Irrigation Rotor Sensor
AssigneeRain Bird Corporation
InventorsT. Lynn Roney, Steven Sharp
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An irrigation sprinkler is for use in distributing water to an area of vegetation, and has a rotatable nozzle for dispersing the water by rotation of the nozzle. A magnet is coupled or connected to the nozzle and rotates synchronously with the rotation of the nozzle. A sensor unit is disposed adjacent to the nozzle and detects a magnetic field generated by the magnet during nozzle rotation to generate a signal indicative of the speed and direction of rotation of the nozzle.
Claims32
An irrigation sprinkler comprising:
- a nozzle assembly for dispersing water to an area of vegetation, at least a portion of the nozzle assembly being rotatable about an axis due to water pressure;
- a first magnet rotationally connected to the at least a portion of the nozzle assembly, the first magnet producing a magnetic field, the nozzle assembly being axially movable along the axis relative to the first magnet;
- and
- a sensor unit isolated from any water received by the sprinkler and disposed for detecting the first magnetic field when the at least a portion of the nozzle assembly is rotating.
An irrigation sprinkler comprising:
- a nozzle assembly vertically movable between a lower inoperative position and an upper operative position in response to water pressure, and being rotatable in response to the water pressure;
- a generally ring-shaped member coupled to the nozzle assembly when the nozzle assembly is rotating;
- a magnet attached to the generally ring-shaped member and producing a first magnetic field;
- and
- a sensor unit disposed adjacent to the nozzle assembly and isolated from any water for detecting the first magnetic field when the nozzle assembly is rotating.
An irrigation sprinkler comprising:
- a nozzle assembly for dispersing water to an area of vegetation;
- a first piece of non-permanently magnetized ferrous material connected to the nozzle assembly and moving in response to a movement of at least a portion of the nozzle assembly;
- a first magnetic field source producing a first magnetic field, wherein the first magnetic field changes in response to the presence in the first magnetic field of at least a portion of the first piece of non-permanently magnetized ferrous material;
- and
- a first sensor isolated from any water for detecting the change in the first magnetic field.
An irrigation sprinkler for use with water provided at a water pressure, the irrigation sprinkler comprising:
- a nozzle assembly vertically movable between a lower assembly position and an upper assembly position in response to the water pressure, the nozzle assembly further being rotatable in response to the water pressure;
- a first magnetic field source adapted to produce a first magnetic field;
- and
- means for detecting the first magnetic field thereby providing an indication of at least one of a nozzle assembly position, a speed of nozzle assembly rotation, and a direction of nozzle assembly rotation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.