Irrigation Zone Profiles for Weather-Responsive Water Scheduling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current sprinkler systems lack flexibility and accuracy in irrigation scheduling, often leading to over-watering or under-watering due to reliance on manual settings, weather forecasts, and sensor data, which can be flawed or malfunctioning, resulting in inefficient water use and landscape health issues.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that uses a central controller to generate and update irrigation schedules based on specific characteristics of each sprinkler zone, including vegetation type, sun exposure, and geolocation, using data from water authorities and user inputs, allowing for automatic adjustments and optimized water usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If automated sprinkler systems use sensors to track weather conditions, then irrigation efficiency is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a central controller that receives and processes weather data from external sources (weather services, water authorities) rather than requiring physical sensors at each sprinkler location. This virtual copying of weather information eliminates the need for expensive, complex sensor hardware while maintaining automated irrigation efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The central controller acts as an intermediary between weather data sources and sprinkler controllers. It receives weather forecasts, evapotranspiration data, and water authority restrictions, processes this information, and generates optimized irrigation schedules, eliminating the need for direct sensor-to-sprinkler connections.
2Ease of operation
If sprinkler systems manually adjust irrigation schedules, then ease of operation is maintained, but adaptability to weather changes deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts irrigation schedules based on real-time weather forecasts and evapotranspiration data. The central controller automatically modifies spray timing, duration, and frequency in response to changing weather conditions, eliminating the need for manual adjustments while maintaining ease of operation through automated adaptation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously receives feedback from weather services and water authorities about current conditions and restrictions. The central controller processes this feedback and automatically adjusts irrigation schedules, creating a closed-loop system that adapts to weather changes without manual intervention.
3Adaptability or versatility
If sprinkler systems use weather forecast data, then adaptability is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses weather forecasts to proactively adjust irrigation schedules before adverse weather occurs. By receiving advance weather predictions and evapotranspiration data, the central controller can pre-adjust spray timing and duration to account for upcoming rain or heat waves, maintaining precision through anticipatory adjustments rather than reactive responses.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes multiple irrigation parameters (spray duration, frequency, timing) based on weather data. By adjusting these parameters dynamically according to forecast accuracy and actual weather patterns, the system compensates for forecast limitations and maintains measurement precision in schedule generation.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple irrigation schedules are programmed for different zones, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity and time consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The central controller serves as a universal scheduling system that manages multiple zones with different irrigation needs through a single device. It receives zone characteristics from water authorities and automatically generates customized schedules for each zone, eliminating the need for multiple separate controllers or complex manual programming while maintaining zone-specific adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for managing a zone characteristics (e.g., for irrigation zones) including presenting on a user device a first user interfacing including a plurality of vegetation icons indicative of a type of vegetation growing within a first zone, receiving a first user selection of a vegetation for the first zone via selection by the user of a particular vegetation icon of the plurality of vegetation icons, presenting a second user interface including a plurality of exposure icons corresponding to a level of sun exposure for the first zone, receiving from the user device a second user selection of exposure for the first zone via selection by the user of a particular exposure icon of the plurality of exposure icons, and generating by a central controller in communication with the user device, a first zone profile based on the first user selection and the second user selection.