TECHNOLOGIES FOR INNOVATION AND SAFETY IN AGRICULTURE

To give students the basic knowledge useful for a proper management and monitoring of working processes both in field and in agro-industrial plants. To promote the interest towards the technical-engineering aspects of the discipline, accustoming the students towards a critical evaluation of numerical data. To provide adequate emphasis to the aspects of personnel safety in workplaces.

Elements of energy: review of the main energy sources, conventional and renewable, and of the main properties of fuels; characteristics and problems of using electricity.

Basic machinery of interest in agriculture: electric motors, electric generators, electric converters; pumps: main typologies of interest in agriculture; working point and pumping power calculation; installation problems: NPSH and cavitation.

Innovations in plants for fruits conditioning: packing lines for conditioning of fruits and vegetables for the fresh market; quality standards; mechanical damage to fruit in processing lines: survey methods and remedies; the instrumented spheres IS100 and PMS60; analyses of impacts; new approaches based on numerical simulations.

Innovations in plants for the industrial processing of citrus fruits: processes and machines descriptions; biogas production from by-products.

Operator safety in workplaces: general analysis and risk management; risk analysis and evaluation; Italian legislative decree 81/08; personal protective equipments (PPE); main risk analysis in workplaces.

Personal and environmental safety in the sector of machines for crop protection: dimensional properties of drops and measuring methods, effects of droplet size on coverage, volume and loss of pesticide; assessment of the deposit on the target; functional control of sprayers; test benches for sprayer calibration for herbaceous and arboreal crops, adaptation of the distribution profiles to the characteristics of the target to be sprayed; systems to reduce the environmental impact of pesticides; European Directives 128/2009 and 129/2009; innovations in sprayers for orchards, vineyards, greenhouses.

Noise exposure in workplaces: references quantities; frequency analysis; measurement equipment; normative references; PPEs; examples in agriculture.

Vibration exposure in workplaces: hand-harm and whole body vibration; references quantities; frequency analysis; measurement equipment; normative references; PPEs; examples in agriculture.

1. Gennari, Trevisan (a cura di), Agrofarmaci—Conoscenze per un uso sostenibile, Oasi Alberto Perdisa Editore.

2. Barone, Violetta, Sicurezza e innovazione in agricoltura, Publisfera edizioni.

3.Cinquina, Sicurezza e prevenzione in agricoltura, Maggioli editore.

4. Campurra, Rotella, Il rischio rumore negli ambienti di lavoro, IPSOA.

5. Material provided by the teacher.