Automatically Adjusting Irrigation Controller

a controller and automatic adjustment technology, applied in the field of irrigation, can solve the problems of unproven and uncertain approaches, high cost, and inability to provide weather data,

Inactive Publication Date: 2011-03-31
RAIN BIRD CORP
View PDF102 Cites 61 Cited by
  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, the sensors necessary to provide this weather data can be expensive, and as in the case of residential controllers, often cost prohibitive.
However, the results are often questionable since weather is not always repeatable from year to year and factors other than temperature affect ET.
These approaches again have unproven and uncertain results.

Method used

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
View more

Image

Smart Image Click on the blue labels to locate them in the text.
Viewing Examples
Smart Image
  • Automatically Adjusting Irrigation Controller
  • Automatically Adjusting Irrigation Controller
  • Automatically Adjusting Irrigation Controller

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

Embodiment Construction

[0017]The following description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of describing the general principles of the embodiments of the invention. The scope of the embodiments should be determined with reference to the claims. The present embodiments address the problems described in the background while also addressing other additional problems as will be seen from the following detailed description. It is noted that, as used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,”“an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. As used herein, “comprising,”“including,”“containing,”“characterized by,” and grammatical equivalents thereof are inclusive or open-ended terms that do not exclude additional, unrecited elements or method steps.

[0018]Referring to FIG. 1, a block diagram is shown illustrating an irrigation control unit 100 in accordance with one embodiment. The irrigation control unit 100 ...

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to view more

PUM

No PUM Login to view more

Abstract

Methods and devices are provided to automatically determine plant water requirements and adjust irrigation in order to make efficient use of water. In one implementation, the invention may be characterized as a method comprising: receiving, user entered historical values of one or more environmental variables, wherein the historical values correspond to a geographic region and storing the historical values in a memory; receiving current values of one or more environmental variables useful in determining the plant water requirements from one or more sensors, the values corresponding to a geographic region and the other environment variables being different from the one or more environmental variables and storing the current values in the memory; and determining the plant water requirements based at least in part on the user entered historical values and the current values of the one or more other environmental variables.

Description

[0001]This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12 / 332,274, filed Dec. 10, 2008, and is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 11 / 750,257, filed May 17, 2007, both of which are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates to irrigation and, in particular, to a system and method for automatically controlling irrigation.[0004]2. Discussion of the Related Art[0005]It is becoming increasingly important that irrigation controllers make efficient use of water. There have been several attempts to adjust the amount of water applied to landscape plant life based on weather conditions. Some attempts are based on mathematical models (known as evapotranspiration or ET) to determine plant watering requirements based on weather conditions. Most industry accepted ET models (such as the Penman-Monteith model) require weather data for temperature, solar radiation, humidity and wi...

Claims

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to view more

Application Information

Patent Timeline
no application Login to view more
Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): G05D7/06
CPCA01G25/167A01G25/16G05B15/02Y10T137/1842Y10T137/1866Y10T137/189
Inventor NICKERSON, HARVEY J.GERMAN, JOHN R.
Owner RAIN BIRD CORP
Who we serve
  • R&D Engineer
  • R&D Manager
  • IP Professional
Why Eureka
  • Industry Leading Data Capabilities
  • Powerful AI technology
  • Patent DNA Extraction
Social media
Try Eureka
PatSnap group products

Browse by: Latest US Patents, China's latest patents, Technical Efficacy Thesaurus, Application Domain, Technology Topic.

© 2024 PatSnap. All rights reserved.Legal|Privacy policy|Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement|Sitemap