Citizens Bank Park completes SubAir Sports System installation

Citizens Bank Park™ – home of the Philadelphia Phillies – recently completed the installation of a new SubAir® Sports System, providing a new level of turf management for the field operations team.

Installed and connected to the existing drainage system, all components and integrated technology are communicating and performing to provide the subsoil aeration, moisture and temperature moderation controls. The turf management team, headed by Mike Boekholder, Director of Field Operations, is now able to monitor field conditions in real time and is able to operate the SubAir® System to support the subsoil conditions and turf health.

Located under the right field stands, the new SubAir Sport System monitors subsoil conditions of oxygen levels, moisture and temperature levels. If subsoil conditions reach levels that could damage the root zone, the system automatically responds to restore customised oxygen, moisture and temperature levels.

Kevin Crowe, SubAir® Systems’ Agronomist, said:

The ability to support the root zone, keeping the grass healthy and growing, is essential to growing turf. The SubAir Sports System enables the turf team to actively respond to changing subsoil conditions to grow a strong, deeply rooted turf providing a safer and consistent playing surface.

At Citizens Bank Park, SubAir® Systems introduces new advancements in monitoring the subsoil environment and system operations. TurfWatch™ Technology connects subsoil monitoring and the operations centre via a dedicated communication network.

A new partnership with Soil Scout® – in-ground wireless soils sensors – improves monitoring and reporting of conditions in the subsoil environment. Twelve HYRDRA Scout sensors from Soil Scout® have been buried below the playing surface in the outfield, warning tracks and home plate. Each Scout accurately measures and wirelessly transmits subsoil moisture content, temperature and salinity every 20 minutes via a Soil Scout Repeater or direct to the Base Station. The SubAir Sports System’s control centre responds automatically to measurements that exceed the established field condition standards with aeration or vacuum operational modes to return the subsoil to balanced conditions.

Crowe explained:

The Soil Scout solution allows SubAir to create a dedicated communication platform using wireless and cloud reporting. Using smart phones, tablets or computers, turf managers can log in to TurfWatch™ to monitor, evaluate and respond to changing field conditions. 

The final phase of installation of the oxygen sensors has been completed in the post season. The installation of two sensors in the outfield required a small trench line to connect wiring from the sensor to the control centre. These additional sensors have been integrated into network and the Citizens Bank Park SubAir Sports System is fully operational.

This latest addition of Citizens Bank Park, joins a number of world-class installations completed in 2016, including Rakuten Kobo Stadium Miyagi, Sendai, Japan and Wembley National Stadium, London, England, all of which now sport SubAir® systems.

Image courtesy: https://mlblogstheballparkguide.wordpress.com/tag/citizens-bank-park/

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