Variable Initialization Time in the Charging of Energy Reserves in an Irrigation Control System

• US 20110015793A1
• Filed: 07/17/2009
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rain Bird Corporation
• Original Assignee: Rain Bird Corporation
• Inventors: Dietz, Kenneth J., Crist, Timothy J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,659,183 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/284
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/16 Control of watering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/266 Arrangements to supply power to external peripherals either directly from the computer or under computer control, e.g. supply of power through the communication port, computer controlled power-strips
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 40/22 Improving land use; Improving water use or availability; Controlling erosion

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method for controlling an irrigation device coupled to and receiving operational power from a multi-wire interface of an irrigation system comprises: receiving power at the device where the device is one of a plurality of devices receiving power substantially simultaneously; charging an energy reserve of the device using the power, wherein the energy reserve of each device is charged and adapted to supply power to an actuator coupled to a valve; identifying a delay period for the device, the delay period different than a delay period of at least one other device, the delay period defining a period of time that the device is to delay before the energy reserve is discharged; discharging the energy reserve after the delay period lapses; and recharging the energy reserve by drawing current from the multi-wire interface to provide a time staggered recharging of the energy reserves of the devices.

Claims

1. A method for controlling an irrigation device coupled to and receiving operational power from a multi-wire interface of an irrigation control system, the method comprising:

receiving operational power at the irrigation device as part of an operation during which the irrigation device is one of a plurality of irrigation devices receiving the operational power substantially simultaneously;

charging an energy reserve of the irrigation device using the operational power, wherein the energy reserve of each of the plurality of irrigation devices is charged and adapted to supply power to an actuator coupled to an irrigation valve;

identifying a delay period for the irrigation device, wherein the delay period is different than a delay period of at least one other irrigation device of the plurality of irrigation devices, and wherein the delay period defines a period of time that the irrigation device is to delay before the energy reserve is discharged;

discharging the energy reserve after the delay period lapses; and

recharging the energy reserve by drawing current from the multi-wire interface to provide a time staggered recharging of the energy reserves of the plurality of the irrigation devices.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the identifying of the delay period comprises:

obtaining an identifier that identifies the irrigation device; and

determining the delay period based upon at least a portion of the identifier.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the identifier uniquely identifies the irrigation device relative to other irrigation devices of the plurality of irrigation devices.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the obtaining comprises:

obtaining the identifier from memory associated with the irrigation device.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the identifier uniquely identifies the irrigation device.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the actuator comprises a latching solenoid.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the identifying of the delay period comprises:

obtaining an identifier that identifies the irrigation device; and

determining the delay period based upon at least a portion of the identifier and a delay value.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the identifying of the delay period comprises:

obtaining an identifier that identifies the irrigation device; and

determining the delay period based upon a number of least significant bits (LSBs) of the identifier.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the discharging step comprises discharging the energy reserve while bypassing the delay period for a plurality of times corresponding to performance of the discharging step during manufacturing.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the discharging step comprises discharging the energy reserve after the delay period lapses to power the actuator to position the irrigation valve to a known position.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the discharging step comprises discharging the energy reserve after the delay period lapses to power the actuator to close the irrigation valve.

12. The method according to claim 1 wherein the plurality of irrigation devices comprises between about 200 and 800 irrigation devices.

13. The method according to claim 1 wherein the actuator comprises a latching solenoid.

14. The method according to claim 1 wherein the energy reserve comprises a capacitor.

15. An irrigation device to be coupled to and receive operational power from a multi-wire interface of an irrigation control system, the irrigation device comprising:

an actuator configured to control water flow to at least one water delivery device;

an energy reserve coupled to the actuator and configured to receive and be charged by operational power as part of an operation during which the irrigation device is one of a plurality of irrigation devices receiving and being charged by the operational power substantially simultaneously; and

a controller configured to;

identify a delay period for the irrigation device once the energy reserve is charged, wherein the delay period is different than a delay period of at least one other irrigation device of the plurality of irrigation devices, wherein the delay period defines a period of time that the irrigation device is to delay before causing the discharging of the energy reserve;

cause the energy reserve to be discharged after the delay period lapses, the discharge configured to supply power to the actuator; and

cause the energy reserve to be recharged by drawing current from the multi-wire interface to provide a time staggered recharging of the energy devices of the plurality of the irrigation devices.

16. The irrigation device according to claim 15, wherein the controller is further configured to cause the energy reserve to be discharged to actuate the actuator to prevent water flow.

17. The irrigation device according to claim 15, wherein the energy reserve comprises a capacitor.

18. The irrigation device according to claim 17, wherein the actuator comprises a solenoid.

19. The irrigation device according to claim 15, wherein the actuator comprises a latching solenoid.

20. The irrigation device according to claim 15, further comprising driver circuits under control of the controller and coupling the energy reserve to the actuator.

21. The irrigation device according to claim 15 wherein the plurality of irrigation devices comprises between about 200 and 800 irrigation devices.

22. The irrigation device according to claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to identify of the delay period by being configured to:

obtain an identifier that identifies the irrigation device; and

determine the delay period based upon at least a portion of the identifier.

23. A method for initializing a plurality of irrigation devices each coupled to and receiving operational power from a multi-wire interface of an irrigation control system, the method comprising:

receiving initial operational power at each of the plurality of irrigation devices substantially simultaneously;

charging an energy reserve of each of the plurality of irrigation devices using the received operational power, wherein the energy reserve of each of the plurality of irrigation devices is charged and adapted to supply power to a respective actuator coupled to a respective irrigation valve;

identifying, by a controller at each of the plurality of irrigation devices, a delay period, wherein the delay period is different than a delay period of at least one other of the plurality of irrigation devices, and wherein the delay period defines a period of time that the irrigation device is to delay before the energy reserve is discharged;

discharging the energy reserve of each of the plurality of irrigation devices after the delay period lapses; and

recharging the energy reserve of each of the plurality of irrigation devices by drawing current from the multi-wire interface to provide a time staggered recharging of the energy reserves across the plurality of the irrigation devices.

24. A method for initializing a plurality of irrigation devices each coupled to and receiving operational power from a multi-wire interface of an irrigation control system, the method comprising:

receiving initial operational power at each of the plurality of irrigation devices substantially simultaneously;

powering up each of the plurality of irrigation devices using the received operational power substantially simultaneously;

identifying a delay period for each of the plurality of irrigation devices, wherein the delay period for at least one irrigation device is different than the delay period for a least another irrigation device;

controllably discharging and recharging an energy reserve of each of the plurality of irrigation devices after the delay period lapses at each of the plurality of irrigation devices to provide a time staggered recharging of the energy reserves across the plurality of the irrigation devices.

25. A method for use in controlling an irrigation device coupled to and receiving power from a multi-wire interface of an irrigation control system, the method comprising:

receiving the power at the irrigation device from the multi-wire interface as part of an operation during which the irrigation device is one of a plurality of irrigation devices receiving the power from the multi-wire interface substantially simultaneously;

powering up a controller of the irrigation device using the power; and

outputting a control signal, after a delay period, to position an irrigation valve coupled to the irrigation device to a known position, as part of an operation during which irrigation valves coupled to the plurality of irrigation devices are also positioned to the known position after a respective delay period, wherein the delay period is different than the respective delay period of at least one other of the plurality of irrigation devices, such that the positioning of the irrigation valves of the plurality of irrigation devices is staggered in time.

26. The method according to claim 25 further comprising:

positioning the irrigation valve to the known position using an energy reserve of the irrigation device.

27. The method according to claim 26 wherein the energy reserve comprises a capacitor.

28. The method according to claim 26 further comprising:

charging, prior to the outputting step, the energy reserve of the irrigation device using the power, wherein the energy reserve of each of the plurality of irrigation devices is charged.

29. The method according to claim 28 wherein the outputting the signal step comprises outputting the control signal after the delay period, the method further comprising:

discharging, responsive to the control signal, the energy reserve to position the irrigation valve to the known position.

30. The method according to claim 29 wherein the discharging the energy reserve step comprises:

directing discharged energy from the energy reserve to an actuator coupled to the irrigation valve.

31. The method according to claim 30 wherein the actuator comprises a latching solenoid.

32. The method according to claim 29 further comprising:

recharging, after the discharging step, the energy reserve by drawing current from the multi-wire interface, as part of an operation during which the energy reserves of the plurality of irrigation devices are also recharged to provide a time staggered recharging of the energy reserves of the plurality of the irrigation devices.

33. The method according to claim 25 further comprising:

identifying the delay period for the irrigation device.

34. The method according to claim 33, wherein the identifying step comprises:

obtaining an identifier that identifies the irrigation device; and

determining the delay period based upon at least a portion of the identifier.

35. The method according to claim 34, wherein the identifier uniquely identifies the irrigation device relative to others of the plurality of irrigation devices.

36. The method according to claim 34, wherein the obtaining comprises:

obtaining the identifier from memory associated with the irrigation device.

37. The method according to claim 34, wherein the identifier uniquely identifies the irrigation device.

38. The method according to claim 33, wherein the identifying step comprises:

obtaining an identifier that identifies the irrigation device; and

determining the delay period based upon at least a portion of the identifier and a delay value.

39. The method according to claim 33, wherein the identifying step comprises:

obtaining an identifier that identifies the irrigation device; and

determining the delay period based upon a number of least significant bits (LSBs) of the identifier.

40. The method according to claim 25 wherein the plurality of irrigation devices comprises between about 200 and 800 irrigation devices.

41. A method for use in controlling a plurality of irrigation devices coupled to and receiving power from a multi-wire interface of an irrigation control system, the method comprising:

receiving the power at each of the plurality of irrigation devices from the multi-wire interface substantially simultaneously, wherein each of the plurality of irrigation devices controls an irrigation valve;

powering up a controller of each of the plurality of irrigation devices using the power; and

outputting a control signal, after a delay period, to position the irrigation valve of each of the plurality of irrigation devices to a known position, wherein the delay period for at least one of the plurality of irrigation devices is different than the delay period for at least one other of the plurality of irrigation devices, such that the positioning of the irrigation valves of the plurality of irrigation devices is staggered in time.