Rain gauge and irrigation system
First Claim
1. A rain gauge comprisinga collecting vessel including an open top, an upwardly concave bottom and a peripheral sidewall there between;
- an orifice draining from the upwardly concave bottom, the orifice being of a diameter generating water drops of uniform mass through the orifice with water in the collecting vessel;
a sensor below the orifice capable of sensing individual water drops;
a hydrophilic filter, the collecting vessel including a filter cavity directly above and at the orifice, the filter filling the filter cavity and extending upwardly from the filter cavity.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A rain gauge includes an orifice which is of a diameter generating water drops of uniform mass. A sensor below the orifice senses individual water drops. An adapter for an irrigation controller having a master valve output and a rain switch input and a system therefor includes a rain gauge input, a weather station input receiving Evapotranspiration data (ET) and an input from the master valve output receiving irrigation program cycles. A routine for updating the current water balance value by reducing the sum of the rainfall and the irrigation cycles by the value of ET is used with an output to the rain switch input responsive to the determination of the current water balance value. A maximum water balance value and a minimum water balance value are maintained to compare with the current water balance value to control the irrigation program.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A rain gauge comprising
a collecting vessel including an open top, an upwardly concave bottom and a peripheral sidewall there between; -
an orifice draining from the upwardly concave bottom, the orifice being of a diameter generating water drops of uniform mass through the orifice with water in the collecting vessel; a sensor below the orifice capable of sensing individual water drops; a hydrophilic filter, the collecting vessel including a filter cavity directly above and at the orifice, the filter filling the filter cavity and extending upwardly from the filter cavity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system for adapting an irrigation controller having a master valve output and a rain switch input to meet current watering needs, comprising
maintaining a current water balance value indicative of the current watering needs including receiving Evapotranspiration data (ET) from a weather station, irrigation program cycle data from the master valve output and rainfall data from a rain gauge and updating the current water balance value by reducing the sum of the rainfall and the irrigation by the value of ET; -
maintaining a maximum water balance value and a minimum water balance value and comparing the maximum water balance value and the minimum water balance value with the current water balance value; activating the rain switch input when the maximum water balance value is reached; deactivating the rain switch input when the minimum water balance value is reached.
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Specification