EE01540U1 - Flower amp irrigation water controller - Google Patents

Abstract

Hanging flower pot watering controller consists of a spring, a metal body, hooks, a battery and electronic sensors. A hanging flower pot is hanged up to the controller and the pot's mass varies according to the amount of water in the soil. If there is a scarcity of water and the flower must be watered, the spring contracts and the upper electrical contacts touch, which activates the sensor. If there is enough water and the watering should stop, the spring stretches and the lower electrical contacts touch, which activates the other sensor. Sensors can be different colour light diodes, a wireless doorbell, a wireless weather station, a soil thermometer. The controller can be calibrated according to the water needs of a specific plant.

Description

Technical field

The invention belongs to the field of agricultural machinery and implements, more specifically to the field of flower watering devices, preferably to the field of constructing controllers for irrigation devices that take into account climatic conditions both around and inside the flower bed.

Flower growing methods and devices have been developed to the level of large-scale production and products are sold far beyond national borders. In some places, this production has reached the level of national activity, e.g. in the Netherlands. Much less have devices been created in the field of individual after-sales care of flower pots. The present invention relates to devices for watering flower pots, which inform about the moisture level in the pot using known household devices, the operation of which is based on optical, digital or acoustic effects.

State of the art

Several more distant analogues have been created and patented to achieve the same goal, but they only help to extend the maintenance interval and do not inform about the humidity situation in the pot. Many improvements have been made to make pot maintenance easier, the most important of which are related to the design and materials of flower pots. The latter are related, for example, to irrigation water reservoirs that date back to the last century (e.g. US2605588A [1], US4184287A [2], US5058319A [3]). Moisture gels have also been created that absorb water and release it into the soil at a certain rate, thanks to which the plants need to be watered much less often (e.g. US5143536A [4], EP2032671A2 [5]). However, automated systems, as a rule, only take care of a stable amount of water in the flower pot and do not pay attention to changes in the plant's water needs due to external temperature, humidity or wind. Moreover, in a home with only a single flowerpot, automated systems are expensive and often incompatible with our cultural understanding of the relationship between technology and aesthetics. Typically, a reservoir for watering water is not placed in a visible place near the flowerpot. Among the patents reviewed, there were no those related to air conditioning and meteorological conditions around or inside the flowerpot.

The essence of the invention

The device measures the water requirement of the amp based on the change in mass and, when it reaches a certain limit, notifies the user without going directly near the amp.

The flower ampel is hung up using a controller resembling an original spring balance. Over a very long time, it has been established - first patented in 1838 [6] - that the spring balance design is not very easy to dismantle. Therefore, improving the spring balance is technically more expensive and pointless compared to creating a new one and does not save labor and material. In our solution, the moving parts of the new device are electrically separated by an insulator and the distance between their intermediate contacts is adjustable between two main contacts, at least one of which is insulated from the housing. The position of the main contacts is also adjustable. Contacts are attached to these parts, which are connected to known sensor devices that signal a change in mass. When a certain amount of water has evaporated, the mass of the ampel is so much smaller that the lower moving part of the controller rises up and comes into contact with the hook of the housing. The contacts are layered and a circuit is formed, as a result of which the sensor device starts to work.

The sensor devices of the amplifier can be digital, optical, acoustic or a combination of these - for example, a wireless weather station for distance reading, an LED, a wireless doorbell. The sensors can be directly attached to the amplifier or connected by wires from the amplifier to a place where the caretaker is monitoring it, or the signal can be transmitted over a longer distance by radio. Wireless solutions are preferable because their working distance is in the tens or hundreds of meters. In this case, in the absence of a permanent caretaker, it is possible to transfer the care to, for example, neighbors, or even to a side street in the case of the best devices. Wireless connections are also usually cheaper if the distance is greater than several meters.

If there are several pots with the same type of plants in similar conditions on the side of a building or in a garden, it is sufficient to install the weather station on only one pot.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 shows a general view of the controller. Figure 2 shows the controller not connected to the amp. Figure 3 shows the controller circuit indicating that the amp needs watering. Figure 4 shows the controller circuit indicating that the amp is sufficiently watered.

In Figure 5, the controller circuit shows the colored LED on the left (e.g. red) that the ampel needs watering, and the LED on the right (e.g. blue) that there is enough water. In Figure 6, information about the need for watering is transmitted by a wireless doorbell, in Figure 7 by a wireless weather station, and in Figure 8 by a wired soil thermometer. In the last three cases, the sufficiency of irrigation water is also indicated by an LED.

Example of carrying out the invention

The controller resembles a spring balance in appearance, but differs in essence because it lacks a mass measuring scale (see Figure 1).

In the middle of the controller there is a threaded rod 1, the upper end of which is turned into a mounting hook. The rod 1 passes through the entire controller so that there is room for the mounting eyelet 2 of the amplifier below it and the amplifier hook 3. A contact disc 4 is mounted on the rod 1. The rod 1 is electrically separated from the spring 8 by a threaded insulator bushing 5, the insulator bushing 6 is connected to the rod 1 by a slide and the insulator bushing 7 is threadedly connected to the rod 1. The insulator bushing 5 is threadedly connected to the spring 8, the spring 8 has a threaded mounting washer 9. The lower end of the spring 8 is attached to the support panel 10 by a thread. The support panel 11 is passed through by the mounting eyelet 2 of the amplifier. The mounting eyelet 2 has nut connections 12, which allows the upper contact panel 13 to be moved up and down on the eyelet 2. The upper contact panel 13 is separated from the eyelet 2 by insulators 14 and 15 and secured by a nut connection 12, so that the nuts do not short-circuit the eyelet 2 and the fastening panel 13. The rod 1 has a threaded contact disc 4, which is located between the upper contact panel 13 and the lower contact panel 16. The contact panel 16 is secured to the eyelet 2 by a nut connection 12. In the upper part of the rod 1 there are nuts 17 for securing the wire terminal 18. Also on the contact panels 13 and 16 there are fastening screws 19 and 20 for the wire terminals.

To calibrate the controller, an unwatered ampel (see Figure 3) is hung on the end of the loop 2 of the controller. The lower contact panel 16 and the contact disc 4 are adjusted so that they touch each other - the sensor indicating the need for watering is activated. After watering, the moving part of the controller sinks down (see Figure 4). When the water in the ampel has evaporated sufficiently and the ampel is as light as before, a circuit is formed between contacts 4 and 16 and the applied sensor (see Figures 5, 6, 7 and 8) indicates that the plant needs to be watered again. The amount of water can be optimized through experiments so that, for example, watering should be done on average once a day. However, the frequency of watering depends on the weather conditions. The dry ampel is then watered with the amount of water found and adjusted

the upper contact panel 13 so that the contact disc 4 comes into contact with it. Then, the amount of water does not need to be measured during subsequent watering, and a sensor will indicate when there is enough water.

With good care, as plants grow, the mass and area of their foliage and flowers constantly increase. The increase in the mass of the aboveground part and root system of the plants is small compared to the total weight of the amp. However, the increase in the area of the aboveground parts means that the water requirement of the plant also increases almost proportionally. In this case, either the plant can be watered more often or the controller can be recalibrated. Several sensor switches with different functions (not shown in the figures) can also be attached to the lower contact panel, which is controlled by contact disc 4. This allows, in addition to air temperature, to take into account air humidity, soil temperature, wind speed, etc. when determining the amount of irrigation water.

Sources used

1.Lindstaedt, F.F. (1948). Resilient connector for combination flowerpot and watering pan.

2.Prissier, M.G., Schultz, B.A., Gordon, S.A., Rygielski, K.A., Phillips, M.L., Bruno, R.H., Nathan, P.I., Zasadzinski, T.M., Alexander, A.E. (2012). Indoor growing unit.

3. Gardner, T., Perazzolo, R., Grille, I.P., Wilson, E.L. (1994). A container for the purpose of humidifying vessels of flowers and plants and vessels capable of humidifying flowers and or plants.

4. Runkis, W.H. (1987). Gel rooting composition and method.

5. Paternoster, J., Smith, G., Jensen, H., Langston, I. (2006). Moisturizing agent with nutrients.

6. Cruz, V. (2019). Market Business News. What Is a Spring Scale Used For? Accessed 04.10.2020, https://marketbusinessnews.eom/spring-scale/217483/

Claims (1)

A flower pot watering water controller, consisting of a spring (8), its end attachments and a rod (1) passing through it, characterized in that the upper end of the rod is turned into a hook, the old one is threaded at least from the lower end to the hook, the rod has a contact disc (4) rotating on the thread, the rod together with the contact disc is electrically separated by insulators from all parts of the controller surrounding it when the controller is not in operation, the contact disc is placed between two electrode panels (15 and 16), at least one of which is electrically insulated from the remaining parts of the controller, the position of the contact panels is adjustable up and down, the rod and the contact panels are equipped with wires, through the electrical short circuit of which the water content in the flower pot is controlled, a U-shaped threaded eyelet (2) passes through the contact panels, which has fastening nuts with the contact panel and which does not connect to the contact panel with black insulators, the eyelet passing through the carrier pallet (10) is attached to it with a nut connection, the eyelet is attached to the eyelet flowerpot