Electronic Irrigation System Software

• US 20110049260A1
• Filed: 08/26/2009
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Christopher Douglas Weeldreyer, Dana R. Lonn, David Stucke, Doug Palmer, James T. Wright III, Nathan J. Fortin, Paul Standerfer, Russ Huffman, Steve M. Calde
• Original Assignee: Christopher Douglas Weeldreyer, Dana R. Lonn, David Stucke, Doug Palmer, James T. Wright III, Nathan J. Fortin, Paul Standerfer, Russ Huffman, Steve M. Calde
• Inventors: Palmer, Doug, Huffman, Russ, Standerfer, Paul, Lonn, Dana R., Fortin, Nathan J., Stucke, David, Calde, Steve M., Wright, James T. III, Weeldreyer, Christopher Douglas
• Application Number:
  US12/548,323
• Publication Number:
  US 20110049260A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 239/63
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/16 Control of watering
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/167 Control by humidity of the soil itself or of devices simulating soil or of the atmosphere; Soil humidity sensors

Abstract

In one embodiment, the present invention includes irrigation control software for a computer that interacts with the features of a plurality of advanced sprinklers, environmental sensors, and other available data. The irrigation control software provides a graphical user interface to create a more efficient irrigation scheduling control interface.

Claims

1. An irrigation control system, comprising:

a computer;

a plurality of sprinklers distributed over an area of turf;

a plurality of soil moisture sensors distributed over said area of turf and in communication with said computer; and

irrigation control software executable by said computer;

said irrigation control software receiving soil moisture data from said plurality of soil moisture sensors;

said irrigation control software calculating watering needs for said area of turf and determining a portion of said area of turf that require additional irrigation;

said irrigation control software determining a first group of said plurality of sprinklers capable of watering said portion of said turf;

said irrigation control software displaying a moisture sensor alert for each of said first group of said plurality of sprinklers.

2. The irrigation control system of claim 1, wherein said irrigation control software displays said soil moisture data on a graphical representation of said area of turf.

3. The irrigation control system of claim 1, further comprising displaying a water flow usage history graph with said irrigation control software.

4. The irrigation control system of claim 1, further comprising receiving with said irrigation software a measured current draw for said irrigation system.

5. The irrigation control system of claim 4, further comprising modifying an irrigation schedule with said irrigation software based on said measured current draw for an irrigation system.

6. The irrigation control system of claim 5, wherein said irrigation schedule is modified to draw a preferred amount of current at a specified time.

7. An irrigation control system, comprising:

a computer;

a plurality of sprinklers distributed over an area of turf;

a plurality of soil moisture sensors distributed over said area of turf and in communication with said computer; and

irrigation control software executable by said computer;

said irrigation control software displaying a graphical representation of said area;

said irrigation control software receiving soil moisture data from said plurality of soil moisture sensors;

said irrigation control software calculating watering needs for said area of turf and determining a portion of said area of turf that require additional irrigation;

said irrigation control software determining a first group of said plurality of sprinklers capable of watering said portion of said turf;

said irrigation control software modifying an irrigation schedule of said first group of said plurality of sprinklers based on said soil moisture data.

8. The irrigation control system of claim 7, wherein said irrigation control software displays said soil moisture data in a graphical user interface of said software.

9. The irrigation control system of claim 8, wherein said irrigation control software displays said soil moisture data in said graphical representation of said area.

10. The irrigation control system of claim 7, wherein said irrigation control software receives measured current draw for an irrigation system.

11. The irrigation control system of claim 10, wherein said irrigation control software modifies an irrigation schedule of said irrigation system based on said measured current draw for an irrigation system.

12. The irrigation control system of claim 7, wherein said graphical representation of said area includes graphical representations of said plurality of sprinklers.

13. The irrigation control system of claim 12, wherein said irrigation control software further displays a flow history chart.

14. The irrigation control system of claim 7, wherein said irrigation control software further adjusts said plurality of sprinklers to water with an even number of arc sweeps.

15. The irrigation control system of claim 7, wherein said modifying an irrigation schedule of said first group of said plurality of sprinklers based on said soil moisture data further comprises comparing a preset moisture value to said soil moisture data and calculating an amount of water to be irrigated to said portion of said area that requires additional irrigation.

16. An irrigation control system, comprising:

a computer;

a plurality of sprinklers distributed over an area of turf;

a plurality of soil moisture sensors distributed over said area of turf and in communication with said computer; and

irrigation control software executable by said computer;

said irrigation control software receiving soil moisture data from said plurality of soil moisture sensors;

said irrigation control software calculating watering needs for said area of turf and determining a portion of said area of turf that require additional irrigation;

said irrigation control software receiving a measured current draw for said irrigation system;

said irrigation control software modifying an irrigation schedule based on said measured current draw.

17. The irrigation system of claim 16, wherein said irrigation control software modifies said irrigation schedule to draw a preferred amount of current at predetermined times.

18. The irrigation system of claim 17, wherein said irrigation control software further modifies said irrigation schedules based on soil moisture data from said plurality of soil moisture sensors.

19. The irrigation system of claim 18, wherein said irrigation control software further displays said soil moisture data in a graphical representation of said area of turf.

20. The irrigation system of claim 19, wherein said irrigation control software further displays graphical representations of said plurality of sprinklers within said graphical representation of said area of turf.