SNOWMAKING AUTOMATION SYSTEM AND MODULES
First Claim
1. A snowmaking automation system for remotely controlling the generation of snow, comprising:
- a hydrant for selectively receiving and delivering pressurized water and compressed air;
a snowmaking gun coupled to the hydrant to selectively receive the pressurized water and the compressed air;
at least one automation module coupled to the hydrant or the snowmaking gun, each of the at least one automation modules having a means for communication and a motor for actuating the snowmaking gun or the hydrant to selectively generate snow using the water and the air; and
a base station in communication with the at least one automation module, the base station configured to provide a user control of the at least one automation module and thereby remotely control generation of the snow.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The invention is a snowmaking automation system and snowmaking automation modules for use with snowmaking guns and hydrants. Embodiments of the snowmaking automation modules described herein may be battery powered, and thus do not require fixed electrical infrastructure, but are designed to use such infrastructure if present on the mountain. In some embodiments, various components of the snowmaking automation system may be wireless and thus do not require hard-wired communications, for example between base stations, servers, databases, repeater nodes and remotely controlled snowmaking guns and hydrants with their snowmaking automation modules installed.
44 Citations
15 Claims
-
1. A snowmaking automation system for remotely controlling the generation of snow, comprising:
-
a hydrant for selectively receiving and delivering pressurized water and compressed air; a snowmaking gun coupled to the hydrant to selectively receive the pressurized water and the compressed air; at least one automation module coupled to the hydrant or the snowmaking gun, each of the at least one automation modules having a means for communication and a motor for actuating the snowmaking gun or the hydrant to selectively generate snow using the water and the air; and a base station in communication with the at least one automation module, the base station configured to provide a user control of the at least one automation module and thereby remotely control generation of the snow. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A snowmaking automation module, comprising:
-
a housing with an actuator interface for attachment to a snowmaking gun or a hydrant; a gear motor mounted inside the housing and coupled to the actuator interface, the gear motor configured to selectively drive a snowmaking gun or a hydrant; a radio modem and antenna mounted inside the housing; and a battery mounted inside the housing, the battery coupled to, and configured for powering, the gear motor and the radio modem. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
Specification