Clemar Manufacturing Corp.

Rain Bird Sprinkler Mfg. Corp.

Rene H Evelyn-Veere

Richard L Ruggles

Method and apparatus for controlling an irrigation system within prescribed limits of pump capacity and flow capacity through water line branches and defined local zones. Watering schedules may be all simultaneously activated and will make multiple requests for watering time, for posting in a flow management roster. The requests in the roster are processed and satisfied only if overall pump capacity permits and if local flow zone capacities, and the capacities of water lines feeding the flow zones, are not exceeded. Pump capacity is expanded incrementally as more requests are processed, but only in accordance with predefined limits on the conditions that have to be met before moving to an expanded capacity. This flow management technique is best employed with a cycle-and-soak feature to avoid runoff problems at selected sites, and using an evapotranspiration approach to vary the watering times in accordance with changing weather conditions.

Irrigation control and flow management system

Method and apparatus for controlling an irrigation system within prescribed limits of pump capacity and flow capacity through defined local zones. Watering schedules may be all simultaneously activated and will make multiple requests for watering time, for posting in a flow management roster. The requests in the roster are processed and satisfied only if overall pump capacity permits and if local flow zone capacities are not exceeded. Pump capacity is expanded incrementally as more requests are processed, but only in accordance with predefined limits on the conditions that have to be met before moving to an expanded capacity. This flow management technique is best employed with a cycle-and-soak feature to avoid runoff problems at selected sites, and using an evapotranspiration approach to vary the watering times in accordance with changing weather conditions.

An irrigation control system and a related method for controlling a large number of valves in accordance with a plurality of schedules of instructions provided by the user of the system. Schedules of instructions may be created or modified during normal operation of the system by utilizing a variety of command sequences on a keyboard and display device, and schedules may also be reviewed or monitored during operation. The control system includes apparatus for processing a plurality of digital inputs by means of which the conditions of sensing devices located in the field are monitored and can be used to condition execution of the schedules of instructions. The control system is disclosed for use with a two-wire irrigation system in which on/off control signals are encoded into a power signal for transmission along a pair of wires to which decoding units are connected. The control system includes an input/output service module which transmits on/off control signals to the decoding units repeatedly, as rapidly as the two-wire system will permit, to ensure that the valves remain switched in the manner intended.

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Alta Loma, CA, United States of America

Rene H Evelyn-Veere