METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMIZATION OF SPRINKLER HEAD POSITIONS AND NOZZLE SIZES IN AN IRRIGATION SYSTEM

• US 20110077925A1
• Filed: 09/29/2009
• Published: 03/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nelson Irrigation Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nelson Irrigation Corporation
• Inventors: VANDER GRIEND, Loren
• Granted Patent: US 8,285,421 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/6
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/16 Control of watering
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 40/22 Improving land use; Improving water use or availability; Controlling erosion

Abstract

A method and apparatus provides optimized installation site specifications for sprinkler head position and nozzle size for center pivot and/or linear movement type irrigation systems in which a plurality of sprinkler heads are typically mounted at multiple adjacent lateral positions along a water supply boom/line. A sprinkler head spacing and nozzle size computational apparatus and method is disclosed which employs a sprinkler precipitation depth-profile based modeling technique for determining and optimizing lateral positions and nozzle sizes for sprinkler heads disposed along the length of an irrigation system supply distribution boom/line. A required/desired irrigation application delivery rate/depth is specified by an irrigation system user/designer for one or more discrete segments along the irrigation system distribution boom/line according to specific irrigation needs. An optimized nozzle size and position for each sprinkler head disposed along the boom/line is adaptively determined based on the specified required precipitation delivery depth and summations of individual predicted application depth profiles for an initial sprinkler and successively added sprinklers such that a computed delivery accumulation depth falls within a predefined range of error tolerance for the specified required delivery depth for that segment of the distribution line. An associated computer apparatus executing program instructions for implementing the method generates and displays a graphic indication of required and predicted precipitation depth profiles and computed optimized lateral positions and nozzle sizes for the irrigation system sprinklers.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of optimizing sprinkler nozzle size and lateral position for a plurality of sprinkler heads to be positioned along an irrigation system distribution boom/line, the irrigation system conforming to a specified required precipitation delivery rate/depth associated with one or more discrete segments of the distribution boom/line, comprising:

computing an accumulated precipitation delivery depth produced by one or more sprinklers provisionally added and positioned along a segment of an irrigation system distribution boom/line based upon a summation of individual sprinkler precipitation depth profiles, each sprinkler precipitation depth profile associated with a particular sprinkler type and nozzle size, wherein the accumulated precipitation delivery depth is determined in an iterative manner in which sprinkler nozzle size and lateral position parameters for each said provisionally added and positioned sprinkler are varied during successive iterations until a computed accumulated precipitation delivery depth across the segment falls within a predetermined range of error tolerance of a required precipitation delivery rate/depth along the same segment; and

outputting information indicative of respective optimized lateral position and nozzle size parameters of each sprinkler along a segment of the irrigation system distribution boom/line, as determined by said iterative computing, which results in the computed accumulated precipitation delivery depth being within the predetermined range of error tolerance over the length of each segment.

2. A computer-implemented method of optimizing sprinkler nozzle size and lateral position for a plurality of sprinklers along one or more segments of an irrigation system distribution boom/line, comprising:

storing required precipitation delivery rate/depth information corresponding to one or more discrete segments along the irrigation system distribution boom/line, said required precipitation delivery rate/depth information including an associated range of rate/depth error tolerance for the segment;

storing a plurality of sprinkler precipitation application depth profiles for specifying individual precipitation coverage patterns associated with a plurality of different sprinkler head/nozzle designs and sizes;

iteratively computing a delivered precipitation depth profile and a delivered precipitation depth error along a first lateral portion of the distribution boom/line segment and an optimized sprinkler nozzle size for a first sprinkler located at a user-selected first lateral position based on said required precipitation delivery rate/depth information, said sprinkler precipitation application depth profiles and a computed delivered precipitation depth error for said first sprinkler, wherein a sprinkler nozzle size parameter is varied during successive iterations until the computed delivered precipitation depth error is within a predetermined range of error tolerance associated with said required precipitation delivery rate/depth for said first lateral portion of the distribution boom/line segment;

iteratively computing a total accumulated delivered precipitation depth profile and a total accumulated precipitation depth error for said first and a second portion of the distribution boom/line segment and an optimized sprinkler nozzle size and lateral position for at least a second or more sprinklers added at adjacent lateral positions along said distribution boom/line based upon a computed summation of said first sprinkler delivered precipitation depth profile with one or more sprinkler delivered precipitation depth profiles corresponding to said second or more subsequently added sprinklers, wherein parameters for sprinkler nozzle size and lateral position for each of said second or more subsequently added sprinklers are varied during successive iterations until the total computed delivered precipitation depth error is within a predetermined range of error tolerance associated with said required precipitation delivery rate/depth for said first and second portions of the distribution boom/line segment; and

outputting information specifying said optimized nozzle size and lateral position for each sprinkler along said segment of the distribution boom/line.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 wherein a computed delivered depth error is determined by computing a sum of delivered precipitation depth over the segment minus the required delivery depth over the segment.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 wherein a stored application depth profile specifies at least a delivery precipitation depth per unit distance along a diameter of a precipitation coverage pattern associated with a particular sprinkler and nozzle size.

5. A precipitation depth-profile based method for adaptive determination of sprinkler spacing and sprinkler nozzle size in center pivot and/or linear moving irrigation system, the method comprising:

specifying sprinkler application depth profiles for a plurality of differing sprinkler head/nozzle designs and sizes, wherein each sprinkler application depth profile specifies a predetermined predicted delivered precipitation depth per unit distance along a diameter of a precipitation coverage pattern associated with a particular sprinkler and nozzle size;

setting a required irrigation delivery rate/depth for at least a portion of one segment of a distribution boom/line;

selecting a lateral position for a first sprinkler location along the distribution line relative to an irrigation source end of the distribution line based upon said required irrigation delivery rate/depth and an application depth profile associated with said first sprinkler; and

determining a lateral position and a nozzle size for a second or more sprinklers at an adjacent location along the distribution line relative to said first or a previous sprinkler position by iteratively adjusting both a nozzle size of each added sprinkler and a lateral separation between said added sprinkler and a previous sprinkler, until an accumulated sum of individual sprinkler application depth profiles is within a predetermined tolerance range of the required irrigation delivery rate/depth for a corresponding distribution boom/line segment.

6. A computer system for determining optimized lateral positions and nozzle sizes for sprinklers in center pivot and/or linear moving irrigation systems, comprising:

first sprinkler nozzle size optimizing programmable logic circuitry configured to iteratively compute a delivered precipitation depth profile and a delivered precipitation depth error along a first lateral portion of the distribution boom/line segment and an optimized sprinkler nozzle size for a first sprinkler located at a user-selected first lateral position based on a specified required precipitation delivery rate/depth information, said sprinkler precipitation application depth profiles and a computed delivered depth error for said first sprinkler, wherein a sprinkler nozzle size parameter is varied during successive iterations until the computed delivered precipitation depth error is within a predetermined range of error tolerance associated with said required precipitation delivery rate/depth for said first lateral portion of the distribution boom/line segment; and

second and subsequent adjacent sprinkler position and nozzle size optimizing programmable logic circuitry configured to iteratively compute a total accumulated delivered precipitation depth profile and a total accumulated precipitation depth error for said first and a second portion of the distribution boom/line segment and an optimized sprinkler nozzle size and lateral position for at least a second or more sprinklers added at adjacent lateral positions along said distribution boom/line based upon a computed summation of said first sprinkler delivered precipitation depth profile with one or more sprinkler delivered precipitation depth profiles corresponding to said second or more subsequently added sprinklers, wherein parameters for sprinkler nozzle size and lateral position for each of said second or more subsequently added sprinklers are varied during successive iterations until the total computed delivered precipitation depth error is within a predetermined range of error tolerance associated with said required precipitation delivery rate/depth for said first and second portions of the distribution boom/line segment.

7. An article of manufacture, comprising a computer readable information storage medium having computer executable program code encoded therein for configuring a computer to compute and output information specifying optimized lateral positions of sprinkler heads and sprinkler nozzle size for use in center pivot and/or linear moving irrigation systems, comprising:

code for acquiring data specifying an application/precipitation depth required along one or more lateral segments/portions of an irrigation distribution boom/line, data specifying a range of error tolerance associated with the required application/precipitation depth for the lateral segments/portions, and data specifying sprinkler precipitation application depth profiles which specify individual precipitation coverage patterns associated with different combinations of sprinkler head/nozzle designs and sizes, said data acquired from a local system/device memory or from a remote database;

code for setting an initial nozzle size and initial lateral position of a first sprinkler along the distribution boom/line and for iteratively computing a predicted application/precipitation delivery depth profile and a delivered precipitation depth error value for a first lateral portion of the distribution boom/line and an optimized sprinkler nozzle size for a first sprinkler located at the initial lateral position based on the required application/precipitation depth data, the sprinkler precipitation application depth profiles and a computed delivered precipitation depth error for the first sprinkler, wherein a sprinkler nozzle size parameter is increased or decreased during successive iterations until the computed delivered precipitation depth error is within the range of error tolerance associated with the required precipitation delivery rate/depth for the first lateral portion of the distribution boom/line; and

code for determining optimal positions and nozzle sizes for one or more adjacent sprinklers to the first sprinkler along the distribution boom/line by iteratively computing a total accumulated delivered precipitation depth profile and a total accumulated precipitation depth error for the first lateral portion and a second lateral portion along the distribution boom/line and an optimized sprinkler nozzle size and lateral position for at least a second or more sprinklers provisionally included at adjacent lateral positions along said distribution boom/line, wherein an optimized sprinkler nozzle size and lateral position is determined based upon a computed sum of said first sprinkler predicted application/precipitation delivery depth profile and one or more sprinkler application/precipitation delivery depth profiles corresponding to second or more adjacently positioned sprinklers, and wherein parameters for sprinkler nozzle size and lateral position for the second or more adjacently added sprinklers are increased or decreased during successive iterations until the total computed delivered precipitation depth error is within a predetermined range of error tolerance associated with the range of error tolerance associated with the required precipitation delivery rate/depth for said first and second portions of the distribution boom/line.

8. A computer-readable medium embodying one or more sequences of one or more processing instructions which, when executed by a one or more processors, implement a method, performed by one or more computer controlled devices, for determining an optimal sprinkler position and sprinkler nozzle size for a plurality of sprinklers in an irrigation system, comprising computer-implemented steps of:

iteratively computing a delivered precipitation depth profile and a delivered precipitation depth error along a first lateral portion of the distribution boom/line segment and an optimized sprinkler nozzle size for a first sprinkler located at a user-selected first lateral position based on specified required precipitation delivery rate/depth information, one or more specified sprinkler precipitation application depth profiles and a computed delivered precipitation depth error for said first sprinkler, wherein a sprinkler nozzle size parameter is varied during successive iterations until the computed delivered precipitation depth error is within a predetermined range of error tolerance associated with said required precipitation delivery rate/depth for said first lateral portion of the distribution boom/line segment;

iteratively computing a total accumulated delivered precipitation depth profile and a total accumulated precipitation depth error for said first and a second portion of the distribution boom/line segment and an optimized sprinkler nozzle size and lateral position for at least a second or more sprinklers added at adjacent lateral positions along said distribution boom/line based upon a computed summation of said first sprinkler delivered precipitation depth profile with one or more sprinkler delivered precipitation depth profiles corresponding to said second or more subsequently added sprinklers, wherein parameters for sprinkler nozzle size and lateral position for each of said second or more subsequently added sprinklers are varied during successive iterations until the total computed delivered precipitation depth error is within a predetermined range of error tolerance associated with said required precipitation delivery rate/depth for said first and second portions of the distribution boom/line segment; and

outputting information specifying said optimized nozzle size and lateral position for each sprinkler along said segment of the distribution boom/line.

9. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 8, wherein a computed delivered depth error is determined by computing a sum of delivered precipitation depth over the segment minus the required delivery depth over the segment.

10. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 8, wherein a stored application depth profile specifies at least a delivery precipitation depth per unit distance along a diameter of a precipitation coverage pattern associated with a particular sprinkler and nozzle size.

11. A system, including one or more computer controlled devices, for determining and outputting information specifying optimal sprinkler position and sprinkler nozzle size for a plurality of sprinklers in an irrigation system, comprising:

a data storage device storing a specified required precipitation delivery rate/depth information corresponding to one or more discrete segments along an irrigation system distribution boom/line, said required precipitation delivery rate/depth having an associated range of rate/depth error tolerance for each segment of the irrigation system distribution boom/line;

a data storage device storing a plurality of sprinkler precipitation application depth profiles specifying individual precipitation coverage patterns associated with a plurality of different sprinkler head/nozzle designs and sizes;

a processor/computing device configured to compute an accumulated precipitation delivery depth produced by one or more sprinklers provisionally positioned along a segment of an irrigation system distribution boom/line based upon a summation of individual sprinkler precipitation depth profiles, each sprinkler precipitation depth profile associated with a particular sprinkler type and nozzle size, wherein the accumulated precipitation delivery depth is computed in an iterative manner in which sprinkler nozzle size and lateral position parameters for each said provisionally positioned sprinkler are varied during successive iterations until an accumulated precipitation delivery depth across each segment of the irrigation system distribution boom/line falls within a predetermined range of error tolerance of a required precipitation delivery rate/depth along the same segment, and said processor/computing device being further configured to output information indicative of optimized lateral position and nozzle size parameters corresponding to each sprinkler provisionally positioned along said segment of the irrigation system distribution boom/line, as determined by a computation for which an accumulated precipitation delivery depth is within the predetermined range of error tolerance over the length of each segment; and

a user/client device having a display on which is displayed information specifying said optimized nozzle size and lateral position for each sprinkler along a segment of the distribution boom/line.

12. A system as recited in claim 11, wherein the user/client device also comprises a radio frequency ID receiver device.

13. A system as recited in claim 11, wherein the user/client device also comprises a barcode scanning device.

14. A system as recited in claim 11, wherein one or more of the data storage devices comprise one or more remote database storage devices coupled to a server or the Internet.

15. A system as recited in claim 11, wherein the processor/computing device comprises one or more servers coupled via the Internet or a local communications network.

16. A system as recited in claim 11, wherein one or more data storage devices, the user/client device, and the processor/computing device comprise a plurality of separate devices that communicate via the Internet or other suitable communications network.

17. A system as recited in claim 16, wherein the processor/computing device comprises a server computer connected to the Internet.

18. A system as recited in claim 16, wherein the user/client device is a portable device having a landline or a wireless connection to the Internet.