral pipes. When this option is selected, the designer positions the start of the line and the end of the line, and IRRICAD will automatically connect the pipe to any lateral it crosses.

 Water supplies: Up to 10 water supply points can be used in a design.

 Electrical: Electrical items can be selected from the pop-up databases and placed into the design. These items are included in the bill of materials. Examples include wire, controllers and outside lights.
 
 

Management

The management section of IRRICAD allows the designer to specify pressure and flow, if any, on the water supplies. If specific areas have been entered in Design Input, the operating time required to apply a specified amount of water to the area is calculated. Two options for specifying valve operation are provided. The first allows valve operating times for individual valves to be specified. The second allows for the grouping of valves together into stations. A selection of reports listing zone or block flows, operating times, valve management and area data is available.
 

Design

IRRICAD has two options for the sizing of pipe. They are:

 Size by velocity: The zone pipes and mainline pipes are sized according to the maximum velocity
specified by the designer.
 Size by LP: This option uses a linear programming optimization technique to calculate pipe sizes so the sprinklers or drippers are all within the pressure window specified by the designer. Elevation, valve pressures, water supply pressures, velocity, pipe cost and energy cost are some of the factors taken into account.

Detailed Analysis:

Analyze: This option is used if the designer has specified the pipe sizes and wants to analyze the hydraulics of a system. It is also very useful when the designer has made some changes to the pipe sizes automatically generated by IRRICAD in the options above. The optimum theoretical solution may need some manual changes for practical reasons. These can easily be made and the Analyze option used to determine the effect of those changes.

 Zone Design Configuration: The number of lateral sizes, the number of submain or zone pipe sizes and the valve pressures required for each zone can be controlled in this section.
 

Fittings Selection.

This feature is very powerful and is unmatched by any other program. It not only calculates all the pipe lengths, numbers of sprinklers and valves, it also determines the fittings required at every junction and prices the whole system. An on-screen editing feature enables the designer to target any part of the scheme with the cursor to have IRRICAD list the fittings required at that point. These can be added to or changed if required, either individually or globally.
 

Reporting

IRRICAD offers tremendous capability for reporting of hydraulic or costing details of a design. A series of hydraulic reports show the pressure variations in zones, the pressure at each sprinkler or junction, the pressure losses and velocities in individual pipes, and a host of other information. Mainline reports show details of pressures, pressure losses and velocities in each section of pipe. A system duty report lists the flow and pressure required downstream of the pump for each grouping of zones.

 Costing reports can show a summary with all items or show the materials listed by supplier or by zone and mainline. Different discount structures can be entered to prepare quotes that are appropriate to the size of the job and the level of competition. Formatted reports can be viewed on the screen or printed directly to a printer. Alternatively, basic ascii reports can be generated and imported into a company's inventory system for price updating and preparation of invoices, stock control etc.

Plotting

IRRICAD features automatic plotting to all printers and plotters which use Windows printer drivers.  An option called Direct Plot can be used to plot designs on older type pen plotters which do not have a Windows driver.   The designer is able to easily select what features of the design are required to be plotted, e.g. the contour lines or sprinkler radius could be turned off, or detailed areas zoomed up and plotted at a larger scale. Plans or parts of plans can be plotted to any scale. IRRICAD plotting files may also be exported to drawing programs such as AutoCAD. Details of sprinkler installations or valve installations may be added to the plan, if required. A range of plan legends are supplied with IRRICAD.  However, users may create their own legend layouts, add company logos and so on.
 

US or Metric

IRRICAD can be switched to display US units, Imperial or metric units very easily.
 

Databases

The selection of pipes, fittings and other components such as sprinklers, valves etc., whether automatically by IRRICAD or manually by the designer takes place from a comprehensive list of databases. These databases contain the descriptive, dimensional, cost and technical information of items used in designs and once entered are stored for subsequent use.

What's new in IRRICAD Version 7?
 

New CAD Features
? IRRICAD is now based on a high quality CAD program, providing many new drawing tools and geometric objects.
? Hatch, Fill and Dimension tools enhance presentation of designs.
? New Copy and Selection tools make creating designs faster and provide more flexibility.
? Redrawing is up to 8 times faster.
? A range of snaps is provided for placing items.
? IRRICAD uses a full range of Windows fonts as available on your machine.
? A large range of colours, line types and line widths to choose from.
? Greatly improved Zoom features increase your productivity.
 

Layer Management
? Layers are completely user defined. Easy to specify your own layers or to accept the default layers.
? Items can be placed in layers that can be displayed, hidden, deleted or changed.
 

IRRICAD with a Difference!
? One screen with all options present.
? See LP and Velocity Design select pipes before your eyes!
? Have the freedom to refer to your designs with any Windows name you wish.
? Easy installation with the Windows setup and greater device compatibility.
? Enhanced plotting – see your layout on the screen before printing and adjust as required.
? Improved digitising independent of the zoom state.  A scale option has been added for  easy digitising of single sheets.
 

CAD Capability
? IRRICAD can now import DXF, DWG, VCD and GCD files.  Export designs in DXF, DWG, GCD or
VCD file format.

Other New Features
? Use Undelete to undo the last 'Delete' command.  Handy for those accidental deletes.
? AutoSave.
? Bird's Eye View allows you to view the whole design when zoomed in on a particular section.  This greatly aids navigation around your design.
? The Databases are incorporated in a single Microsoft Access file.
? The Database Editor has easy navigation between component types.  All items in a database are listed for easy viewing.
? Hide or show Toolbars.
? Moving connected hydraulic items is made easy with all items moving at the same time.
 

Extended User Customisation
? Create your own database symbols or select from an extensive list.
? Change the background screen to any colour you require.
? Customise default names for zones, water supplies, areas and mainline spraylines.
? Customise colours, line types and line widths for all objects.
? Analysis parameters easily accessible.
? Select any combination of units - mix imperial and metric, for example.
 

Migration from Version 6
? Retain all designs, symbols, plot layouts and databases.  These can easily be converted to Version 7 format!
? Retain the same IRRICAD ‘feel’. Moving from Version 6 to Version 7 is easy.
 
 

Hardware Requirements:

The following hardware is the minimum recommended for IRRICAD, although less powerful system configurations may be used for smaller jobs.

Computer :
Pentium class computer
minimum 32Mb Ram and 100Mb free hard disk space
15” or 17” colour screen
monitor and video card capable of 800x600 or better recommended
CD-ROM drive
2 or 3 button serial Mouse Systems or Microsoft compatible mouse
2 serial ports & 1 parallel port.

Operating System :
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows NT 4.0 +
Windows 2000

Digitizer :  To digitize from scale plans, a digitizer or a tablet with a Wintab driver is required.  An 18”x12” tablet is adequate for most jobs although a 12” x 12” digitizer can be used for smaller designs.

Plotters and Printers : IRRICAD can print plans and reports on any Windows compatible printer or plotter.  A Direct Plot option is included for older pen plotters which do not have a Windows printer driver.

Color is recommended for plans, although black and white plans can be produced.  At least an A3 or ANSI B printer/plotter is desirable, although for small plans an A4/A printer may be sufficient.

Note: If you intend running Windows applications, the computer hardware requirements should take that into account as Windows applications will require a configuration that exceeds that of IRRICAD.

 Naturally, the faster the computer, the faster IRRICAD will run.

The monitor size depends on your budget and the value you place on the benefits of a large screen. When long periods of time are spent at the computer a large monitor is easier on your eyes. A 20-inch monitor is very good but over 4 times the price of a 14-inch monitor.

 The size of plotter or printer you require depends on the size of schemes you design and the size of plan you prefer. Large plotters have the ability to plot small plans if required.

A digitizer is optional but recommended for those who have access to any type of scaled plan which can be traced into IRRICAD. These may be aerial photographs, landscape plans, orchard layouts, subdivision plans, existing designs, or plans you have drawn from measurements taken in the field.

 A modem may be useful to send information or designs back to the IRRICAD support team for analysis and answers to questions. The CompuServe electronic mail system is an excellent way to communicate with the IRRICAD support team using a modem.

 If you have any questions or are unsure about anything regarding IRRICAD's hardware requirements such as whether or not an existing system is suitable or you want confirmation that the system you propose to purchase is suitable, then please contact us

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