Irrigation system with smart hydrants and related method

• US 20090314862A1
• Filed: 06/24/2008
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nelson Irrigation Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nelson Irrigation Corporation
• Inventors: Rupar, Robert L., Nelson, Craig B., Leinweber, Chad D., Bauman, Mark A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,998,117 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 239/743
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/097 guided or propelled along a water supply line with supply line traversing means

Abstract

An irrigation system is composed of a mobile sprinkler cart; a system water supply pipe supporting a plurality of hydrants adapted to be engaged by the mobile sprinkler cart and to supply water to a sprinkler supported on the cart; and an addressable electronic ID tag mounted on each hydrant. A main controller is programmed to control operation of the mobile sprinkler cart, and the ID tag is adapted to send at least hydrant identifying data to the main controller to thereby enable the main controller to move the mobile sprinkler cart to the hydrant.

Claims

1. An irrigation system comprising a mobile sprinkler cart;

a system water supply pipe supporting a plurality of hydrants adapted to be engaged by the mobile sprinkler cart and to supply water to a sprinkler;

an addressable electronic ID tag mounted on each hydrant; and

a main controller programmed to control operation of the mobile sprinkler cart, said ID tag adapted to send at least hydrant identifying data to said main controller.

2. The irrigation system of claim 1 wherein said main controller includes a hydrant reader module by which information can be received from said ID tag, including said hydrant identifying data and one or more of location, watering time and sprinkling pattern parameters.

3. The irrigation system of claim 2 further comprising a docking module arranged to permit said mobile sprinkler cart to engage said hydrant and to supply water to the sprinkler;

said main controller further comprising a sprinkler control module that provides sprinkling data to a sprinkler module that operates the sprinkler in accordance with data received by the main controller from said ID tag on said hydrant.

4. The irrigation system according to claim 3 or 2 wherein said main controller further comprises a cart motion control module that controls movement of said mobile sprinkler cart to direct travel to at least a portion of a plurality of said hydrants in a sequence dictated by said main controller via input from said ID tags on said hydrants.

5. The irrigation system according to claim 1 wherein said main controller further comprises a cart motion control module that controls movement of said mobile sprinkler cart to direct travel to at least a portion of a plurality of said hydrants in a sequence dictated by said main controller via input from said ID tags on said hydrants.

6. The irrigation system of claim 5 wherein said mobile sprinkler cart is driven by an engine controlled by an engine control module directed by said main controller, said engine supplying power to one or more drive motors under control of said cart motion control module.

7. The irrigation system of claim 6 wherein a guidance module receives cart position data from one or more sources and uses said cart position data to formulate instructions to said cart motion control module.

8. The irrigation system according to claim 1 wherein said main controller further comprises a machine health module that monitors status of a plurality of safety-related criteria, said machine health module adapted to shut down said mobile sprinkler cart if threshold criteria levels are exceeded.

9. The irrigation system according to claim 1 wherein said main controller further comprises an irrigation module that inputs field watering and hydrant specific parameters to said main controller.

10. The irrigation system of claim 9 wherein said irrigation module includes plural sensors for determining the position of the mobile sprinkler cart and for adjusting the mobile sprinkler cart'"'"'s position relative to a selected hydrant.

11. The irrigation system of claim 10 wherein said plural sensors comprise course-following devices selected from a group comprising pipe following sensors, wire following sensors and hydrant homing mechanisms.

12. The irrigation system of claim 10 wherein said plural sensors comprise ground-speed measurement devices selected from a group comprising wheel index sensors and radar speed sensors.

13. The irrigation system of claim 10 wherein said plural sensors include vehicle orientation devices selected from a group comprising electronic gyroscopes, compasses, tilt sensors and accelerometers.

14. The irrigation system of claim 10 wherein said plural sensors include mobile sprinkler cart position devices selected from a group comprising GPS receivers, dead reckoning modules and localized time of flight triangulations systems.

15. The irrigation system of claim 7 wherein said guidance module is configured to receive a plurality of signals from a group of adjacent or proximate RFID tags located on said hydrants, each signal associated with a specific one of said hydrants, wherein relative signal time of flight is used to determine a current location of the mobile sprinkler cart relative to a desired destination hydrant.

16. The irrigation system of claim 7 wherein the guidance module includes a steerable antenna used to determine a relative orientation between the module sprinkler cart and a desired destination hydrant.

17. The irrigation system of claim 16 wherein said steerable antenna comprises a Yagi-uda parastic array antenna.

18. The irrigation system of claim 16 wherein said steerable antenna comprises a loop antenna.

19. The irrigation system according to claim 1 wherein said main controller further comprises a hydrant information writer module adapted to transmit data to said ID tag.

20. The irrigation system of claim 1 wherein said ID tag comprises an RFID tag.

21. The system of claim 1 wherein said water supply pipe is above ground.

22. The system of claim 1 wherein said water supply pipe is underground.

23. The system of claim 21 wherein said mobile cart is provided with at least one steering arm assembly adapted to engage said water supply pipe and provide arm position data to a guidance module.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein said at least one steering assembly comprises a pair of steering assemblies extending forward and rearward, respectively, of said mobile sprinkler cart.

25. The system of claim 1 wherein said main controller is programmable by a user-accessible microprocessor.

26. An irrigation system comprising a mobile sprinkler cart;

a system water supply pipe supporting a plurality of hydrants adapted to be engaged by the mobile sprinkler cart and to supply water to a sprinkler;

an addressable electronic identification tag mounted on each hydrant; and

a main controller programmed to control operation of the mobile sprinkler cart;

wherein said electronic identification tag programmed to at least send signals to said main controller.

27. The irrigation system according to claim 26 wherein said electronic identification tag is capable of receiving and storing data, said system further comprising a docking module arranged to permit said mobile sprinkler cart to engage said hydrant and to supply water to the sprinkler;

said main controller further comprising a sprinkler control module that provides sprinkling data to a sprinkler module that operates the sprinkler in accordance with data received by the main controller from said electronic identification tag on said hydrant.

28. An irrigation system hydrant comprising a fluid outlet adapted to supply water to a mobile sprinkler cart, said hydrant having an electronic ID tag affixed thereto, programmed to transmit signals to said mobile sprinkler cart to enable said mobile sprinkler cart to find and engage said hydrant.

29. The hydrant according to claim 28 wherein said electronic ID tag is programmed to send and receive signals.

30. The hydrant according to claim 28 wherein said ID tag comprises an RFID tag.

31. A method of irrigating a field bounded by a plurality of spaced hydrants connected by a water supply pipe and actuatable by engagement with a mobile sprinkler cart carrying a hydrant valve actuator in communication with a sprinkler, the method comprising:

(a) utilizing an odd number of said plurality of hydrants; and

(b) moving the mobile sprinkler cart to engage and actuate every other one of said odd number of hydrants.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein step (b) is carried out by attaching an addressable electronic ID tag to each hydrant, each of which is in communication with a main controller carried by the mobile sprinkler cart.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein said addressable electronic ID tag comprises an RFID tag.

34. A method of guiding a mobile sprinkler cart carrying a programmable sprinkler to a hydrant comprising:

(a) providing a datum reference for establishing a reference angular offset of the sprinkler cart relative to a hydrant to be addressed and associated with a specific watering pattern;

(b) determining an actual angular offset of the sprinkler cart relative to said hydrant as the sprinkler cart approaches said hydrant; and

(c) adjusting said sprinkler to repeat said specific watering pattern at the hydrant regardless of the current angular offset of the sprinkler cart relative to the hydrant.