Voltage compensation in an irrigation control device
AssigneeRain Bird Corporation
InventorsManuel J. Ferrer Herrera, Steven M. Lurcott, Todd K. Roper
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Some embodiments provide irrigation valve control apparatuses comprising: multiple terminals coupled with a multi-wire path; a first charge storage circuitry electrically coupled with at least one of the multiple terminals, wherein the first charge storage circuitry is configured to be charged by a voltage on the multi-wire path; a control circuitry configured to determine the voltage on the multi-wire path; and a boost circuitry controlled by the control circuitry, wherein the control circuitry in response to determining that the voltage on the multi-wire path is below a threshold activates the boost circuitry to increase a voltage stored by the first charge storage circuitry.
Claims23
An irrigation valve control apparatus comprising:
- multiple terminals coupled with a multi-wire path supplying power to multiple irrigation devices;
- a first charge storage circuitry electrically coupled with at least one of the multiple terminals, wherein the first charge storage circuitry is configured to be charged by a voltage on the multi-wire path;
- a control circuitry configured to determine the voltage on the multi-wire path;
- and
- a boost circuitry controlled by the control circuitry, wherein the control circuitry in response to determining that the voltage on the multi-wire path is below a threshold activates the boost circuitry to increase a voltage stored by the first charge storage circuitry and wherein the control circuitry is configured to cause a discharge of the first charge storage circuitry in controlling irrigation.
A method of controlling irrigation valves, the method comprising:
- determining, at an irrigation valve control circuitry, whether a voltage on a multi-wire path is less than a first threshold, wherein power from the multi-wire path is obtained to open and close an irrigation valve;
- activating a boost circuitry in response to determining that the voltage on the multi-wire path is less than the first threshold;
- generating a boost voltage, through the boost circuitry, that is greater than the voltage on the multi-wire path;
- charging, through the boost voltage, a first charge storage circuitry to a first voltage that is greater than the voltage on the multi-wire path;
- and
- discharging the first charge storage circuitry to drive a current through a solenoid.
An irrigation control apparatus comprising:
- charge storage circuitry electrically coupled with a multi-wire path;
- boost circuitry coupled to the charge storage circuitry and configured to increase a voltage stored by the charge storage circuitry;
- a solenoid configured to cooperate with a plunger and to receive a plunger drive signal produced through a discharge of at least the charge storage circuitry;
- and
- plunger position detection circuitry configured to determine whether the plunger is in one of an open position and a closed position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.