SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO ADJUST IRRIGATION

• US 20140172180A1
• Filed: 02/24/2014
• Published: 06/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hunter Industries Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Hunter Industries Incorporated
• Inventors: Woytowitz, Peter J., Shearin, Christopher M., Kremicki, Jeffrey J., Porter, LaMonte D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,301,461 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/284
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/16 Control of watering

Abstract

An irrigation system includes an irrigation controller with an adjust feature and at least one sensor. The irrigation system further includes a sensor control unit operatively connected to the irrigation controller and the at least one sensor. The sensor control unit is configured to calculate an irrigation value using a signal from the sensor and to automatically modify a watering schedule of the irrigation controller through the adjust feature based on the irrigation value to thereby conserve water while maintaining plant health.

Claims

1. An irrigation system comprising:

a stand alone irrigation controller comprising a plurality of user inputs that enable a user to enter a watering schedule including a run time and to manually adjust a percentage adjustment value of a percentage adjustment feature, a computer processor operatively connected to the plurality of user inputs, and a memory connected to the computer processor, wherein programming stored in the memory implements the percentage adjustment feature to change the run time of the watering schedule by the percentage adjustment value;

at least one sensor configured to generate a signal representative of an irrigation condition; and

a stand alone control unit comprising a memory storing programming that calculates an irrigation value using the signal from the at least one sensor and communicates an irrigation adjustment value based at least in part on the irrigation value to the computer processor of the stand alone irrigation controller to automatically modify the percentage adjustment value based on the irrigation adjustment value.

2. The irrigation system of claim 1 wherein the irrigation value is calculated using the signal from the at least one sensor and a reference point.

3. The irrigation system of claim 2 wherein the reference point is calculated based on constants selected to simulate local conditions of an irrigation site.

4. The irrigation system of claim 2 wherein the stand alone control unit further comprises at least one user input that enables the user to change the reference point.

5. The irrigation system of claim 1 wherein the at least one sensor comprises at least one environmental sensor and the signal from the at least one sensor comprises an indication of at least one of temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind, and rain.

6. The irrigation system of claim 1 wherein the at least one sensor comprises at least one soil moisture sensor and the signal from the at least one sensor comprises an indication of soil moisture.

7. The irrigation system of claim 1 wherein the percentage adjustment value comprises a scaling factor.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the stand alone control unit further comprises a protective housing.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the stand alone control unit further comprises a housing that is mountable to a housing of the stand alone irrigation controller.

10. An irrigation system comprising:

a plurality of user inputs that enable a user to enter a watering schedule including a run time and to manually adjust a percentage adjustment value of a percentage adjustment feature;

a computer processor operatively connected to the plurality of user inputs;

a memory connected to the computer processor to store the watering schedule;

at least one sensor configured to generate a signal representative of an irrigation condition, the computer processor configured to calculate an irrigation value based at least in part on the signal from the at least one sensor and to determine an irrigation adjustment value responsive to the irrigation value; and

programming stored in the memory to implement the percentage adjustment feature to modify the run time of the watering schedule by the percentage adjustment value, the programming automatically modifying the percentage adjustment value based on the irrigation adjustment value.

11. The irrigation system of claim 10 wherein the at least one sensor comprises at least one environmental sensor and the signal from the at least one sensor comprises an indication of at least one of temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind, and rain.

12. The irrigation system of claim 10 wherein the at least one sensor comprises at least one soil moisture sensor and the signal from the at least one sensor comprises an indication of soil moisture.

13. The irrigation system of claim 10 wherein the at least one sensor comprises at least one soil moisture sensor and a temperature sensor and the irrigation value is calculated using signals from the at least one soil moisture sensor and the temperature sensor.

14. The irrigation system of claim 10 wherein the irrigation value is further based on one or more constants configured to approximate local environmental conditions of an irrigation site.

15. The irrigation system of claim 10 wherein the irrigation adjustment value is a percentage.

16. A method to irrigate an irrigation site, the method comprising:

accepting inputs from a user that enable the user to enter a watering schedule including a run time and to manually adjust a percentage adjustment value of a percentage adjustment feature configured to change the watering schedule by the percentage adjustment value;

receiving a signal representative of an irrigation condition on an irrigation site;

determining an irrigation adjustment value based at least in part on the signal;

implementing the percentage adjustment feature by modifying the run time of the watering schedule by the percentage adjustment value; and

automatically adjusting the percentage adjustment value based on the irrigation adjustment value.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

calculating an irrigation value based at least in part on the signal and one or more constants representative of a geographic region associated with the irrigation site; and

determining the irrigation adjustment value based on the irrigation value.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising automatically shutting down irrigation based at least in part on detecting a rain event.

19. The method of claim 16 further comprising automatically shutting down irrigation based at least in part on detecting a freeze event.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein the signal comprises an indication of at least one of temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind, and rain.