Evapotranspiration Unit for Irrigation Controller Adaptation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional irrigation controllers that utilize evapotranspiration (ET) data for optimizing watering schedules are often complex, expensive, and limited in their ability to adjust schedules based on varying environmental conditions, and typically require a fee for accessing ET information, while also not accounting for effective rainfall and soil-specific factors.
Innovation Solution
An ET unit with a processor and memory that stores historical ET data, communicates with environmental sensors to adjust watering schedules based on actual conditions, and optionally receives daily ET data updates to optimize irrigation timing, allowing for user input on plant types, soil conditions, and sprinkler rates, enabling the calculation of changes to existing watering programs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional irrigation controllers use stored historic ET data to calculate watering schedules, then watering schedules can be optimized based on evapotranspiration rates, but the system cannot account for actual real-time environmental conditions and effective rainfall
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-stores historical ET data and environmental parameters in memory before the irrigation season begins. This preliminary preparation allows the controller to have reference data ready for comparison with actual real-time sensor readings, enabling rapid adaptation when conditions change without requiring complex real-time calculations or external data sources.
Solution Approach 2:
The controller continuously compares actual environmental sensor readings (temperature, humidity, wind speed, solar radiation, rainfall) against the stored historical ET data. This feedback mechanism allows the system to detect deviations from normal conditions and automatically adjust watering schedules in real-time, accounting for both current environmental factors and effective rainfall that historical data alone cannot capture.
2Reliability
If irrigation controllers require fees for accessing ET information, then specialized ET data services can be provided, but the system becomes expensive and less accessible to users
Solution Approach 1:
The controller is equipped with built-in environmental sensors that autonomously measure temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, solar radiation, and rainfall directly at the installation location. This self-service capability eliminates the need to purchase or subscribe to external ET data services, as the system generates its own reliable environmental data locally, making the solution cost-effective and accessible to all users regardless of budget.
Solution Approach 2:
The controller integrates multiple functions into a single device: it serves as both an environmental monitoring station and an irrigation scheduling system. By combining ET calculation, environmental sensing, rainfall tracking, and irrigation control in one universal device, the system eliminates the need for separate paid data services while maintaining high reliability through multi-source data validation.
3Loss of substance
If controllers only reduce existing watering schedules, then water usage can be minimized, but the system cannot optimize schedules to ensure healthy turf and landscaping under varying conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The irrigation schedule is designed as a dynamic parameter that automatically adjusts based on real-time environmental conditions. Rather than statically reducing all schedules by a fixed percentage, the controller continuously modifies run times and frequencies based on current ET rates, soil moisture levels, and weather forecasts, enabling both water conservation during low-demand periods and adequate watering during high-stress conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes multiple scheduling parameters simultaneously including start times, run durations, cycle frequencies, and station sequences based on environmental conditions. This multi-parameter optimization allows the system to both reduce water usage when conditions permit and increase watering when needed for plant health, providing flexible adaptation rather than simple reduction.
4Measurement precision
If environmental sensors are integrated to provide real-time data, then watering schedules can be optimized based on actual conditions, but the system complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple environmental sensing functions (temperature, humidity, wind speed, solar radiation, rainfall) are merged into a single integrated controller unit with unified processing logic. This consolidation reduces the complexity that would arise from coordinating multiple separate sensors and control systems, while maintaining high measurement precision through centralized calibration and data fusion algorithms.
Data Source
AI summary
An evapotranspiration (ET) unit includes a processor and a memory for storing a historical set of components of ET data. The processor can communicate with one or more environmental sensors each capable of generating a signal representing an actual value to be substituted for a corresponding one of the components of the historical set. Preprogrammed algorithms enable the processor to calculate changes to a set of watering schedules of a predetermined watering program of an irrigation controller based on any substituted actual value and the remaining historical set of components. The ET unit 10 communicates the changes to the irrigation controller. Optionally the ET unit 10 can receive and store a downloaded actual set of components of ET data and preprogrammed default algorithms calculate the changes to the watering schedules solely based on the downloaded actual set of components of ET data, thus alleviating any need for utilization of the historical set of components of ET data and any actual values generated by the environmental sensors.