Irrigation system with ET based seasonal watering adjustment and soil moisture sensor shutoff

• US 8,606,415 B1
• Filed: 01/06/2011
• Issued: 12/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hunter Industries Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Hunter Industries Incorporated
• Inventors: Woytowitz, Peter J., Shearin, Christopher M., Kremicki, Jeffery J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali, Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): WHITTINGTON, ANTHONY T
• Application Number:
  US12/986,033
• Time in Patent Office: 1,069 Days
• Field of Search: 700/284, 239/69, 455/39
• US Class Current: 700/284
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/16 Control of watering
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/167 Control by humidity of the soil itself or of devices simulating soil or of the atmosphere; Soil humidity sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 22/02 characterised by the use of electric means

Abstract

An irrigation system includes at least one environmental sensor, such as a solar radiation sensor, that is installed on an irrigation site, and a soil moisture sensor that is also installed on the irrigation site. Programming allows an estimated ET value to be calculated based at least in part on the output signal of the environmental sensor. A pre-programmed watering schedule is automatically modified based on the estimated ET value to thereby conserve water while maintaining the health of plants on the irrigation site. The system automatically inhibits irrigation when an output signal of the soil moisture sensor indicates an amount of moisture in the soil is above a predetermined threshold.

Claims

1. An evapotranspiration (ET) based irrigation system, comprising:

a stand alone irrigation controller including

a control panel including a display and 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, said percentage adjustment feature configured to change said watering schedule by said percentage adjustment value;

a computer processor operatively connected to the control panel;

a memory operatively connected to the computer processor;

a plurality of switches operatively connected to the computer processor for turning a power signal ON and OFF to a plurality of valves that deliver water to a plurality of sprinklers; and

programming stored in the memory to accept input from the user via the plurality of user inputs to implement the watering schedule, wherein during said run time, the computer processor operates ones of the plurality of switches to turn the power signal ON to one or more of the plurality of valves thereby delivering the water to ones of the sprinklers to irrigate an irrigation site, the programming further accepting input from the user via the plurality of user inputs to implement said percentage adjustment feature to increase or decrease the run time of the watering schedule by the percentage adjustment value;

a stand alone weather station different from the stand alone irrigation controller including at least one environmental sensor;

a soil moisture sensor; and

a stand alone ET unit different from and operatively in communication with the stand alone irrigation controller, the soil moisture sensor, and the stand alone weather station, the stand alone ET unit including a memory storing programming that,

automatically increases or decreases said percentage adjustment value of the percentage adjustment feature in response to the at least one environmental sensor, and

communicates a command to the computer processor of the stand alone irrigation controller to automatically inhibit irrigation when a level of soil moisture detected by the soil moisture sensor is above a threshold.

2. The ET based irrigation system of claim 1 wherein the programming of the stand alone ET unit provides the capability to increase or decrease an overall watering adjustment entered by the user.

3. The ET based irrigation system of claim 1 wherein the programming of the stand alone ET unit provides the capability to enter a no-water window that automatically overrides the watering schedule.

4. The ET based irrigation system of claim 1 wherein the programming of the stand alone ET unit provides the capability to automatically shut down any watering otherwise scheduled based on a detected event.

5. The ET based irrigation system of claim 1 wherein the stand alone weather station includes a solar radiation sensor, a temperature sensor, and a rain sensor, and the stand alone ET unit automatically increases or decreases said percentage adjustment value of said percentage adjustment feature using signals from the solar radiation sensor and the temperature sensor, and pre-programmed constants.

6. The ET based irrigation system of claim 1 wherein the stand alone ET unit is operatively connected to the stand alone weather station through a wireless communications link.

7. The ET based irrigation system of claim 1 wherein the stand alone ET unit is configured to receive power from the stand alone irrigation controller.

8. The ET based irrigation system of claim 1 wherein the stand alone weather station includes a solar radiation sensor, a temperature sensor, and a rain sensor, and the stand alone ET unit automatically increases or decreases said percentage adjustment value of said percentage adjustment feature using signals from the solar radiation sensor and the temperature sensor, and a plurality of pre-programmed constants, wherein data entered by the user determines at least one pre-programmed constant.

9. The ET based irrigation system of claim 1 wherein the stand alone ET unit modifies the watering schedule of the stand alone irrigation controller through a data port of the stand alone irrigation controller.

10. The ET based irrigation system of claim 1 wherein the stand alone ET unit includes manually actuable controls configured to enable the user to selectively increase and decrease an estimated maximum ET setting, the stand alone ET unit automatically increasing or decreasing said percentage adjustment value of said percentage adjustment feature using a signal from the at least one environmental sensor and a calculation reference point based on the estimated maximum ET setting entered by the user.

25. The ET based irrigation system of claim 1 further comprising an ET housing housing said stand alone ET unit.

26. The ET based irrigation system of claim 25 wherein said ET housing comprises a handheld housing.

27. The ET based irrigation system of claim 25 wherein said ET housing is mountable to a housing of said stand alone irrigation controller.

28. The ET based irrigation system of claim 1 wherein the stand alone weather station includes a solar radiation sensor, a temperature sensor, and a rain sensor, and the stand alone ET unit calculates an ET value using an ET equation, the ET equation including a plurality of variables, ones of the plurality of variables deriving values from signals from the solar radiation sensor and the temperature sensor, and others of the plurality of variables being pre-programmed constants.

11. An evapotranspiration (ET) based irrigation system, comprising:

an interface including a display and a plurality of user inputs that enables a user to input a watering schedule including a run time and to manually adjust a percentage adjustment value of a percentage adjustment feature, said percentage adjustment feature configured to change said run time of said watering schedule by said percentage adjustment value;

a computer processor operatively connected to the interface;

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

a plurality of switches operatively connected to the computer processor and configured to turn a power signal ON and OFF to a plurality of valves that deliver water to a plurality of sprinklers;

a first sensor configured to generate a first signal representative of an environmental condition;

a second sensor configured to generate a second signal representative of a soil moisture level;

and

programming stored in the memory to accept input from the user via the plurality of user inputs to implement the watering schedule, wherein during said run time, the computer processor operates ones of the switches to turn the power signal ON to one or more of the plurality of valves thereby delivering the water to ones of the sprinklers to irrigate an irrigation site, the programming further accepting input from the user via the user inputs to implement said percentage adjustment feature to increase or decrease the run time of the watering schedule by the percentage adjustment value, the programming automatically increasing or decreasing said percentage adjustment value of the percentage adjustment feature in response to the first signal representative of the environmental condition, and communicating a command to the computer processor to automatically inhibit irrigation when the soil moisture level indicated by the second signal is above a threshold.

12. The ET based irrigation system of claim 11 wherein the programming provides the capability to automatically increase or decrease an overall watering adjustment entered by the user.

13. The ET based irrigation system of claim 11 wherein the programming automatically increases or decreases said percentage adjustment value of said percentage said adjustment feature using the first signal from the first sensor and a plurality of pre-programmed constants, wherein data entered by the user determines at least one pre-programmed constant of a given site.

14. The ET based irrigation system of claim 11 wherein the programming automatically increases or decreases said percentage adjustment value of said percentage adjustment feature using the first signal from the first sensor and a plurality of pre-programmed constants.

15. The ET based irrigation system of claim 11 wherein the interface includes manually actuable switches configured to enable the user to input an overall watering adjustment by selectively increasing and decreasing an estimated maximum ET setting, the programming automatically increasing or decreasing said percentage adjustment value of said percentage adjustment feature using the first signal from the first sensor and the estimated maximum ET setting entered by the user.

16. A method of controlling a plurality of valves on 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, said percentage adjustment feature configured to change said run time of said watering schedule by said percentage adjustment value;

storing the watering schedule;

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

receiving a second signal representative of a soil moisture level;

selectively turning a power signal ON to a plurality of valves that deliver water to a plurality of sprinklers located on the irrigation site in accordance with the watering schedule;

implementing said percentage adjustment feature to increase or decrease the run time of the watering schedule by the percentage adjustment value;

automatically increasing or decreasing said percentage adjustment value of said percentage adjustment feature in response to the first signal representative of the environmental condition;

and

automatically inhibiting irrigation when the soil moisture level indicated by the second signal is above a threshold.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising entering an overall watering adjustment and automatically modifying the increase or decrease of said percentage adjustment value of said percentage adjustment feature in response to the overall watering adjustment entered by the user.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the increasing or decreasing of the percentage adjustment value of the percentage adjustment feature is based on the first signal and a plurality of predetermined constants.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein the increasing or decreasing of the percentage adjustment value of the percentage adjustment feature is based on a plurality of environmental signals generated by a solar radiation sensor and a temperature sensor located on the irrigation site, and a plurality of predetermined constants.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein data based on the plurality of environmental signals generated by the solar radiation and temperature sensors is transmitted wirelessly across the irrigation site.

21. The method of claim 16 wherein the increasing or decreasing of the percentage adjustment value of the percentage adjustment feature is based on the first signal and a plurality of predetermined constants, wherein data entered by the user determines at least one predetermined constant.

22. The method of claim 16 wherein the increasing or decreasing of the percentage adjustment value of the percentage adjustment feature is based on data generated by a solar radiation sensor and a temperature sensor located on the irrigation site, and a plurality of predetermined constants, wherein data entered by the user determines at least one predetermined constant.

23. The method of claim 16 wherein the user enters the threshold to prevent the irrigation when the second signal from a soil moisture sensor exceeds the threshold.

24. The method of claim 16 wherein the user enters the threshold to prevent irrigation when the second signal from a soil moisture sensor is equal to or exceeds the threshold.