WO2009003986A1

WO2009003986A1 - Electronic control unit, specifically for the control of electrovalves in an irrigation system.

Info

Publication number: WO2009003986A1
Application number: PCT/EP2008/058393
Authority: WO
Inventors: Oliviano Spadotto; Andrea Brundisini
Original assignee: Claber S.P.A.
Priority date: 2007-07-03
Filing date: 2008-06-30
Publication date: 2009-01-08
Also published as: DE212008000050U1; CN202035352U; ES1071945Y; ITMI20070233U1; ES1071945U

Abstract

An electronic control unit (1) is disclosed, specifically for the control of electrovalves in an irrigation system. Such an electronic control unit (1) includes at least one battery (8) and one electronic circuitry (17) which may be remotely programmed, both positioned in a sealed condition within a protective housing (2, 3, 4). Communication means (13, 14, 15, 16, 20) are provided for the transmission of data to external means, for instance by means of a serial port or by means of antennas (15), by radio waves, or by means of text messages sent from a GSM mobile telephone.

Description

"Electronic control unit, specifically for the control of electrovalves in an irrigation system"

DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to an electronic control unit, specifically for the control of electrovalves in an irrigation system.

There are known irrigation systems with electrovalves controlled by control units allowing to activate the delivery of water. Such control units are provided with digital electronic circuitry, in which a software is loaded allowing to control the irrigation state, for instance by delivering water only during some time periods of the day, week or year.

A typical problem when fitting an irrigation system is related to the type of ground to irrigate. Different types of systems are chosen depending on whether parks, gardens, sport grounds or agricultural areas need to be irrigated.

To meet the customer's requirements, in the past it has often been necessary to design a system according to a customized layout: the resulting engineering and planning costs subsequently imply a rise in the final costs of the irrigation system.

Furthermore, if the ground to be irrigated is broad, the cabling must be increased implying a rise in costs and complicating the steps of installing, testing, maintaining and later extending the system. Indeed, it often occurs that installation technicians and gardeners are not skilled as far as electric systems are concerned.

For these reasons, the market demands increasingly higher levels of standardisation and modularity for control units, so that these may be marketed as such and may be installed as a block without causing any difficulty for the installation technicians, minimizing the required cabling.

It is the object of the present invention to provide standardized and modular control devices for the electrovalves, which are easy to distribute on the ground to be irrigated, simplifying the design of the irrigation systems.

According to the invention, such an object is achieved by means of an electronic control unit, specifically for the control of electrovalves in an irrigation system, characterized in that it includes at least one battery and one remotely programmable electronic circuitry, positioned in a sealed condition within a protective housing.

The operation of such electrovalves may be controlled by means of connections with at least one or more external electrovalves to control the irrigation of areas located in remote positions. A control unit according to the invention includes a plurality of communication means towards external electronic devices, for instance by means of an antenna with a wireless connection (for instance based on the Bluetooth or GSM standards), and/or by means of serial ports.

In this manner, an irrigation system may be made in which: - each electrovalve (or set of electrovalves) is controlled by a small control unit, hermetically sealed from outside;

- the external communication means of the control units allow designers, users or maintenance technicians to perform the adjustment, control, programming and update of the control software of the control units even remotely.

These and other features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of an embodiment thereof, shown by no way of limitation in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a partially cut-away perspective view of a control unit according to the present invention;

Figure 2 shows a top view of the control unit in Figure 1;

Figure 3 shows a side view of Figure 1 ;

Figure 4 shows an exploded view according to the axial direction of the control unit of the previous figures. A control unit 1 according to the invention is shown in the drawings enclosed within a plastic housing 2, formed by three engageable separate parts:

- a lower hollow cylindrical body 3, open on top and closed on the bottom; - un upper hollow cylindrical body 4, open on top and closed on the bottom;

- an annular-shaped junction element 5 allowing to reciprocally join the cylindrical bodies 3 and 4 and hold them locked to each other;

- a vertical wall 6. The inside of the lower cylindrical body 3, closed on top by the cylindrical body 4, forms a chamber for housing the batteries 8. Such batteries 8 are fixed to a supply board 7, which is shielded and protected by a metal surface 12. A further possibility as a power supply is provided by rechargeable batteries 22, also fixed to the board 7. There are also DIP switches (21), which are adapted to configure the electronic circuit depending on the kind of batteries (8 or 22) employed. A reset button 25, which may be used to reconfigure the control unit with new parameters set by the DIP switches 21, is a useful accessory for the configuration. A silicone gasket 9 (Figures 1 and 3) is inserted in the junction area between the cylindrical bodies 3 and 4, so as to hermetically seal the batteries 8. In this manner, there may be no water infiltrations or environmental contaminations due to the release of polluting substances contained in the batteries 8. The upper cylindrical body 4 houses an electronic circuitry 17 which may be remotely programmed. In the present embodiment, the electronic circuitry 17 is attached to a board 18 and includes logical means allowing to control the delivery of water by one or more controlled electro valves. The whole electronic circuitry is potted in a resin block 10, from which only connection means extend outwards. In this manner, there may be no infiltrations capable of damaging the electronic circuitry 17.

Supply terminals 27 are also connected to the board 18 for recharging the batteries 22.

Terminal blocks 19 are also provided for connecting the control unit 1 to one or more external electro valves.

Terminals 26 for test switches are also provided, which exploit the internal programming of the control unit to verify the correct or incorrect operation state of the control unit itself.

Connectors 14 may be connected to a connection serial type port 13 of the RS485, the connectors connecting such connection ports 13 to transmission antennas 15 according to the Bluetooth standard in order to extend the number of connected control units. Antennas 15 and connectors

14 are externally coated with insulating rubber material. In this manner, there may be no infiltrations capable of damaging the electronic circuitry or causing short-circuits.

Such connection ports 13 could also be used in different embodiments of the same invention for cabled connections with external devices, for instance with a serial protocol.

A port 16 may be connected to a coaxial cable (not shown) to be connected to an antenna (not shown) for transmissions according to the

GSM standard.

An expansion port 28, having a female DB9 connector in the present example, allows to directly connect a PC or a lap-top to the control unit for displaying and reprogramming the irrigation in situ. The control unit 1 may be programmed by means of a SIM card 20

(shown in Figure 3) by sending short control text messages from a GSM mobile telephone.

A LED 24 provides indications on the operation of the control unit with a flashing code which may indicate a correct operation of the rechargeable batteries 22 after recharge, or even the activation of the GSM or the successful synchronization of the internal clock.

Advantageously, the control unit 1 may be provided with a support hook 31 to perform a coupling or quick release on a support 30, fixed to a support base (not shown). A programmable and remote-controllable irrigation system may be made by employing a large number of control units, each of which is connected to at least one electrovalve. Such features allow to simplify the steps of designing, installing, maintaining, controlling and later expanding the system.

Claims

1. An electronic control unit (1), specifically for the control of electrovalves in an irrigation system, characterized in that it includes at least one battery (8) and one electronic circuitry (17) which may be remotely programmed, both positioned in a sealed condition within a protective housing (2, 3, 4).

2. A control unit according to claim 1, characterized in that said protective housing (2, 3, 4) includes a lower hollow body (3) for housing said at least one battery (8) and an upper hollow body (4) for housing said electronic circuitry (17), said lower hollow body (3) being closed by said upper hollow body (4) and hermetically sealed by a gasket (9) made of rubber material.

3. A control unit according to claim 2, characterized in that said electronic circuitry (17) is potted in a resin body (10).

4. A control unit according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it includes at least one terminal block (19) for the connection to at least one external electrovalve so as to control said at least one external electrovalve.

5. A control unit according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it includes communication means (13, 14, 15, 16, 20) with external electronic devices.

6. A control unit according to claim 5, characterized in that said communication means include at least one antenna (15) for wireless transmission.

7. A control unit according to claim 6, characterized in that said wireless transmission is according to the Bluetooth standard.

8. A control unit according to claim 6, characterized in that said wireless transmission is according to the GSM standard.

9. A control unit according to any one of the claims 5-8, characterized in that said communication means include at least one serial port (13).

10. A control unit according to claim 5, characterized in that the communication means include a SIM card (20) which may be activated by sending a text message by means of a GSM mobile telephone.

11. A control unit according to claim 5, characterized in that it includes internal rechargeable batteries (22) with supply terminals (27) which are external to the resin (10).

12. A control unit according to claim 11, characterized in that it includes DIP switches (21) for the configuration of the control unit to the employed battery type (8 or 22).

13. A control unit according to claim 12, characterized in that it includes a reset button (25) to reconfigure the control unit with new parameters set by the DIP switches (21).

14. A control unit according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it includes test switches (26) which, by being reciprocally connected with switches or external buttons, exploit the internal programming to verify the correct or incorrect operation state of the control unit.

15. A control unit according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it includes an expansion port (28) to allow to directly connect a PC or a lap-top to the control unit for displaying and reprogramming the irrigation in situ.

16. A control unit according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it includes a support hook (31) to perform a coupling or quick release on a support (30), fixed to a support base.