Water conservation apparatus and method for programmable irrigation controllers

• US 10,356,990 B1
• Filed: 11/30/2016
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprinkl.io LLC
• Original Assignee: Sprinkl.io LLC
• Inventors: Geren, Noel Lee, Pruessner, Daniel Morgan
• Primary Examiner(s): Dickey, Thomas L
• Application Number:
  US15/365,174
• Time in Patent Office: 965 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/16 Control of watering
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/165 Cyclic operations, timing systems, timing valves, impulse operations
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0426 Programming the control sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/15117 Radio link, wireless
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2625 Sprinkler, irrigation, watering
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 7/0635 by action on throttling means G05D7/0688, G05D7/0694 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link

Abstract

A water conservation apparatus is connectable to a legacy irrigation controller to provide access to the irrigation controller to enable a remote user to selectively disable watering irrespective of the watering schedule programmed in the irrigation controller. The apparatus is connectable to the rain sensor of irrigation controllers having rain sensor connections. In irrigation controllers not having rain sensor connections, the apparatus is connectable to the common line of the valve control lines to selectively interrupt current to the valves. The apparatus is connectable to a Wi-Fi router to enable communications to a cloud-based server such that the apparatus is able to receive control signals from the server to selectively disable watering based on current and predicted weather conditions.

Claims

1. A water conservation apparatus, comprising;

an enclosure;

an electronic circuit board housed within the enclosure, the electronic circuit board having at least a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal and the second terminal electrically connectable to a non-networked irrigation controller; and

electronic circuitry on the electronic circuit board, the electronic circuitry including an electronic switch operable to selectively electrically interconnect and disconnect the first terminal and the second terminal, the electronic circuitry further including a radio frequency (RF) communication module to selectively receive RF communications, the electronic circuitry responsive to at least a first RF communication to activate the electronic switch to electrically interconnect the first terminal and the second terminal to enable current to flow from the non-networked irrigation controller to the first terminal and to flow back to the non-networked controller from the second terminal, the electronic circuitry responsive to at least a second RF communication to deactivate the electronic switch to electrically disconnect the first terminal and the second terminal to disable current from flowing from the non-networked irrigation controller to the first terminal and flowing back to the non-networked controller from the second terminal.

2. The water conservation apparatus of claim 1, wherein the water conservation apparatus sends and receives RF communications to and from a Wi-Fi router, the Wi-Fi router communicating with a messaging server via the Internet to receive commands from the messaging server and to forward the commands to the electronic circuitry as the first RF communication and the second RF communication.

3. The water conservation apparatus of claim 2, wherein the water conservation apparatus also transmits parameters to and receives parameters from a smartphone or other computing device via a Bluetooth interconnection during a setup process, the parameters including information to establish communications between the water conservation apparatus and the Wi-Fi router.

4. The water conservation apparatus of claim 2, wherein the water conservation apparatus periodically sends RF communications to the messaging server via the Wi-Fi router to establish and maintain an Internet communications channel between the water conservation apparatus and the messaging server.

5. The water conservation apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

when the switch electrically interconnects the first terminal and the second terminal of the electronic circuit board, the non-networked irrigation controller is enabled to provide current to at least one selected water control valve in accordance with a watering schedule previously programmed into the irrigation controller; and

when the switch electrically disconnects the first terminal and the second terminal of the electronic circuit board, the non-networked irrigation controller is disabled from providing current to any water control valve regardless of the watering schedule previously programmed into the irrigation controller.

6. The water conservation apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the first terminal of the electronic circuit board of the water conservation apparatus is electrically connectable to a first rain sensor terminal of a non-networked irrigation controller; and

the second terminal of the electronic circuit board of the water conservation apparatus is electrically connectable to a second rain sensor terminal of the non-networked irrigation controller.

7. The water conservation apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first and second terminals of the water conservation apparatus are connected between a common control valve terminal and a common control valve return wire of the non-networked irrigation controller to selectively interrupt current flow from the common control valve return wire to the common control valve terminal.

8. The water conservation apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electronic circuit board further includes a third terminal and a fourth terminal, the third and fourth terminals connected to an auxiliary power source within the non-networked irrigation controller to provide power to the electronic circuit board.

9. A method for controlling a non-networked irrigation controller, the method, comprising;

electrically interconnecting a water conservation apparatus to a first terminal and a second terminal within the irrigation controller; and

sending commands from a messaging server to the water conservation apparatus via a Wi-Fi router in radio frequency (RF) communication with the water conservation apparatus, wherein;

the water conservation apparatus is responsive to a first command from the messaging server to selectively activate an electronic switch within the water conservation apparatus to close a current path between the first terminal and the second terminal within the irrigation controller; and

the water conservation apparatus is responsive to a second command from the messaging server to selectively deactivate the electronic switch within the water conservation apparatus to open the current path between the first terminal and the second terminal within the irrigation controller.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first and second terminals within the irrigation controller are rain sensor terminals.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the first and second terminals within the irrigation controller are a common control valve terminal and a common control valve return wire, the water conservation apparatus operable to selectively interrupt current flow from the common control valve return wire to the common control valve terminal.

12. The method of claim 9, where the water conservation apparatus is programmable to selectively enable current flow between the first terminal and the second terminal only during a watering window.

13. A system for conserving water by controlling the operation of a non-networked irrigation controller to selectively override a watering schedule programmed in the irrigation controller, the system comprising:

a water conservation apparatus having at least a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal and the second terminal electrically connectable to the non-networked irrigation controller, wherein;

the water conservation apparatus selectively activates a switch to close a current path between the first terminal and the second terminal to enable the irrigation controller to provide current to water control valves in accordance with the watering schedule programmed into the irrigation controller;

the water conservation apparatus selectively deactivates the switch to open the current path between the first terminal and the second terminal to disable the irrigation controller from providing current to the water control valves irrespective of the watering schedule programmed into the irrigation controller; and

the water conservation device selectively activates and deactivates the switch to selectively close and selectively open the current path in accordance with commands received via Wi-Fi communications;

a messaging server that receives and stores communication parameters to enable the messaging server to communicate with the water conservation apparatus, the messaging server further receiving water conservation parameters, the messaging server responsive to the water conservation parameters to generate and send commands to the water conservation apparatus to control the opening and closing of the current path; and

a smartphone or other computing device, wherein;

the smartphone or other computing device executes an initialization process by which the smartphone or other computing device communicates with the water conservation apparatus by a local radio frequency communications protocol to set up the water conservation apparatus to thereby establish the communication parameters to enable the messaging server to communicate with the water conservation apparatus via Wi-Fi communications; and

the smartphone or other computing device executes an operational process by which the smartphone or other computing device communicates with the messaging server to request the messaging server to modify the water conservation parameters and to cause the messaging server to send the water conservation parameters to the water conservation apparatus.

14. The system as defined in claim 13, wherein:

the messaging server receives information that identifies the location where the water conservation apparatus is installed; and

the water conservation parameters include at least one parameter responsive to weather conditions at the location where the water conservation apparatus is installed, the weather conditions including at least one of;

current temperature at the location;

accumulated rainfall at the location during a predetermined period before the current day and time; and

predicted rainfall at the location for the current day.

15. The system as defined in claim 13, wherein the first and second terminals of the water conservation apparatus are connected to rainfall sensors of the non-networked irrigation controller.

16. The system as defined in claim 13, wherein the first and second terminals of the water conservation apparatus are connected between a common control valve terminal and a common control valve return wire of the non-networked irrigation controller.