\f j lmgallmcom`oller
Contents
1. cated consumer with little or no scientific or meteorological background For example the manual for one ET based con troller currently on the market comprises over one hundred fifty pages of instructions and explanations Such unfamiliar ity and complexity increase the margins of error already asso ciated with the various ET formulas further diminishing their effectiveness Water districts irrigation consultants manufacturers the Irrigation Association the Center for Irrigation Technology and other attendees at the EPA s Water Efficient Product Market Enhancement Program estimated that due to the complexity cost impracticality of installation and difficulty in programming current irrigation controllers less than one percent of all commercial and residential landscape irrigation systems currently and effectively utilize some form of the ET or moisture sensing method Such scattered adoption exists despite over fifty years of ET research and over thirty years of ground moisture sensing technology The magnitude of such ineffectiveness is underscored by the fact that there are over two million new controllers installed annually in the United States alone and over fifty million controllers in use today Even if the ET or ground moisture sensing methods provided one hundred percent efficiency which they do not the limited adoption of these methods renders them an ineffective means of significant water conservation since only one perce2. tion Management Information System CIMIS with vari ances of less than twenty percent considered ideal The Pen man Monteith formula is as follows 37 Tax 273 16 Y 1 CdU2 A Qn U2 Es Ea ETo MA YU CdU2 The variables within this formula represent the following ETo grass reference evapotranspiration in millimeters per day A slope of saturation vapor pressure curve kPa C at the mean air temperature Rn net radiation MJm77h G soil heat flux density MJm 7h Y psychrometric constant kPa C Ta mean hourly air temperature C U2 wind speed at two meters m s Es saturation vapor pressure kPa at the mean hourly air temperature in C Ea actual vapor pressure kPa at the mean hourly air temperature in C A latent heat of vaporization MJkg Cd bulk surface resistance and aerodynamics resistance coefficient The simplest ET formula is the Hargreaves formula pro posed by the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawaii at Manoa Its equation is described in the College s Fact Sheet Engineer s Notebook No 106 published May 1997 in an article entitled a Simple Evapotranspiration Model for Hawaii as follows 0 0135 7 17 18 5 The variables within this formula represent the following ETo potential daily evapotranspiration in mm day T mean daily temperature C Rs incident solar radiation c
3. 7 266 428 whichis a continuation in part of application No 10 824 667 filed on Apr 13 2004 now Pat No 7 058 478 Provisional application No 60 465 457 filed on Apr 25 2003 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 4 569 020 A 2 1986 Snoddy et al 4 575 004 A 3 1986 Geiger 239 69 4 613 077 A 9 1986 Aronson 239 97 4 613 764 A 9 1986 Lobato 4 626 984 A 12 1986 Unruh et al 4 646 224 A 2 1987 Ransburg et al 4 684 920 A 8 1987 Reiter 4 691 341 A 9 1987 Knoble et al 4 709 585 A 12 1987 Altenhofen 4 755 942 A 7 1988 Gardner et al 4 789 097 A 12 1988 Anderson et al 4 837 499 A 6 1989 Sherer III 4 852 802 A 8 1989 Iggulden et al 4 856 227 A 8 1989 Oglevee et al 4 858 377 A 8 1989 Oglevee et al 4 876 647 A 10 1989 Gardner et al 4 913 351 A 4 1990 Costa 239 74 4 921 001 5 1990 Pittsinger 4 922 433 A 5 1990 Mark 4 934 400 A 6 1990 Cuming 4 952 868 A 8 1990 Scherer III 4 962 522 A 10 1990 Marian 4 967 789 A 11 1990 Kypris 4 992 942 A 2 1991 Bauerlie et al 5 023 787 A 6 1991 Evelyn Veere 5 097 861 A 3 1992 Hopkins et al 5 101 083 A 3 1992 Tyler et al 5 121 340 A 6 1992 Campbell et al 5 148 826 A 9 1992 Bakhshaei 5 208 855 A 5 1993 Marian 5 229 937 A 7 1993 Evelyn Veere 5 244 177 A 9 1993 Campbell et al 5 251 153 A 10 1993 Nielsen et al 700 284 5 321 578 A 6 1994 Morrison et al 5 341 831 A 8 1994 Zur 5 355 122 A 10 1994 Erickson 5 375 617 A 1
4. mental data 2 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said microprocessor is provided in a controller and said controller has programming to automatically adjust an irrigation watering schedule using said percentage 3 The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said irrigation water ing schedule comprises at least one station run time 4 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said microprocessor is provided in a separate module that is plugged into said an irrigation controller through an available input port 5 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said microprocessor is provided in a separate module that is placed on at least one output line between an said irrigation controller and at least one valve 6 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said at least one envi ronmental sensor is selected from the group of ambient tem perature soil temperature soil moisture solar radiation wind relative humidity precipitation and combinations thereof 7 The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the communication between said microprocessor and said at least one environ mental sensor is by one of wired or wireless communication 8 A method for modifying an irrigation schedule of a controller comprising the steps of a providing said controller with a preliminary irrigation schedule b automatically producing a water budget percentage without calculating evapotranspiration and c automatically modifying said preliminary irrigation schedule of said controller using
5. AON po das sny inp unf Je uef uj uorjeaode 3 1u9jeAinb3 vu uoneipey euissJ191841X3 US 8 401 705 B2 Sheet 8 of 9 Mar 19 2013 U S Patent penunuoo 9 814 9c BLT CLI GST 601 T6 L8 L 6 OCT vvT VOT 971 8c 6 4T TLT CET 98 c8 6 OTT Vor LT Ot TST ELT ST Ltt TOT T8 87 68 pot SLT ct CLT T SI vci 9 6 LL el S8 601 COT SLT vt CST TLT 6 OCT c6 TL 89 0 Get TOT SLT 9t C 8T 0 7T 9 vI LTT 88 89 9 GL TOT 0791 67T 8 8T 07T v vt ES T9 8 LZ 9 6 8 6 6 ZT OV 8T 6 91 OTT 64 64 99 C6 LST 6 LT cv 8I 8 9I O T 9 OT v vs 8v T9 88 CCL SST SLT VV 8I L 9T Let COT 6 9 6t vv LS vs 6 TT EST SLT 9p 8T L 9T vel L6 49 vv 0 cS 6 4 T SI LLT 87 CST 891 CCl 6 09 OV St LY GZ 9 04 CST S 8T 6 cl 6 8 44 St 0Z 6 0T CLT asaydsiway q Tt 6 3 9 v c 1 8 eg AON po Sny np unf Aew uef yuajeanbg ur vu uoneipey jersaJ191e41x3 US 8 401 705 B2 Sheet 9 of 9 Mar 19 2013 U S Patent penunuoo 9 Shy 0 8 vl TST vst EST SHT THT CET vul EST LST GST 0751 TST 9 Let Stel Trt TSIT LST 4741 v 9
6. TST PET CET ZET GPT 8 SI 8 ST S ST 9 LST 8ST St OST 077 TET BCT vtl LT 871 0791 8751 8 0791 0791 8ST LET LCT veil vul S ST ToT TOT OT COT COT 6ST SET vel OCT CHT S SI v 91 S 9T 791 8ST OCT 917 Get OVI 9T 8791 vt 8 9I 8ST SHI CZT OTT CIT LET SI V 9T LOL 9T 8 9I LOL 977 CIT ZTT Get CST 791 691 8T 841 vot TST S8 9T 0 0 ZT 8ST etr OCT VOT 007 OTT OET 0 51 GOT ec ST OLT ELST Let 917 OOT 4846 907 YT StI GOT vc LL 9ST VET ZTT S6 T6 COT cr 9 vI S 9T ST q 1 tt ot 6 S 9 v seeJgep epnine eg AON po dag Sny nf Aew Jew qo4 uel uj uoreuode 3 1us eAinb3 ui vy uoneipey e1s94191841X3 US 8 401 705 B2 1 IRRIGATION CONTROLLER WATER MANAGEMENT WITH TEMPERATURE BUDGETING This is a continuation of U S Utility patent application Ser No 12 955 839 filed on Nov 29 2010 which is a continua tion in part of application Ser No 11 879 700 filed on Jul 17 2007 now U S Pat No 7 844 368 which is a continua tion in part of U S Utility patent application Ser No 11 336 690 filed on Jan 20 2006 now U S Pat No 7 266 428 which is a continuation in part of U S Utility patent applica tion Ser No 10 824 667 filed
7. data storage device 14 of an apparatus embodying the present invention EXAMPLE OF THE PRESENT INVENTION IN PRACTICE The following example is provided for illustrative pur poses only and without limiting the appended claims This example assumes that the operator has already determined the preliminary irrigation schedule using any number of com monly available methods such as personal experience or from the system designer Assume for the purpose of this example that an irrigation controller embodying the present invention is to be installed in Fresno Calif at 10 15 a m on Feb 15 2004 The operator installs the controller and enters the current time date month and year He then enters the expected summer high tempera ture in Fresno as 98 F in July and the latitude available from the owner s manual or by entering the local zip code as 37 N The temperature budgeting setup screen would then appear as follows Current Time Date 10 15 AM Feb 15 2004 Expected Summer High Temperature 98 F Date of Expected High Temperature July Latitude of this Location 37 N The controller immediately determines from its internal look up table that the average summer RA factor at this par ticular latitude is 16 7 The controller then calculates the STBF for summer in Fresno to be 1636 6 the temperature of 98 F multiplied by average Fresno summer RA of 16 7 Finally he enters an irrigation schedule for his first irrigation st
8. for usage in urban areas The Bulletin further estimated that California suffers a shortage of 1 6 maf during normal years and 5 1 maf in drought years These shortages are expected to increase steadily through the year 2020 due to expected significant increases in the state population At the Feb 17 2004 EPA sponsored Water Efficient Product Market Enhancement Program in Phoenix Ariz for landscaping irrigation systems and controllers it was projected that thirty six states will have severe water short ages by the year 2010 A significant portion of this projected shortage was attributed to user neglect and irrigation control ler inefficiency The 2003 California census revealed that there were over twenty million single family residences and apartments within the state The California Urban Water Con servation Council estimated that the average household uti lized one half acre foot of water 162 500 gallons annually and that fifty five percent 89 375 gallons ofthis amount was used for landscape irrigation It further estimated that approximately one third of the irrigation water was wasted either due to inefficient irrigation systems or inadequate con troller programming oftentimes due in part to complicated controller programming procedures required of the operator This results in a total annual waste of 1 81 maf of water for California households alone Excessive water usages in 25 40 45 50 55 2 munici
9. from average summer 82 temperature and 52 Pe Activate adjusted irrigation schedule Fig 4 U S Patent Mar 19 2013 Sheet 5 of 9 US 8 401 705 B2 50 Controller Calculates Summer Temperature Budget Factor STBF Obtain extraterrestrial radiation 91 value from RA lookup table Determine STBF from average summer is temperature and RA y Controller Calculates Periodic Temperature Budget Facior PTBF Record maximum temperature for the 61 current period 82 Determine RA for the current period Determine PTBF from periodic 63 maximum temperature and RA V Calculate water budget ration WBR from STBF and PTBF 72 Adjust irrigation schedule by WBR 73 Store adjusted irrigation schedule Y 80 Irrigation System Activation 83 Activate adjusted irrigation schedule Fig 5 US 8 401 705 B2 Sheet 6 of 9 Mar 19 2013 U S Patent 9 Str 0 6 ZST 997 LET EST Let CTT 86 8c 8 8 6 6 071 ZST LOT GOT EST VET 6 0 46 STT CET LST SOT CSI L OT 88 cE 847 06 CIL 981 897 0 7 OST COT vt 4 vet GST 897 8 7 86 6 9t 9 9 0 8 9 OL TET PYST LOT CLT vor Ltt v6 V 8t 79 GL 007 LOT CLT 9 SHT 06 6 9 OV LS OL 9 6 CST 9T vor EFT 9 8 v9 cv CS 49 6 OST 797 EZT 97 OVI OTT LS 6 8 Vv Lv 09 48 GSTI 7 997 CLT LET 9
10. is further desirable that such a method be understandable by the average consumer It is further desirable that such a method be accomplished auto matically without requiring regular manual adjustments by the operator of the irrigation watering time settings or sched ules SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a simple and automated method for water conservation and management one which minimizes runoff and is totally independent of ground or air moisture sensing measured solar radiation weather stations ET or complicated formulas for calculating irrigation dura tions or sprinkler operating times based upon ETo Instead the present invention relies almost exclusively upon the time of year local real time temperature data and its particular geographic location to calculate and adjust an irrigation schedule on a daily or periodic basis Minimizing the number of variables in this manner renders the present invention easier and less expensive to install operate and maintain and therefore much more appealing to the public Such a method is based upon the following universally understood concepts 1 More water is required to irrigate landscape or crops during periods of warmer temperatures 2 Less water is required during periods of cooler tempera tures 3 Little or no water is required or desired below a certain temperature or during certain times of the year 4 No irrigation is required while it is ra
11. on Apr 13 2004 now U S Pat No 7 058 478 which claims the benefit of U S Provisional Application No 60 465 457 filed on Apr 25 2003 all of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by this refer ence The specification abstract and drawings herein are identi cal to and a continuation of great great grandparent U S Utility patent application Ser No 10 824 667 filed on Apr 13 2004 now U S Pat No 7 058 478 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the management and con servation of irrigation water primarily for but not limited to residential and commercial landscaping applications and more specifically to a greatly simplified method for doing so based upon seasonal temperature variations and geographic locations 2 Description of the Prior Art Many regions of the United States lack sufficient water resources to satisfy all oftheir competing agricultural urban commercial and environmental needs The California Water Plan Update Bulletin 160 98 published by the California Department of Water Resources using 1995 calendar year data estimated that approximately 121 1 million acre feet maf of water is needed to satisfy the annual water needs of the State of California alone Of this amount approximately forty six percent is required for environmental purposes forty three percent for agricultural purposes and eleven per cent approximately 13 3 maf
12. said percentage 9 The method of claim 8 wherein said water budget per centage is produced in a controller microprocessor 10 The method of claim 8 wherein said water budget percentage is produced in a microprocessor located in a sepa rate module 11 The method ofclaim 10 comprising the additional steps of a plugging said separate module into said controller and b said separate module communicating said water budget percentage to said controller 12 The method of claim 11 wherein said module is plugged into an available input port on said controller and communicates with said controller through said port 13 The method of claim 8 wherein said step of modifying said preliminary irrigation schedule comprises changing at least one station run time according to said water budget percentage US 8 401 705 B2 17 14 The method of claim 8 wherein said step of producing a water budget percentage comprises comparing current envi ronmental data for a location with historical geo environmen tal data for the location 15 The method of claim 14 wherein said current environ mental data is received from at least one environmental sen sor 18 16 The method of claim 8 comprising the additional steps of providing at least one irrigation shut down sensor and preventing watering according to input from said at least one shut down sensor
13. schedule If either of those conditions fails the irrigation system is not activated This prevents activation of the irrigation system on very cold or rainy days Whether or not the irrigation system is activated the controller 10 also continues recording step 61 the T pa 4 values for subsequent PTBF calculation and schedule modi fication This method for adjusting the irrigation schedule may be used year round and at any geographic location For example the winter PTBF will typically be much lower than the STBF resulting in a much lower WBR value This in turn significantly decreases the irrigation duration which is con sistent with the average consumer s understanding that irri gation is not as necessary during the winter months When the operator inputs a minimum temperature and utilizes the pre cipitation sensor the present invention is able to completely cease irrigation during unnecessary periods FIG 5 depicts the portion of the method of the present invention performed by the controller itself From this depic tion it is apparent that the present invention is able to auto matically calculate and adjust the irrigation schedule in a US 8 401 705 B2 15 simple manner without resorting to the numerous and com plex data and calculations found in the various ETo methods FIG 6 is a published table of extra terrestrial radiation values at various latitudes As indicated herein this table is stored within the first
14. summer irrigation schedule having one or more run times step 44 The operator may also enter the minimum system activation temperature step 45 All of this information may be stored within the second data storage means 15 The microprocessor 13 then calculates the standard tem perature budget factor STBF using the and extrater restrial radiation RAs step 50 The RAs value is obtained from the extraterrestrial radiation lookup table within the first data storage means 14 step 51 based upon the latitude ofthe location and the estimated date of the expected maximum temperature If the operator did not provide a particular date for the expected maximum summer temperature an embodi ment of the present invention will generate a RAs value by averaging the RA values for the summer months which may be November January in the Southern Hemisphere The STBF is then determined using the following formula step 52 STBF T su axxRAs Using summer RA factor is preferred because it is relatively constant throughout the summer months June July and August in the northern hemisphere and those are the months that would typically require the highest amounts of irrigation However it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited solely to those particular RA values and that the RA for any month may be used In particular other embodiments of the invention may allow for use of an average high temperature over a p
15. to provide accurate data This further increases the actual cost of each station The sensors and stations must also be powered in some manner depending upon the particular geographic location AC power may not be readily available All of these considerations increase the cost of implementing an ET based irrigation system to a prohibitive level and limit the widespread adoption of this method Finally all of this assumes that the weather station or sensors is even installable in a particular area some areas such as street medians or parks are not suitable for weather station or sensor installa tion due to aesthetic reasons or the likelihood of vandalism Another shortcoming of ET based controllers is that all of the ETo formulas including the Hargreaves formula are generally expressed in hundredths of an inch or millimeters of water per day Thus ETo must be converted to an actual irrigation time of minutes Such a conversion is dependent upon the characteristics of the particular hydraulic system such as the valve sizes water flow rates and sprinkler or drip irrigation precipitation rates One conversion formula pro posed by the Austin Texas Lawn Sprinkler Association calculates the sprinkler run time in minutes T as follows _ 60x ETox Kc Prx Ea The variables within this equation represent the following ETo reference evapotranspiration rate in inches Kc the percentage crop coefficient Pr the sprinkler precipi
16. within the automatically and climatically adjusted irrigation schedules by limiting the number of variables and relation ships necessary to calculate and maintain the schedules It is another objective of the present invention to provide a method that may be embodied into any irrigation controller that is inexpensive to manufacture install operate and main tain Additional objects of the present invention shall be appar ent from the detailed description and claims herein BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a comparison of evapotranspiration and tempera ture budget values for certain geographical areas of California over a five year period beginning in 1997 FIG 2 is a block diagram of an irrigation controller embodying the present invention FIG 3 is an environmental view of an alternative housing for the irrigation controller embodying the present invention FIG 4 is an exemplary flowchart depicting the complete and comprehensive steps of the present invention including those steps performed manually by the operator FIG 5 is an exemplary flowchart depicting the basic steps of the present invention particularly only those steps per formed automatically by the controller embodying the present invention FIG 6 is a table of extra terrestrial radiation values at various latitudes DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG 1 compares the monthly ET values obtained using the Penman Monteith formula currently favored by the USFA
17. 13 calculates the PTBF using the maximum tem perature T p 4x for the period and the current present extra terrestrial radiation RA for the same period The RA factor can be obtained or extrapolated from the chart based upon the particular day week or month as provided by the time keeping function ofthe CPU step 62 For subsequent period the recorded high temperature for the previous period is replaced with the latest measured high temperature If this is done on a daily basis the previous high temperature is 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 14 replaced with highest temperature recorded during the past 24 hours To conserve controller memory the RA chart could be stored monthly in increments of two degrees of latitude as depicted in FIG 6 The microprocessor 13 could then deter mine the PTBF as follows step 63 Once the PTBF is calculated the microprocessor 13 may then affect the preliminary irrigation schedule step 70 spe cifically by calculating the water budget ratio WBR as fol lows step 71 A WBR value of one 1 indicates that the periodic TBF equals the summer TBF in other words that the irrigation needs for that particular period are satisfied by the initial summer based irrigation schedule Thus no automated changes to the initial irrigation schedule would be needed for that particular period A WBR value of greater than one would indicate
18. 2 1994 Young 5 444 611 A 8 1995 Woytowitz et al 5 445 176 A 8 1995 Goff 5 465 904 A 11 1995 Vaello 5 479 338 A 12 1995 Ericksen et al 5 479 339 A 12 1995 Miller 5 638 847 A 6 1997 Hock Jr et al 5 696 671 A 12 1997 Oliver 5 836 339 A 11 1998 Klever et al 5 839 660 A 11 1998 Morganstern et al 5 853 122 A 12 1998 Caprio 5 870 302 A 2 1999 Oliver 5 908 157 A 6 1999 Antonellis et al 5 921 280 A 7 1999 Ericksen et al 5 960 813 A 10 1999 Sturman et al 6 076 740 A 6 2000 Townsend 6 088 621 A 7 2000 Woytowitz et al 6 098 898 A 8 2000 Storch 6 102 061 A 8 2000 Addink 6 145 755 A 11 2000 Feltz 6 173 727 B1 1 2001 Davey 137 1 6 227 220 5 2001 Addink 6 250 091 6 2001 6 259 955 7 2001 Brundisini et al 6 267 298 Bl 7 2001 Campbell 6 298 285 10 2001 Addink et al 6 314 340 11 2001 Mecham et al 6 343 255 Bl 1 2002 Peek et al 6 401 742 Bl 6 2002 Cramer et al 6 402 048 B1 6 2002 Collins 239 63 6 452 499 6 453 215 6 453 216 6 585 168 6 589 033 6 675 098 6 714 134 6 748 327 6 766 817 6 795 767 6 823 239 6 892 113 6 892 114 6 895 987 6 918 404 6 944 523 6 947 811 6 950 728 6 963 808 7 010 394 7 048 204 7 050 887 7 058 478 7 058 479 7 063 270 7 066 586 7 096 094 7 165 730 7 236 908 7 243 005 7 248 945 7 266 428 7 286 904 7 317 972 7 330 796 7 337 042 7 363 113 7 403 840 7 406 363 7 412 303 7 413 380 7 430 458 7 4
19. 2010 0106337 Al 2010 0145530 Al 2010 0256827 Al 2010 0312404 Al 3 2006 Graham 5 2006 Ivans 6 2006 Addink 6 2006 Goldberg et al 7 2006 Addink 9 2006 Woytowitz 12 2006 Weiler 1 2007 Smith et al 7 2007 Anderson et al 8 2007 Ensworth et al 8 2007 Addink 9 2007 Simon et al 12 2007 Walker et al 12 2007 Alexanain 1 2008 Hern et al 5 2008 O Connor 7 2008 Gerstemeier et al 2 2009 Addink 4 2009 Gardenswartz 5 2009 Crawford 8 2009 Geisinger et al 11 2009 Pourzia 2 2010 Palmer et al 2 2010 Woytowitz 4 2010 Woytowitz 4 2010 Sacks 6 2010 Nickerson 10 2010 Bragg et al 12 2010 Nickerson 2011 0077785 Al 3 2011 Nickerson et al 2011 0238229 Al 9 2011 Woytowitz et al OTHER PUBLICATIONS Reclamation Managing Water in the West Weather Based Tech nologies for Residential Irrigation Scheduling Technical Review Report U S Dept of the Interior May 2004 Hunt T and Lessick D et al Residential Weather Based Irrigation Scheduling Evidence from the Irvine ET Controller Study 2001 List of Principal Symbols and Acronyms 2003 five web pages Cattaneo amp Upham Methods to Calculate Evapotranspiration Dif ferences and Choices 3 page article Water Efficient Landscaping 2001 2 page article The Irrigation Association Water Management Committee Turf and Landscape Irrigation Best Management Practice Appendix G Deficit Irrigation Practice Engineer s Notebook No 106 A Simple Evapotranspiration M
20. 44 207 7 513 755 7 522 975 7 532 954 7 552 632 7 584 023 7 596 429 7 613 546 7 640 079 7 769 494 7 805 221 7 810 515 7 853 363 7 877 168 7 957 843 8 145 357 2001 0049563 2002 0002425 2002 0010516 2002 0020441 2002 0027504 2002 0060631 2002 0072829 2002 0091452 2002 0092954 2003 0025400 2003 0080199 2003 0109964 2003 0178070 2003 0179102 2003 0182022 2003 0183018 2003 0208306 2003 0230638 2004 0011880 2004 0015270 2004 0039489 9 2002 9 2002 9 2002 7 2003 7 2003 1 2004 3 2004 6 2004 7 2004 9 2004 11 2004 5 2005 5 2005 5 2005 7 2005 9 2005 9 2005 9 2005 11 2005 3 2006 5 2006 5 2006 6 2006 6 2006 6 2006 6 2006 8 2006 1 2007 6 2007 7 2007 7 2007 9 2007 10 2007 1 2008 2 2008 2 2008 4 2008 7 2008 7 2008 8 2008 8 2008 9 2008 10 2008 4 2009 4 2009 5 2009 6 2009 9 2009 9 2009 11 2009 12 2009 8 2010 9 2010 10 2010 12 2010 1 2011 6 2011 3 2012 12 2001 1 2002 1 2002 2 2002 3 2002 5 2002 6 2002 7 2002 7 2002 2 2003 5 2003 6 2003 9 2003 9 2003 9 2003 10 2003 11 2003 12 2003 1 2004 1 2004 2 2004 Runge et al Lavoie McCabe et al Caprio Johnson et al Peek et al Addink et al Watson da Silva Nakamoto et al 701 115 Sieminski Addink et al Addink et al Addink et al da Silva Addink et al Addink et al Addink et al Addink et al Runge et al Addink et al Alvarez Alexanian Miller Bowers et al da Silva Addink et al Clark et al Ti
21. 65 8 from This placement minimizes the profile of the controller increasing the aesthetic appeal of the surrounding environ ment and reducing the likelihood of vandalism The controller utilizes wireless communication means such as radio or infrared allowing the operator to program the apparatus remotely A temperature sensor is installed within the pipe at a position that minimizes sun loading effects Such a location may be near or just below ground level or on top ofthe pipe under a shaded and ventilated cover An optional precipitation sensor with or without a rain catcher may be mounted at the top end of the pipe to detect rainfall or at another location in wired or wireless communication with the controller The preferred embodiment is battery powered using com mercially available technology emphasizing energy conser vation and the long distance operation of irrigation valves Significantly extended battery life and the extended range of DC valve operations allows the controller to be placed in remote areas without the need for AC power or solar panels Such battery power minimizes the dangers of power surges and outages and improves electrical safety and aesthetic appeal It also eliminates the installation and maintenance cost of power meters and their unattractiveness in the land scaped area An alternative embodiment provides for the irrigation con troller to be housed within a valve box with externally mounted t
22. O and CIMIS with the ratios obtained utilizing the formula of the preferred embodiment described herein Such compari son was made over a period of five years at twenty five environmentally diverse locations within the State of Califor nia Both formulas used the same CIMIS data For the Pen man Monteith formula the published historical monthly ETo was divided by the historical summer ETo The monthly temperature budget factors obtained by the present invention were similarly divided by the summer temperature factor The ETo ratio is then compared to the WBR for relative accuracy As indicated by FIG 1 the values obtained using the formula herein closely approximate the Penman Monteith generally more so than the other ET formulas This indicates that the present invention is superior to the other ET formulas since a simple to understand method that is ninety five percent as accurate as the current accepted standard will save much more water than a more complicated method that is less accurate and not as easily understood or utilized Furthermore the present invention is advantageous over the Penman Monteith or any other ET formula in that it reaches similar irrigation time values without relying upon the numerous variables and relationships ofthe ET theory or a subsequent calculation of irrigation time settings Instead the present invention utilizes only two variables ambient temperature and the extraterrestrial radiation fact
23. OT 9 eS 44 8 Syl 997 CLT 09 EET COE TL 6 8v Le 074 SL CLT 6ST OST 8 6 9 9 ev 04 TE SU VL eor Trl vest 857 Let v6 79 8 ujeu1oN ct tt ot 6 8 4 9 v c seeJdep epnige ag AON po Sny caddy q94 uef uj juajeainby vu uoneipey JerseJ191e41x3 US 8 401 705 B2 Sheet 7 of 9 Mar 19 2013 U S Patent penunuoo 9 814 0 SVT TST VST Trl oti Pvt L ST GST 0757 vvt GHT OVE EST 9741 SI LYT StI TST TST OPT vert CHT GST S SI OST 9 Let CUT 074 EST CST OCHT TSE vst VST 6 8 6 I 8 EST TST OST EST 9541 SI S VI OT 6 9 LY EST EST GST LOT SI CVT CET eT SZT TET CSE 457 457 457 TST 6 I 8 7I tT O CT tcI Lvl TST ZST LST ZST 857 LST 6 9 vcl 8T OTT vct 6 I OST ZST 6ST 6ST ONT YST Lvl O CT 8T OCT 9 I 847 TST 8 ST 9 OTT oz L OT 9 TT 827 6ST SGT LT TTT O eT 8ST 59 YVI EZT GST CYT LOT vc L6 LOT 971 Syl 851 49 991 gt 6 I 6 TT COT 9J9udsiueH zt 6 8 0 9 s v 2 seeJdep epnine
24. RA value for the high temperature date Specifically and as described in greater detail herein one method of cal culating the STBF is to multiply the high summer tempera ture provided by the operator by an RA the RA determined by the particular geographic location of the controller and either the estimated date of the summer high temperature or the average summer RA values for the particular geographic location The STBF is then stored within the controller and used for subsequent determinations of the water budget ratio WBR as described in greater detail herein The controller also obtains the actual high temperature and RA for the particular current period the former from its temperature sensor and the latter from its internal look up table Such periodic data is used to calculate the periodic temperature budget factor PTBF The PTBF is calculated utilizing the same formula for calculating the STBF but using currently available data rather than the data initially provided by the operator Inone aspect ofthe invention the controller then computes the WBR by dividing the PTBF by the STBF This ratio is then used to adjust the preliminary irrigation schedule for that particular period In this aspect of the invention preliminary irrigation schedule is multiplied by the WBR to obtain the modified actual irrigation schedule The present invention then irrigates the irrigation area pursuant to the modified irrigation schedule as des
25. United States Patent US008401705B2 12 10 Patent No US 8 401 705 B2 Alexanian 45 Date of Patent Mar 19 2013 54 IRRIGATION CONTROLLER WATER 3 653 505 A 4 1972 Greengard et al MANAGEMENT WITH TEMPERATURE id Shapiro 67 ayer et al BUDGETING 3 902 825 A 9 1975 Quillen 4 010 898 3 1977 Williams 76 Inventor George Alexanian Fresno CA US 4 146 049 A 3 1979 Kruse et al 4 176 395 A 11 1979 Evelyn Veere Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this 4 185 650 A 1 1980 Neves et al patent is extended or adjusted under 35 4 208 630 A 6 1980 Martinez U S C 154 b by 0 da 4 209 131 A 6 1980 Barash et al S C 154 b by 0 days 4 265 403 A 5 1981 Bonetti sss 239 66 gt 1 4 333 490 6 1982 Enter Sr m patent is subject to a terminal dis RE3LO23 E 9 1982 Hall IIl CEST 4 396 149 A 8 1983 Hirsch 4 396 150 A 8 1983 Burrough 21 Appl No 13 274 255 4 431 338 A 2 1984 Hornabrook 4 502 288 A 3 1985 Lynch 22 Filed Oct 14 2011 4 526 034 A 7 1985 Campbell et al 4 545 396 A 10 1985 Miller et al 65 Prior Publication Data 4 548 225 A 10 1985 Busalacchi Continued US 2012 0072037 A1 Mar 22 2012 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Related U S Application Data Report on Performance of ET Based Irrigation Controller Analy 63 Continuation of application No 12 955 839 filed on sis of Operation of WeatherTRAK TM Controller in Field Condi Nov 29 2010 which is a continuation in part of tions D
26. age Supply or Solar Power Supply 16 Cutoff 15 Switches Fig 2 U S Patent Mar 19 2013 Sheet 3 of 9 US 8 401 705 B2 Fig 3 U S Patent Mar 19 2013 Sheet 4 of 9 US 8 401 705 B2 Operator Installs irrigation Controller a y Operator attaches cutoff switch Controller Calculates Periadic Temperature to existing irrigation system Budget Factor PTBF 31 60 Operater installs temperature sensor Record maximum tem Ko perature within target geographical area 2 for the current period Optional Operator installs precipitation sensor Determine R for the current period 33 62 V Determine PTBF from periodic Operator Configures Irrigation Controller a lll 40 Operator enters current time date V month and year Controller Affects Preliminary Irrigation 4 Schedule Operator enters expected summer high 70 em 42 Calculate water budget ration WBR from STBF and PTBF Operator enters latitude for geographica 71 area or zip code 43 alb Adjust irrigation schedule by WBR Operator enters preliminary irrigation 72 schedule 4 Store adjusted irrigation schedule Optional Operator enters minimum 73 system activation temperature ji V V i NE EM onfroller Calculates Summer Temperature TROU i BudgetFactor STBF 80 50 Optional Verify temperature is greater Obtain extraterrestrail radiation value than minimum activation temperature from RA lookup table 81 51 Determine STBF
27. ation which for this example is six 6 minutes of watering time three times a day Assume that the date is now November 2 The recorded high temperature for the previous period twenty four hours herein was 52 F The controller lookup table indicates that the Fresno RA on this particular day is 7 7 This means that the PTBF is 400 the temperature of 52 F multiplied by the RA of 7 7 Dividing the PTBF by the STBF provides a WBR value of approximately 0 244 The irrigation duration for this particular period will be decreased to approximately 1 5 min utes of water the 6 minute initial irrigation schedule multi plied by the WBR value of 0 244 1 46 minutes of water thrice per day The operator could also program the controller to suspend irrigation if the temperature at the beginning of an irrigation cycle is below the specified minimum temperature or if a precipitation sensor 15 included if precipitation exists during or before an irrigation cycle For example assume that pre cipitation exists during the second watering irrigation time above The precipitation sensor detects the existence of such precipitation and communicates such existence to the con troller causing the controller to cancel the previously sched uled second watering duration of 1 5 minutes Further assume that the minimum temperature is set at 35 F Further assume that at the beginning of the third irrigation time above the current temperature was 34 F T
28. ation with the irrigation controller e g through a physical hard wired connection a wireless connection or radio transmission or as a component built into the irrigation controller so that the controller may detect the occurrence of rainfall and suppress the irrigation schedule during the affected periods The particular effect of current or recent precipitation upon the irrigation schedule may be determined by the operator For example the operator may cause the present invention to suppress the irrigation schedule if pre cipitation occurred within the previous twenty four hours or only if precipitation is occurring at the particular moment of irrigation Itis therefore a primary objective of the present invention to provide a simple method for irrigation water conservation particularly one that is naturally intuitive such that it may be used by a wide variety of people or entities in different cir cumstances It is another primary objective of the present invention to provide a method for conserving water by automatically adjusting irrigation schedules in response to varying climatic conditions US 8 401 705 B2 11 It is another primary objective of the present invention to provide a method that utilizes greatly simplified local real time meteorological data to calculate and maintain the irriga tion schedule It is another objective of the present invention to provide a method that minimizes the margins and sources of error
29. cribed in greater detail herein Because the present method relationally adjusts the irriga tion schedule it is suitable for nearly all conditions and loca tions It inherently compensates for all of the characteristics and specifications of the existing irrigation system unlike the prior art it does not require multiple complicated formu las or variables The method also inherently compensates for particular environmental conditions For example it may be applied to the cycle and soak method commonly utilized for sloped landscapes since the present method increases or decreases the initial irrigation schedule for the sloped land scape based upon the WBR An alternative embodiment of an apparatus embodying the present invention provides a temperature budgeting module in place of a stand alone irrigation controller This module is placed along the output path of an existing irrigation control ler so that it intercepts and processes any signals from the controller to the irrigation system This module performs the same tasks as the stand alone irrigation controller and per mits the operator to add the desired features described herein to any existing irrigation controller without replacing the old controller entirely Another alternative embodiment of an apparatus embody ing the present invention permits the operator to install the present invention upon an existing irrigation controller by making the appropriate software changes t
30. emperature and optional precipitation sensors affixed upon or in wired or wireless communication with the controller The controller may be powered by using any one or more of the power sources described above depending upon its particular placement relative to such available sources This approach may be better suited for certain residential commercial and turf irrigation applications Inuse the operator first attaches the irrigation controller to an existing irrigation system This can be done at any time of the year not merely during the summer months He also installs the temperature sensor within the target geographical area and initiates its communication with the controller An optional readily available rain sensor may also be installed and placed in communication with the controller The operator initially programs the controller as follows he first enters the current time e g month day and or year He then enters the expected summer high referred to herein as the stored or standard temperature at the particular controller location the approximate or estimated date of such expected high temperature and the latitudinal location of the controller The latitudinal location may be determined by the operator from information provided by various sources such as online databases or a reference chart in the controller owner s manual or by the controller when the operator enters the local zip code An exemplary init
31. eriod of time e g annual bi annual quarterly monthly weekly etc from which a corresponding RAs value is determined and used in the for mula Another embodiment of the present invention would per mitthe operatorto input a preliminary irrigation schedule and temperature for any time of the year followed by the particu lar date such information is applicable The date is then used by the controller 10 to determine the applicable RA Such value is likewise accurate when used with the ratio method of the present invention As the formula demonstrates the maximum standard temperature Tsaz4y and extraterrestrial radiation RAs are theonly factors required by the present invention to determine STBF The directly affects the plants water require ments The RAs is important because evaporation is also affected by the angle at which the rays of the sun strike the Earth such angles vary depending upon the latitude and the time of year The controller of the present invention then calculates the periodic temperature budget factor PTBF step 60 Using temperature sensor 17 the controller 10 records the maxi mum temperature for a particular predefined period step 61 These temperatures are recorded by temperature sensor 17 on a periodic basis e g hourly daily etc and stored within the second data storage device 15 until the end of the period At the end of the predefined period the micro processor
32. ge means 15 such as a hard drive for storing and maintaining the irrigation schedule information and data received by the controller a battery solar panel or AC power supply such as a transformer 16 a temperature sensor 17 built into the irrigation controller an optional precipitation sensor 18 also built into the irrigation controller and a cutoff switch 19 for controlling water output from the irrigation system FIG 3 depicts an alternative housing for the irrigation controller 10 of the present invention Here it can be seen that the main body of the irrigation controller 10 comprising the remotely programmable input device 11 antenna 12 micro processor 13 first 14 and second 15 data storage devices and battery 16 none of which are depicted in this particular fig ure is placed above ground level A The temperature sensor 17 and optional precipitation sensor 18 may be incorporated with controller 10 and mounted for example on top of the pipe as shown Instead these sensors are mounted above ground level A and in communication with the irrigation controller 10 by wired means The controller housing 20 which may be a common PVC pipe encloses and protects the controller 10 from the environment The wires from the controller 10 to the cutoff switches valves 19 extend out of the housing 20 to the valves located in the field It is to be understood that communications between sensors 17 18 and the controller 10 may a
33. his would cause the control ler to cancel the previously scheduled third watering duration of 1 5 minutes This simple intuitive cost effective user friendly approach encourages significantly higher long term con sumer participation making it possible to save most of the wasted landscape water and subsequent runoff which in Cali 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 16 fornia would be over one million acre feet The additional infrastructure and environmental benefits of this water con servation have previously been enumerated by the EPA as described herein Itis to be understood that variations and modifications of the present invention may be made without departing from the scope thereof It is also to be understood that the present invention is not to be limited by the specific embodiments disclosed herein but only in accordance with the appended claims when read in light of the foregoing specification What is claimed is 1 An apparatus for determining a water budget percentage for use with an irrigation controller comprising a a microprocessor containing historical local geo envi ronmental data and having instructions for determining a water budget percentage by comparing current envi ronmental data to said historical local geo environmen tal data without calculating evapotranspiration and b atleastone environmental sensor in communication with said microprocessor for providing said current environ
34. ial setup screen would thus have an appearance similar to the following Current Time Date 10 15 AM Feb 15 2004 Expected Summer High Temperature 98 F Date of Expected High Temperature July Latitude of this Location 34 N The operator then enters the summer preliminary irrigation schedule This preliminary schedule may be obtained from a system designer consultant equipment distributor or archi tect any of whom would recommend the typical summer irrigation schedule based on the soil type slope variety of landscaping types of valves and sprinklers and water avail able for that particular area The controller then automatically determines the extrater restrial radiation factor RA for the standard date and loca tion from a look up table stored within the controller The RA utilized by this invention must be distinguished from the solar radiation value Rn or Rs provided by weather stations and US 8 401 705 B2 9 sensors and utilized by ETo formulas Specifically RA is a function of the angle at which the sun strikes the earth at various times of the year at various latitudes while solar radiation is a measure of the actual intensity of sunlight at a particular time The controller then automatically calculates the standard temperature budget factor STBF using data provided by the operator i e the summer high temperature its date and the latitude and any number of relatively simple formulas utiliz ing the
35. ining or for a period thereafter The irrigation controller of the present invention may be provided in a commercially available device having the fol lowing components a means for an operator to enter data into the controller such as a keyboard touch screen dial mag netic card readers or remote device a microprocessor to compute and adjust the irrigation schedule according to the present invention based upon external data one or more data storage means such as random access or read only memory chips or hard drives containing the present invention and zip code latitude and extraterrestrial radiation lookup tables used herein and storing the preliminary and adjusted irrigation schedules a power source either alternating current AC direct current DC battery or solar powered at least one temperature sensor which may be a separate unit in commu nication with the microprocessor e g through a physical hard wired connection a wireless connection or radio trans mission or a component built into the irrigation controller and means for controlling or limiting the water used by an irrigation system such as cutoff switches or adjustable valves One embodiment of the irrigation controller embodying the present invention is installed within a common poly vinyl chloride PVC irrigation pipe The pipe may be inserted into the ground so that it extends only slightly there 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
36. lso be accomplished using wireless means by adding an antenna 21 to the sensors 17 18 and the controller body 10 and placing the sensors in wireless com munication with the irrigation controller 10 As indicated in FIG 4 a method of the present invention comprises the following steps first the operator installs the irrigation controller 10 step 30 by attaching one or more cutoff switches 19 to an existing irrigation system step 31 and installing temperature sensor 17 within the target geo graphical area step 32 The optional precipitation sensor 18 may also be installed within the target geographical area step 33 The two sensors are then placed in communication with the irrigation controller The operator then configures the irrigation controller step 40 This is done by entering the current time e g month and or day and or year step 41 The operator also enters the expected maximum summer temperature 4 and may enter the date of such temperature step 42 The operator then provides the latitude for the geographical area step 43a if known If the latitude is unknown the operator may instead enter the zip code step 435 or some other geographical US 8 401 705 B2 13 information e g city county state country etc which the microprocessor 13 may use to obtain the latitude for the location from an appropriate lookup table within the first data storage means 14 The operator also enters a preliminary
37. mko et al Beutler et al Woytowitz Alexanian Graham Addink et al Addink et al Marian et al Runge et al Moore et al Doering et al Porter et al Corwon et al Dansereau et al Nickerson et al Geisinger et al Perez Evelyn Veere Runge et al Palmer et al Cardinal et al Nelson et al Nickerson et al Simon et al Nickerson Nies et al Porter et al Porter et al Sacks Nibler et al Addink et al Dossey et al Addink Addink Davis Runge et al Addink et al Addink et al Addink et al Hall Condreva Addink et al Glicken Barnes Addink et al Addink et al Addink et al Dukes et al Addink et al Addink et al Moore et al US 8 401 705 B2 Page3 2004 0089164 Al 2004 0117070 Al 2004 0217189 Al 2005 0019184 Al 2005 0137752 Al 5 2004 Addink et al 6 2004 Barker 11 2004 Regli 1 2005 Geisinger et al 6 2005 Alvarez 2005 0187665 1 8 2005 Fu 700 284 2005 0250440 Al 11 2005 Zhou et al 2005 0279856 Al 12 2005 Nalbandian etal 239 16 2006 0043208 Al 2006 0091245 Al 2006 0116792 Al 2006 0122735 Al 2006 0155489 Al 2006 0217846 Al 2006 0293797 Al 2007 0016334 Al 2007 0156318 Al 2007 0179674 Al 2007 0191991 Al 2007 0221744 Al 2007 0282486 Al 2007 0293990 Al 2008 0027586 Al 2008 0119948 Al 2008 0167931 Al 2009 0043427 Al 2009 0094097 Al 2009 0138105 Al 2009 0202366 Al 2009 0281672 Al 2010 0030389 Al 2010 0030476 Al 2010 0094472 Al
38. nical approaches for resolving the problems of wasted irrigation water and drought conditions Unsurprisingly such approaches have met with limited success The EPA United States Department of Energy DOE ecologists environmentalists municipali ties water agencies and research institutions are all search ing for new methods that provide practical as opposed to theoretical irrigation efficiency methods that overcome the particular shortcomings of the prior art Landscape water conservation also provides additional benefits As noted by the EPA in its Water Efficient Land scaping guidelines landscape water conservation also results in decreased energy use and air pollution associated with its generation because less pumping and treatment of water is required and reduced runoff of storm water and irrigation water that carries top soils fertilizers and pesti cides into lakes rivers and streams fewer yard trimmings reduced landscaping labor and maintenance costs and extended life for water resources infrastructures e g reser voirs treatment plants groundwater aquifers thus reduced taxpayer costs Thus there is an urgent need for irrigation systems that conserve water and energy and minimize nega tive impact upon the environment by automatically adjusting their schedules periodically in response to meteorological and seasonal changes The problem of irrigation mismanagement and the main hurdle faced by these e
39. nt of the runoff and water waste would be prevented under per fectly efficient conditions second shortcoming of the ET method is its dependence upon numerous categories of local real time meteorological data As indicated above many variables must be measured in order to calculate ET Data for each variable must be obtained by separate sensors each one installed in a particular loca tion Such particularity requires an understanding of local environmental conditions and meteorology Furthermore accuracy requires that the data be received from local sen US 8 401 705 B2 5 sors given the numerous microclimates existing within any one geographical area data received from remotely located sensors may be inaccurate The data must also be received and processed in real time since average or historical ET data may be inaccurate during periods of unusual or excessive heat cold or rain or other deviations from historical climate patterns Any inaccurate data would result in even greater ET deviations and inefficient irrigation ET measuring devices are generally also expensive to install and maintain Sensors or weather stations must be placed within each microclimate to measure the different variables utilized by the formula of choice Each weather station may cost up to several thousand dollars Furthermore all of these sensors or stations must undergo regular inspec tion maintenance and calibration to insure that they continue
40. ntities can be simply summarized as follows once a system is properly designed most of the wasted landscape irrigation water and runoff is caused by not adjusting for daily periodic or seasonal changes Such inac tion is usually caused by the complexity and difficulty of determining the particular adjustment amounts With that in mind a correspondingly simple intuitive solution would be highly preferred over the existing highly theoretical and tech nical but impractical state of the art in moisture sensing and ET based control systems Itis therefore desirable to provide a simple user intuitive and therefore readily accepted water conservation approach particularly for a clearly understood automated method of US 8 401 705 B2 7 calculating and implementing irrigation schedules It is fur ther desirable to provide a method that does not necessarily rely upon ground or air moisture sensing means weather stations or ET either directly or as a basis for deriving the sprinkler operating times It is further desirable to provide a method that minimizes the margins and sources of errors by minimizing the number of sensor inputs required by the vari ables in the formula It is further desirable to provide a method that utilizes minimal local real time meteorological data It is further desirable that such a method be cost efficient afford able and usable by a large number of people and entities within the different industries It
41. o the instruction set of the controller and by adding a temperature sensor to an available input port An alternative embodiment of the present invention does not require the operator to input the actual date of the expected high temperature Instead the present invention may assume that such date occurs during the summer months 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 and average the RAs for the summer months to obtain an average RA for the STBF calculation Another alternative embodiment of the present invention allows the operator to input the temperature date and prelimi nary irrigation schedule for any time of the year The present invention then determines the STBF from such data The WBR remains accurate due to the ratio relationship between the PTBF and STBF as described herein Another alternative embodiment of the present invention utilizes AC power instead of battery power While the latter is the preferred embodiment herein because it is the most chal lenging residential applications constitute over half of all landscape irrigation controllers Virtually all of these residen tial controllers are AC powered Such an alternative embodi ment ofthe present invention may be installed anywhere upon the residential property such as within a the garage It may be operated by input means built into the controller or by wire less transmission from a remote The temperature and rain sensors are mounted outdo
42. odel for Hawaii The Hargreaves Model CTAHR Fact Sheet 1 page article May 1997 WU Austin Lawn Sprinkler Association Technical Information Using Evapotranspiration Data Nov 2002 1 page webpage ET Different Formula 1 page Chart USFAO Preface page Web Page Feb 2003 US Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation Lower Colo rado Region Southern California Area Office Temecula California amp Technical Service Center Water Resources Planning Operations Support Group Denver Colorado Weather and Soil Moisture Based Landscape Irrigation Scheduling Devices Reclama tion Managing Water in the West Aug 2004 135 pages Instructions Model PK 1B pump controller Mar 1993 Trrigation amp Green Industry Magazine Nov 2010 Universal Smart Module brochure Aug 2009 Smart Clock brochure original from approx May 2007 WeatherSmartPro brochure Oct 2009 Aqua Conserve User s Guide Jun 2010 Aqua Conserve ET 8 Series Manual 2010 Climate Logic wireless weather sensing system flyer Nov 2010 WeatherSmart manual Mar 2010 Irritrol Climate Logic user manual 2011 Rain Bird Simple to Set Smart Controller Operation Manual 2010 Hunter X Core residential irrigation controller manual 2010 Solar Sync sensors 2011 Metropolitan Water District of Southern California The Watering Index and Watering Calculator 2011 Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Save a Buck Irrigation Con
43. one maximum percentage allowable depletion without plant stress the water manage ment factor necessary to overcome water management inef ficiency the whole day stress based irrigation interval water flow rates for the particular system and of course ET Due to the urgency arising from severe national drought and environmental conditions and the shortcomings of the various present technologies the irrigation industry is cur rently researching alternative methods for water conservation and prevention ofunattended runoff The Center for Irrigation Technology in Fresno Calif along with other educational and research institutions and water conservation agencies is conducting studies to determine the most effective water con servation method On the national level the EPA is consider ing the introduction of a WaterStar irrigation efficiency rating program similar to the EnergyStar rating system currently in use for equipment energy efficiency The purpose of such an irrigation efficiency rating program is to promote consumer awareness and compliance as an alternative to mandated water conservation measures which would severely and negatively impact the irrigation industry land scape aesthetics and the ecology Itis clear from the foregoing discussion that the irrigation water management industry in view of a politically and eco nomically sensitive and urgent water crisis is pursuing highly scientific mathematical and or tech
44. onverted to millimeters of water per day This formula is theoretical and to the inventor s knowledge untested Furthermore it relies upon the same ET theories and interrelationships as the other formulas disclosed above As described herein such reliance causes the Hargreaves formula to possess the same shortcomings as the other ET formulas A number of irrigation controller manufacturers offer smart self adjusting irrigation controllers Such control lers generally incorporate some form of ET Several of them obtain the environmental data to calculate ET from historical records while others utilize adjacently located weather sta tions to obtain real time data Others receive such informa tion from a network of existing weather stations by radio satellite or pager means The following U S patents all disclose various methods by which an irrigation controller calculates or adjusts an irriga tion schedule based upon historical distal or local ETo U S Pat Nos 4 962 522 5 208 855 5 479 339 5 696 671 and 25 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 6 298 285 All of these methods calculate ETo values or receive them from external sources and use such values to adjust and regulate irrigation Such external sources may be CIMIS ET databases local sensors cable lines or broadcast stations Several of these methods also utilize other data such as precipitation Unfortunately methods incorporating ET form
45. or Given this relative simplicity and its intuitive approach the present invention is much more likely to be adopted by the general public 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 Another advantage of the present invention over the Pen man Monteith formula or any other ET formula is in terms of hardware costs Specifically in one alternative embodi ment only a temperature sensor is required the existing irrigation controller assuming that it satisfies certain mini mum system requirements suchas the availability of an input port for the temperature sensor sufficient memory to store the RA lookup table and the ability to receive the software instructions for the present invention may be used This controller may be AC DC solar or battery powered FIG 2 depicts an irrigation controller 10 embodying the present invention Such controller comprises the following components a remotely programmable input device 11 for entering data into the controller an optional antenna 12 for receiving data from the operator via wireless means a micro processor 13 a first data storage means 14 such as a hard drive containing a zip code latitude lookup table formatted in a conventional mariner an extraterrestrial radiation lookup table formatted in a conventional manner and the formula of the present invention all for computing and adjusting the irrigation schedule based upon the data received a second data stora
46. ors to measure ambient tempera ture at various locations such as the eve ofthe garage These sensors may be hardwired to the controller or in short range wireless communication with the controller The method of calculating the WBR and the operation ofthe cutoff switches and valves remain unchanged Optional procedures may also be incorporated into the present invention For example after entering the expected summer high temperature and latitude the operator may specify the minimum irrigation temperature This insures that the irrigation schedule is not activated when the temperature is near or below a certain point such as freezing temperature Such minimum temperature requirement serves two primary purposes first to conserve water and second to protect the safety of vehicles and pedestrians traveling through the irri gation zone during freezing temperatures A second option permits the operator to further adjust the irrigation schedule according to the particular circumstances and or limitations such as the water delivery method utilized by the irrigation system the specifications of the system or the type of plants being watered This allows the operator to fine tune the irri gation schedule based upon personal experience observa tions or unusual field situations A third option is to attach a commonly available precipitation sensor to the irrigation con troller either directly or indirectly as a separate unit in com munic
47. pal and commercial areas golf courses and schools further contribute to the water shortage Such water shortages have forced many municipalities to enact strict water conservation measures For its part the agricultural industry has responded to this shortage by resort ing to drip micro and other low volume irrigation systems Urban communities have imposed strict irrigation schedules and required the installation of water meters and auditors to enforce those schedules Commercial and environmental users have enacted similar measures However there is no consensus among these various consumers as to the most effective water conservation method or automated control system Residential and commercial irrigation consumers are responsible for a significant percentage of wasted water A report entitled Water Efficient Landscaping by the United States Environmental Protection Agency EPA dated Sep tember 2002 publication number EPA832 F 02 002 states the following a ccording to the U S Geological Survey of the 26 billion gallons of water consumed daily in the United States Amy Vickers 2002 Handbook of Water Use and Conservation approximately 7 8 billion gallons or 3096 is devoted to outdoor uses The majority of this is used for landscaping A significant reason for this over utilization of landscape water was revealed in a marketing study conducted by the Irrigation Association IA and presented at the 2003 IA Smart Wa
48. soil moisture readings the high costs of installing and maintaining the sensors and the integrity and reliability of the sensors data Other irrigation controllers utilize meteorological data to estimate the evapotranspiration or ET for a particular region This ET represents the amount of water needed by plants to replace water lost through plant absorption and evaporation and is expressed in inches or millimeters of water per day The United States Food and Agriculture Office USFAO in its Irrigation and Drainage Paper No 24 entitled Crop Water Requirements noted that a large number of more or less empirical methods have been developed over the last fifty years by numerous scientists and specialists worldwide to estimate ET from different climatic variables There are at least 15 different ET formulas Each of these formulas provides a different result for the reference ET US 8 401 705 B2 3 ETo In their paper entitled Methods to Calculate Evapo transpiration Differences and Choices Diego Cattaneo and Luke Upham performed a four year comparison of four dif ferent ETo formulas the Penman Monteith formula the Schwab formula the Penman formula and the Penman pro gram The comparison revealed that the results from the four recognized formulas sometimes varied by as much as sev enty five percent The Penman Monteith formula is currently recommended as the standard by both the USFAO and California Irriga
49. tation rate in inches per hour Ea the percentage application efficiency ofthe hydraulics system As an example of such complexity the crop coefficient Kc is different for each crop or landscape plant or grass type Determining the precipitation rate Pr requires knowledge of the hydraulic system specifications the particular types of valves and sprinklers the number of valves and sprinklers within the system the water flow rate and operating pressure Such information is not readily available to the average con sumer Instead the consumer must expend additional time and money to retain an irrigation expert to configure and install the system Another ET to irrigation time conversion method the deficit irrigation practice was proposed by the IA Water Management Committee in Appendix G of its October 2002 article entitled Turf and Landscape Irrigation Best Manage ment Practices Such conversion method comprised of ten separate formulas and utilized a total of twenty nine vari ables and constants not including those utilized in calculating the ET value Many of these variables represented concepts and relationships difficult for the average irrigation designer 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 much less a consumer to understand such as the local land scape coefficient forthe particular vegetation available water depending upon the particular soil composition allowable water depletion rate from the root z
50. ter Application Technology conference in San Diego Calif The study indicated that most consumers typi cally adjust their irrigation schedule only two to five times per year rather than on a daily or weekly basis regardless of changes in environmental conditions The relatively high cost of labor in many municipalities further prohibits frequent manual adjustments of irrigation controllers This generally results in over irrigation and runoff particularly during the off seasons oftentimes by as much as one to two hundred percent Furthermore in municipalities that limit irrigation to certain days or intervals the common practice is to over water during the permitted watering periods in order to carry over until the next watering period However this practice is counter productive in that severe over irrigation results in increased water run off and evaporation Soil moisture sensing devices and other methods of water conservation have been available for decades but have enjoyed only limited success Such devices and methods gen erally call for inserting moisture sensors into the soil to mea sure the soil moisture content Newer soil moisture sensing technologies have more recently been developed and claim to be theoretically accurate in measuring plant water needs However regardless of the level of technology such devices and methods are often problematic due to the location and number of sensors necessary to obtain accurate
51. that the PTBF was higher than the STBF such that the irrigation needs for that particular period are greater than the irrigation needs for an average summer day This would cause the controller to increase the irrigation schedule for the following period by a corresponding amount A WBR value less than 1 which would be the case most of the time that is not during the summer indicates that less irrigation is needed than the average summer day causing a decrease in the irri gation schedule for the following period The microprocessor 13 then multiplies the preliminary irrigation schedule by the WBR value step 72 This causes the irrigation schedule adjustment to be determined by the ratio ofthe two temperature and RA values ensuring that the area does not receive too little or too much water The adjusted irrigation schedule is then stored upon the second data storage device 15 to be utilized for the following period step 73 When the irrigation schedule calls for water step 80 the irrigation controller 10 first verifies the temperature step 81 using temperature sensor 17 and if provided the precipita tion using optional precipitation sensor 18 step 82 If the current temperature is greater than the previously specified minimum system activation temperature and there is no recent or current precipitation as previously defined by the operator the controller 10 activates step 83 the irrigation system according to the adjusted
52. trollers 2011 Enercon Plus Brochure original from approx May 2007 WeatherSmartPro brochure Mar 2010 SolarSync brochure Oct 2009 SolarSync Owner s Manual and Programming Instructions Dec 2009 Toro ECXTRA Automatic Sprinkler System Control Timer User s Guide Toro XTRA SMART Wireless weather sensor system installation and setup guide AquaConserve ACT 9 and ACT 14 Station Aqua Climate Tracker Irrigation Controller User s Guide 2001 AquaConserve ACT 9 and ACT 14 Quick Reference amp Installation Guide 2001 TORO Xtra Smart Wireless Weather Sensor System Installation and Setup Guide 2010 Report on Perofrmance of ET Based Irrigation Controller Analy sis of Operation of WeatherTRAK TM Controller in Field Condi tions During 2002 Aquacraft Inc Apr 23 2003 cited by examiner U S Patent Water Budget vs Base Month Mar 19 2013 Sheet 1 of 9 US 8 401 705 B2 TEMPERATURE VS ET IRRIGATION BUDGET Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Temp Budget Month Temp Budget May 88 909 88 47 6978 70 39 U S Patent Antenna 17 ITemperature Sensor 18 Precipitation Sensor Mar 19 2013 Sheet 2 of 9 US 8 401 705 B2 10 irrigation Controller 11 Remotely Programmable Input Device Transformer or Data Data D C Power Storage Stor
53. ulas and the installation comprehension and programming of control lers utilizing such methods including those cited in the ref erenced patents above are far too complex for the average user to understand and implement Such a conclusion was reached in a recent study of ET controllers by the Irvine Ranch Water District entitled Residential Weather Based Irrigation Scheduling Study The study stated the following The water agency solution to date has been to conduct resi dential audits leaving the homeowner with a suggested watering schedule hoping it would then be followed These programs have had limited effect and a short term impact A preferred solution would be to install irrigation controllers that automatically adjust watering times based on local weather conditions Unfortunately until now these large landscape control systems have been far too complex and expensive for residential applications Such complexity is underscored by the one hundred forty five principal symbols and acronyms identified by the USFAO for use and description of the factors and variables related to ET theory and its various formulas covering such variables as the capillary rise the resistance correction fac tor the soil heat capacity the psychrometer coefficient and the bulk stomatal resistance of a well illuminated leaf The sheer number of variables renders ET theory difficult to explain understand and apply especially for an unsophisti
54. uring 2002 Aquacraft Inc Apr 23 2003 application No 11 879 700 filed on Jul 17 2007 now Contitied Pat No 7 844 368 which is a continuation in part of Continued application No 11 336 690 filed on Jan 20 Primary Examiner M N Von Buhr Continued 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Mark D Miller 51 Int Cl 57 ABSTRACT G05D 11 00 2006 01 The present invention provides methods for water conserva A01G 25 00 2006 01 tion with irrigation controllers based upon the ambient tem 52 700 284 239 69 perature and extraterrestrial radiation of a particular geo 58 Field of Classification Search 700 284 graphical area It receives a preliminary irrigation schedule 239 67 70 723 137 78 1 78 3 624 11 624 15 from the operator and computes a water budget ratio by 137 624 21 405 36 37 comparing current local geo environmental data with stored See application file for complete search history local geo environmental data then modifying the prelimi nary irrigation schedule based upon that ratio The present 56 References Cited invention utilizes fewer variables is less complex and is U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 3 114 243 A 12 1963 Winters 3 372 899 A 3 1968 McPhearson much easier to install and maintain than the current evapo transpiration based controllers 16 Claims 9 Drawing Sheets US 8 401 705 B2 Page 2 60 56 Related U S Application Data 2006 now Pat No
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