Method of controlling an irrigation system

• US 20090138105A1
• Filed: 08/19/2007
• Published: 05/28/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Jeffrey A. Crawford
• Original Assignee: Jeffrey A. Crawford
• Inventors: Crawford, Jeffrey A.
• Application Number:
  US11/840,977
• Publication Number:
  US 20090138105A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/79
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/16 Control of watering
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 40/10 in agriculture

Abstract

The present invention is a method of controlling an irrigation system that minimizes the amount of irrigation water applied with the use of evapotranspiration (ET) to adjust the irrigation controller. By basing the irrigation program on run times which equal a specific amount of water, ET can be used as a percentage to adjust the amount of water applied during an irrigation cycle. By setting a run time to equal 1″ of rainfall ET can be used as a multiplier against the run time to make the correct adjustment to provide required water. By setting the amount of water to be applied to 2″ or any other amount would need an additional multiplier added to make the proper adjustment. Adjustments for landscape coefficient and distribution uniformity would be placed in run time formula based on use of ET set at 1″. The adjusted run time would be the input into the control system.

Claims

1. A method of using ET changed into a percentage calculation that works similar to a water budget, which would make using ET a simplified method for controlling an irrigation system.

2. A method which would still involve the end user to input run times while utilizing an ET based irrigation system.

3. A method of using ET from either a manual or automatic input and changing the water application by ET becoming a percentage of run time.