Intelligent irrigation rain sensor
First Claim
1. An intelligent irrigation rain sensor comprising:
- a rain sensor unit for capturing and interacting with rainwater, said rain sensor unit comprising;
rain catcher reservoir having an open upper end for catching rain, an interior volume for holding rainwater and a metering orifice at a lower end of the interior volume for metering rainwater from the interior volume as individual water droplets; and
a droplet detector below the metering orifice for interacting with the individual water droplets metered from the rain catcher reservoir;
a sensor control unit for monitoring the rain sensor unit and communicating with an irrigation controller, said sensor control unit comprises;
a detection control coupled to the droplet detector for sensing interactions between water droplets and the droplet detector and for generating a water droplet detection indication; and
a counter coupled to the detection control for receiving water droplet detection indications and counting the water droplet detection indications; and
a media port for communicating a rain signal to a irrigation controller.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An intelligent irrigation rain sensor for use in an irrigation system comprises a rain sensor unit and a sensor control unit. The rain sensor unit has a rain catcher reservoir with an open top for receiving rainwater. The rain catcher has an internal volume for holding water and tapers into a funnel with an opening for metering equally sized round water droplets at a steady-state drip rate. At least one droplet detector is positioned directly below the funnel opening that contacts the water droplets from the funnel. The droplet detector includes detection electrodes for sensing a change in an electrical property being monitored by a detection control in the sensor control unit. Each droplet detected may be counted and the droplet count retained in a memory, or excluded from counting based on certain factors, such as the drip rate between droplets from the funnel opening. Upon exceeding a rain threshold amount over measurement time period, the intelligent irrigation rain sensor issues a rain signal to the irrigation controller. The intelligent irrigation rain sensor issues a corresponding dry signal to the irrigation controller after a drying period has elapsed. The present intelligent irrigation rain sensor may issue consecutive rain signals and accumulate drying periods for each, up to a predetermined limit, before issuing a single dry signal to the irrigation controller.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. An intelligent irrigation rain sensor comprising:
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a rain sensor unit for capturing and interacting with rainwater, said rain sensor unit comprising; rain catcher reservoir having an open upper end for catching rain, an interior volume for holding rainwater and a metering orifice at a lower end of the interior volume for metering rainwater from the interior volume as individual water droplets; and a droplet detector below the metering orifice for interacting with the individual water droplets metered from the rain catcher reservoir; a sensor control unit for monitoring the rain sensor unit and communicating with an irrigation controller, said sensor control unit comprises; a detection control coupled to the droplet detector for sensing interactions between water droplets and the droplet detector and for generating a water droplet detection indication; and a counter coupled to the detection control for receiving water droplet detection indications and counting the water droplet detection indications; and a media port for communicating a rain signal to a irrigation controller. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. An intelligent irrigation rain sensor comprising:
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rain catcher reservoir for catching rain; a metering device for metering rainwater from the rain catcher reservoir as individual water droplets; a droplet detector for sensing individual water droplets; and a counter for counting the sensed individual water droplets;
comparing a count of the sensed individual water droplets to a rain threshold count and issuing a rain indication.
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21. A method for intelligently sensing rain for irrigation comprising:
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receiving rainwater in a rain catcher reservoir; metering the rainwater from the rain catcher reservoir as individual water droplets; receiving individual water droplets at a droplet detector; sensing the individual water droplets at the droplet detector; generating a water droplet detection indication for each of the individual water droplets; counting water droplet detection indications; comparing a count of water droplet detection indications with a predetermined rain threshold count; and issuing a rain signal based on the comparison.
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Specification