METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE AUTOMATIC REGULATION OF THE IRRIGATION OF PLANTS
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Abstract
A method for the automatic irrigation of plants, wherein the temporal progression of soil moisture is determined from measured soil moisture values, and said progression is used for the calculation of an optimized irrigation time duration, such that both water excess in the soil and soil drying are avoided as much as possible. Preferably, the time duration of irrigation is constantly evaluated and optimized using comparisons of measured values with prespecified moisture- and dryness threshold values (GWmoist, GWdry), and automatically adjusted to changing environmental conditions and/or plant requirements.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1-16. -16. (canceled)
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17. A method for the regulation and control of an irrigation device comprising a sensor for measuring the soil moisture and an evaluation electronics, comprising the following steps:
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repeatedly measuring the soil moisture and deriving a moisture value (FW1) before an irrigation and a moisture value (FW2) after an irrigation; analyzing a time profile of the soil moisture before and after an irrigation operation; and calculating an irrigation time (BD) from the moisture value (FW1) before an irrigation and the moisture value (FW2) after an irrigation. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 30, 31, 32)
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- 27. An apparatus for irrigating plants having at least one sensor for measuring the soil moisture and an evaluation electronics, wherein the sensor can be used to repeatedly measure the soil moisture of the surrounding soil and measurement parameters can be stored with the aid of the evaluation electronics, wherein the apparatus is able to be coordinated with an irrigation device in such a way that a time profile of the soil moisture before and after an irrigation operation is measured and analyzed, and an irrigation time (BD) can be calculated from a moisture value (FW1) before an irrigation and a moisture value (FW2) after an irrigation.
Specification