Automatically adjusting irrigation controller
First Claim
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1. An irrigation control unit comprising:
- at least one input configured to be coupled to and receive signals from a temperature sensor, the signals corresponding to current values of temperature taken from a current period of time in a year;
a memory storing historical values of a plurality of variables, each stored historical value comprising an average of values obtained from one or more environmental sensors from previous years and representative of a historical value of the variable corresponding to a given period of time within a year; and
a processor coupled to the at least one input and the memory, the processor configured to determine plant water requirements at least in part by calculating an evapotranspiration (ET) value using an equation comprising one or more of the historical values of the plurality of variables corresponding to the current period of time in the year and one or more of the current values of temperature.
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Abstract
Methods and devices are provided to automatically determine plant water requirements and adjust irrigation in order to make efficient use of water. In one implementation an irrigation control unit comprises at least one input configured to be coupled to and receive signals from a temperature sensor, the signals corresponding to current values of temperature. The unit also includes a memory storing historical values of a plurality of variables and a processor coupled to the at least one input and the memory. The processor is configured to determine plant water requirements at least in part using the historical values of the plurality of variables and the current values of the temperature.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. An irrigation control unit comprising:
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at least one input configured to be coupled to and receive signals from a temperature sensor, the signals corresponding to current values of temperature taken from a current period of time in a year; a memory storing historical values of a plurality of variables, each stored historical value comprising an average of values obtained from one or more environmental sensors from previous years and representative of a historical value of the variable corresponding to a given period of time within a year; and a processor coupled to the at least one input and the memory, the processor configured to determine plant water requirements at least in part by calculating an evapotranspiration (ET) value using an equation comprising one or more of the historical values of the plurality of variables corresponding to the current period of time in the year and one or more of the current values of temperature. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method for use in irrigation control comprising:
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receiving current values of temperature from a temperature sensor, the current values corresponding to temperature of a geographic location taken from a current period of time in a year; receiving stored historical values of a plurality of variables from a memory, each stored historical value comprising an average of values obtained from one or more environmental sensors from previous years and representative of a historical value of the variable corresponding to a given period of time within a year and corresponding to the geographic region; calculating an evapotranspiration (ET) using an equation comprising one or more of the historical values of the plurality of variables corresponding to the current period of time in the year and one or more of the current values of temperature; and determining plant water requirements based at least in part on the ET value. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification