The Toro Company

James W Zimmerman

Jeff R McKenzie

Leo James Lichte

James T Wright, Iii

Peter Janku

Allan Morris Goldberg

Gregory B Holcomb

Thomas Henry Runge

Jason Lester Hill

Stephen L Tyler

Larry Kent Hopkins

Larry Hawkes

Gerald E Peterson

John L Staylor

Glendale Grizzle

Joseph Daniel Mason

The present invention includes an improved sprinkler design having a magnetic sensing system for determining the position of the riser nozzle, a waterproofed motor housing and related cables, configurable sprinkler body compartments, and a pilot valve with a check valve assembly, both of which are located within the sprinkler body.

Sprinkler assembly

In one embodiment, the present invention is directed to a soil moisture sensor for interrupting an irrigation schedule of an irrigation controller. The moisture sensor comprises a relatively flat body with two lower electrodes and two lower anchoring barbs. A receiver receives moisture readings from the sensor and compares moisture data to a predetermined moisture interrupt value or limit, over which irrigation is interrupted.

Soil moisture sensor

A self-adjusting irrigation controller takes a pre-irrigation soil moisture reading prior to irrigation, chooses an amount of water to be dispensed corresponding to that reading from a table, and dispenses that amount of water. A predetermined length of time after the end of irrigation, the controller takes a post-irrigation soil moisture reading and compares the value of that reading to a predetermined target value. If the post-irrigation value differs substantially from the target value, the water amount corresponding to the pre-irrigation value in the table is adjusted to reduce that difference on the next scheduled irrigation cycle having that same pre-irrigation soil moisture reading. The target value is determined by watering the soil to field capacity, then computing the target value as a function of the reading of the sensor at field capacity. The controller thus converges toward an ideal runtime and follows changes in the environment. In the preferred embodiment, the soil moisture is indicated by sensor voltages, and the amount of water dispensed is governed by the runtime of the irrigation system.

Method and apparatus for optimizing soil moisture

A soil moisture sensor uses a non-collimated light source and a photosensor, respectively, mounted at the foci of a transparent ellipsoidal plastic body. The dimensions of the body are such that emitted light rays are internally reflected toward the photosensor at the surface of the ellipsoid if the surface is dry, but refracted outwardly of the body when the surface is wet. The amount of light reflected onto the photosensor is thus a measure of the amount of moisture at the surface of the sensor. Direct illumination of the photosensor by the light source is prevented either by interposing opaque electronic components between them on a circuit board, or by taking advantage of light source characteristics to minimize the amount of transmitted light. If a circuit board is used, it is completely encapsulated against moisture penetration by fixing it in a carrier and molding the body around and onto the carrier to form a monolithic unit with the carrier and circuit board.

Optical moisture sensor and method of making the same

A soil moisture sensor has a cylindrical body of transparent cyclic olefin polymer (COC). A pair of axially spaced cavities tapered toward each other are formed in the body. A light source is placed in one of the cavities, and a light sensor is placed in the other. The walls of the cavities are so curved that divergent light rays from the light source are refracted at the cavity-body interface into parallelism, and that reflected parallel rays are refracted at the body-cavity interface so as to focus on the light sensor. The parallel rays coming from the light source are reflected or refracted at the outer surface of the body, depending upon whether the ambient environment of the sensor is dry or wet.

Optical moisture sensor

A sprinkler for watering a fixed spray pattern includes a flow conduit having a nozzle coupled thereto. A filter screen is held in place beneath the nozzle. The filter screen engages against a poppet type valve member of a flow shut off valve to space the valve member away from a valve seat to permit water flow through the flow conduit when the filter screen and nozzle are in place. If the nozzle is removed, the filter screen can move far enough upwardly, or can itself also be removed, that the valve member closes to shut off flow through the flow conduit. The flow shut off valve is located at a fixed distance from a reference point in the top of the flow conduit to permit the same sized screen to open the valve regardless of the overall length of the flow conduit. A flush cap used initially on top of the flow conduit in place of the nozzle, i.e. during shipment and initial pressurization and flushing of the flow conduit, has a downwardly extending extender finger which interacts with the shut off valve in the same manner as the filter screen to open the shut off valve whenever the flush cap is in place.

Growing community of inventors

Walnut, CA, United States of America

James W Zimmerman