Snowmaking automation system and modules
AssigneeSl USA, LLC
InventorMitchell Joe Dodson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention is a snowmaking automation system and snowmaking automation modules for use with snowmaking guns and hydrants. Embodiments of the snowmaking automation modules described herein may be battery powered, and thus do not require fixed electrical infrastructure, but are designed to use such infrastructure if present on the mountain. In some embodiments, various components of the snowmaking automation system may be wireless and thus do not require hard-wired communications, for example between base stations, servers, databases, repeater nodes and remotely controlled snowmaking guns and hydrants with their snowmaking automation modules installed.
Claims20
A snowmaking automation system for controlling the generation of snow, comprising:
- a first hydrant for selectively receiving and delivering pressurized water;
- a second hydrant for selectively receiving and delivering compressed air, the second hydrant including a valve operable to control output of the second hydrant;
- a snowmaking gun coupled to the first hydrant to selectively receive the pressurized water and to the second hydrant to selectively receive the compressed air;
- a first automation module coupled to the first hydrant and in communication with the valve operable to control output of the second hydrant;
- and
- a second automation module coupled to the snowmaking gun,
- wherein at least one of the first and the second automation modules comprises:
- a housing for attachment to the snowmaking gun or the first hydrant;
- a means for communication mounted within the housing, the means for communication being operable to provide user control to the snowmaking gun, the first hydrant, or the second hydrant to selectively generate snow using the pressurized water and the compressed air;
- and
- a battery mounted within the housing, the battery coupled to and configured for powering the means for communication.
A snowmaking automation system for controlling the generation of snow, comprising:
- at least one hydrant for selectively receiving and delivering at least one of pressurized water and compressed air;
- a snowmaking gun coupled to the at least one hydrant to selectively receive the pressurized water and the compressed air;
- a first automation module coupled to the at least one hydrant and a second automation module coupled to the snowmaking gun, wherein at least one of the first and second automation modules comprises:
- a housing for attachment to the snowmaking gun or the at least one hydrant;
- a means for communication mounted within the housing, the means for communication being operable to provide user control to the snowmaking gun or the at least one hydrant to selectively generate snow using the pressurized water and the compressed air;
- a battery mounted inside the housing, the battery coupled to and configured for powering the means for communication;
- and
- a solar panel mechanically coupled to the housing and electrically coupled to the battery for passively supplementing life of the battery.
A snowmaking automation system for controlling the generation of snow, comprising:
- at least one hydrant for selectively receiving and delivering at least one of pressurized water and compressed air;
- a snowmaking gun coupled to the at least one hydrant to selectively receive the pressurized water and the compressed air;
- a first automation module coupled to the at least one hydrant and a second automation module coupled to the snowmaking gun, wherein at least one of the first and second automation modules comprises:
- a housing for attachment to the snowmaking gun or the at least one hydrant;
- a motor mounted inside the housing and coupled to an actuator interface, the motor configured to selectively drive the snowmaking gun or the at least one hydrant, respectively;
- and
- an interface and a means for communication configured to provide user control of at least one of the snowmaking gun or the at least one hydrant via the at least one of the first and second automation modules, respectively, and thereby control generation of the snow remotely.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.