Patent ID: 12255566

The drawing figures do not limit the current invention to the specific embodiments disclosed and described herein. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The following detailed description of the invention references the accompanying drawings that illustrate specific embodiments in which the invention can be practiced. The embodiments are intended to describe aspects of the invention in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. Other embodiments can be utilized and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

In this description, references to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, or “embodiments” mean that the feature or features being referred to are included in at least one embodiment of the technology. Separate references to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, or “embodiments” in this description do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment and are also not mutually exclusive unless so stated and/or except as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the description. For example, a feature, structure, act, etc. described in one embodiment may also be included in other embodiments, but is not necessarily included. Thus, the current technology can include a variety of combinations and/or integrations of the embodiments described herein.

Turning to the drawing figures, a mobile irrigation system100constructed in accordance with various embodiments of the invention is illustrated. The mobile irrigation system100is a central pivot irrigation system broadly comprising a central pivot102, a plurality of spans104A-D, an electrical power distribution system106, and an overcurrent protection system108. Other irrigation systems such as linear move irrigation systems may also be used without departing from the scope of the invention.

The central pivot102distributes water or other fluids to the spans104A-D and may be a tower, a standpipe, or the like. The central pivot102may include a support structure for withstanding radial loads, axial loads, and twisting loads, a non-rotatable vertically extending pipe, and a rotatable elbow. The non-rotatable vertically extending pipe carries the fluids to an elevated height. The rotatable elbow connects the first span104A to the non-rotatable vertically extending pipe such that the spans104A-D are free to pivot about the central pivot102while remaining connected thereto.

The plurality of spans104A-D include a plurality of truss sections110A-D, a plurality of conduit sections112A-D, and a plurality of mobile irrigation towers114A-D. Any number of spans may be used without departing from the scope of the present invention. To that point, spans may be added and removed as an area to be irrigated is increased or decreased.

Each of the truss sections110A-D provides rigidity to or otherwise supports one of the conduit sections112A-D. The truss sections110A-D may include braces, cross members, cables, and the like.

Each of the conduit sections112A-D transport water or other fluids to a plurality of sprinklers, spray guns, drop nozzles, or other fluid emitting devices spaced along the conduit sections112A-D to apply water and/or other fluids to areas underneath the irrigation system100. The conduit sections112A-D may be or may include metal pipes and flexible liners including outlets to which the fluid emitting devices are connected.

Each of the mobile irrigation towers114A-D elevates adjacent truss sections110A-D and may include an “A-frame” or similar structure, a number of wheels116, and a drive motor118A-D. Each mobile irrigation tower114A-D may also include a controller for activating the drive motor118A-D according to a position of the mobile irrigation tower114A-D or a relative angle of the adjacent span104A-D.

The wheels116illustrated and described herein are merely examples of mechanisms for permitting movement of the mobile irrigation system100. The term “wheel” or “wheels” as used herein may refer to conventional circular wheels, skis, skids, tank tracks and wheels, rollers on a track, or any mechanism on which the mobile irrigation towers may travel relative to the ground. In one embodiment, each mobile irrigation tower114A-D includes a pair of wheels with one wheel being drivably connected to one of the drive motors118A-D and the other wheel free-spinning.

The drive motors118A-D are substantially similar, so only drive motor118A will be described further. The drive motor118A may be a constant speed or variable speed electric motor. In some embodiments of the invention, the drive motor118A may include integral or external relays so they may be turned on, off, and/or reversed. The drive motor118A may be drivably connected to one of the wheels116via a drive train including a geared transmission, a variable gear ratio transmission, a continuously variable transmission (CVT), or the like.

The mobile irrigation system100may also include a plurality of pumps and electric pump motors irrigation system monitoring sensors, agricultural data acquisition sensors, on-board data processors, remote communication elements such as transceivers and antennas, and the like. The electrical power distribution system106and overcurrent protection system108is primarily described in terms of providing electrical power and protection to the drive motors118A-D, but other electrical components such as the ones listed above may also benefit from the present invention.

The electrical power distribution system106may include a plurality of electrical power distribution lines120A-C and a plurality of drive motor power branch lines122A-C. In addition to the drive motors118A-D, the electrical power distribution system106may provide power to pump motors, irrigation system monitoring sensors, agricultural data acquisition sensors, on-board data processors, remote communication elements such as transceivers and antennas, and the like. To that end, the electrical power distribution system106may also include a plurality of pump motor power branch lines for providing power to pump motors for example.

The electrical power distribution lines120A-C may connect to a power grid or line power at or near the central pivot102and extend from a main control panel to the mobile irrigation towers114A-D. Three electrical power distribution lines120A-C are shown for accommodating three-phase electrical power, but other numbers or configurations of distribution lines, including ground lines, may be used.

The drive motor power branch lines122A-C may connect the electrical power distribution lines120A-C to the drive motors118A-D. Similar to the electrical power distribution lines120A-C, three drive motor power branch lines122A-C are shown for accommodating three-phase electrical power, but other numbers or configurations of drive motor power branch lines, including ground lines, may be used.

The overcurrent protection system108provides dynamic, controllable, and programmable overcurrent protection to the drive motors118A-D, pumps, and other electrical and electro-mechanical components of the mobile irrigation system100and comprises a main control panel124, a plurality of tower control panels126A-D, and may include a wireless communication element128.

The main control panel124includes a plurality of fuses130A-C for providing electrical power distribution line protection. The main control panel124may also include a controller (similar to the controllers described below) for generating irrigation system control signals, running irrigation system management programs, communicating with the tower control panels126A-D, and the like.

The fuses130A-C may be wired to the electrical power distribution lines120A-C and may have ratings of between 15 amps and 45 amps (e.g., Class CC to Class J fuses). One of the fuses130A-C is shown for each of the electrical power distribution lines120A-C, but other numbers or configurations of fuses may be used.

The tower control panels126A-D are substantially similar and thus only tower control panel126A-D will be described further. Tower control panel126A includes a controller132, a plurality of current measurement sensors134A-C, and may include an ambient temperature sensor136, and a plurality of motor controllers138A-C. The tower control panels126A-D may be mounted on the mobile irrigation towers114A-D or on the corresponding spans104A-D.

The controller132may include electronic hardware components such as microprocessors (single-core or multi-core), microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSPs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), analog and/or digital application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or the like, or combinations thereof. The controller132may generally execute, process, or run instructions, code, code segments, code statements, software, firmware, programs, applications, apps, processes, services, daemons, or the like. The controller132may also include hardware components such as registers, finite-state machines, sequential and combinational logic, configurable logic blocks, and other electronic circuits that can perform the functions necessary for the operation of the current invention. In certain embodiments, the controller132may include multiple computational components and functional blocks that are packaged separately but function as a single unit. The controller132may be in electronic communication with the other electronic components through serial or parallel links that include universal busses, address busses, data busses, control lines, and the like.

The controller132may include, perhaps as an embedded device or an integrated device, or be in electronic communication with, a memory element. The memory element may be embodied by devices or components that store data in general, and digital or binary data in particular, and may include exemplary electronic hardware data storage devices or components such as read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM, erasable programmable ROM, random-access memory (RAM) such as static RAM (SRAM) or dynamic RAM (DRAM), cache memory, hard disks, floppy disks, optical disks, flash memory, thumb drives, universal serial bus (USB) drives, or the like, or combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the memory element may be embedded in, or packaged in the same package as, the controller. The memory element may include, or may constitute, a non-transitory “computer-readable medium”. The memory element may store the instructions, code, code statements, code segments, software, firmware, programs, applications, apps, services, daemons, or the like that are executed by the controller. The memory element may also store data that is received by the controller132or the device in which the controller132is implemented. The controller132may further store data or intermediate results generated during processing, calculations, and/or computations as well as data or final results after processing, calculations, and/or computations. In addition, the memory element may store settings, data, documents, sound files, photographs, movies, images, databases, and the like.

The current measurement sensors134A-C may be coupled to the controller132and are configured to detect current in the drive motor power branch lines122A-C. The current measurement sensors134A-C may detect amperage, impedance, inductance, resistance, heat, or any other measurable aspect related to electrical power use.

The ambient temperature sensor136may be coupled to the controller132and is configured to detect an ambient temperature near the drive motor118A. The ambient temperature sensor136may be a thermocouple, a thermistor, or any other suitable electrical temperature gauge.

The motor controllers138A-C may be relays or other electrical switches and are communicatively coupled to the controller132. Alternatively, motor soft starts or variable frequency drives (VFDs) or solid state motor starters may be used. The motor controllers138A-C may be electrically downstream from sensing points of the current measurement sensors134A-C.

The wireless communication element128may include signal and/or data transmitting and receiving circuits, such as antennas, amplifiers, filters, mixers, oscillators, digital signal processors (DSPs), and the like. The wireless communication element128may establish communication wirelessly by utilizing radio frequency (RF) signals and/or data that comply with communication standards such as cellular 2G, 3G, 4G, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), LTE, Voice over LTE (VoLTE), or 5G, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard such as WiFi, IEEE 802.16 standard such as WiMAX, Bluetooth™, or combinations thereof.

Use of the mobile irrigation system100will now be described in more detail. First, the mobile irrigation system100may receive an instruction to initiate an irrigation plan. This may require the tower control panel126A to send a signal to the corresponding drive motor118A to start up in a startup stage. The drive motor118A may draw high current through the electrical power distribution lines120A-C and drive motor power branch lines122A-C in the startup stage. The controller132of the tower control panel126A may then detect an amount of current or current level in the drive motor power branch lines122A-C via the current measurement sensors134A-C. The controller132may then compare the amount of current in one of the drive motor power branch lines122A-C to a threshold value. If the current amount is greater than the threshold value, the tower control panel126A may then open the motor controllers138A-C, thus cutting power to the drive motor118A.

In addition to the startup stage, the drive motor118A may need to draw a high amount of current during accelerating stages and certain other stages. To accommodate such acceptable high current draw and avoid increasing the risk of “false overcurrent events” (i.e., incidents in which overcurrent protection is unnecessarily triggered), the controller132may increase the threshold value for stages in which the drive motor118A draws a high amount of current. The threshold value may also follow a function over time and may be increased discretely or according to a continuous curve.

The controller132may also change the threshold value according to ambient temperature as measured by the ambient temperature sensor136. For example, the threshold value may be decreased if the ambient temperature is high, and the threshold value may be increased if the ambient temperature is low. In this way, the controller132can compensate for less efficient cooling at high ambient temperatures and take advantage of more efficient cooling at low ambient temperatures.

The overcurrent protection system108may also be used for protecting pump motors, end gun motors, sensitive electronic control components, and the like. The controllers132can be adjusted either locally or remotely programmed from remote or personal computing devices communicatively connected to the controllers132via the wireless communication elements128. The controllers may also communicate with the remote or personal computing devices to report electrical performance, power consumption, false or warranted overcurrent events and other faults, and other information. The overcurrent protection system108may be hardwired or wirelessly connected to a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) system for integration into other irrigation control and agricultural management systems. This may be utilized to transmit notifications to a remote user including information such as overcurrent event location, motor identity corresponding to the overcurrent event, and extent or magnitude of the overcurrent event.

The above-described irrigation system100and overcurrent protection system108provides several advantages. For example, the likelihood of false overcurrent events is reduced by increasing current thresholds during high current draw motor operating stages and changing current thresholds according to ambient temperature. The overcurrent protection system108also eliminates the need for certain fuses depending on regulatory requirements. This improved performance is not possible with conventional fuses, circuit brakers, and overload-relay based systems.

The overcurrent protection system108eliminates the need to reset circuit breakers in the event of an overcurrent event. Instead, the motor affected by the overcurrent event may be turned off at the onset of the surge in current. The motor can then be restarted after the overcurrent event.

Additional Considerations

Throughout this specification, references to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, or “embodiments” mean that the feature or features being referred to are included in at least one embodiment of the technology. Separate references to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, or “embodiments” in this description do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment and are also not mutually exclusive unless so stated and/or except as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the description. For example, a feature, structure, act, etc. described in one embodiment may also be included in other embodiments, but is not necessarily included. Thus, the current invention can include a variety of combinations and/or integrations of the embodiments described herein.

Although the present application sets forth a detailed description of numerous different embodiments, it should be understood that the legal scope of the description is defined by the words of the claims set forth at the end of this patent and equivalents. The detailed description is to be construed as exemplary only and does not describe every possible embodiment since describing every possible embodiment would be impractical. Numerous alternative embodiments may be implemented, using either current technology or technology developed after the filing date of this patent, which would still fall within the scope of the claims.

Throughout this specification, plural instances may implement components, operations, or structures described as a single instance. Although individual operations of one or more methods are illustrated and described as separate operations, one or more of the individual operations may be performed concurrently, and nothing requires that the operations be performed in the order illustrated. Structures and functionality presented as separate components in example configurations may be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a single component may be implemented as separate components. These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of the subject matter herein.

Certain embodiments are described herein as including logic or a number of routines, subroutines, applications, or instructions. These may constitute either software (e.g., code embodied on a machine-readable medium or in a transmission signal) or hardware. In hardware, the routines, etc., are tangible units capable of performing certain operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In example embodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone, client or server computer system) or one or more hardware modules of a computer system (e.g., a processor or a group of processors) may be configured by software (e.g., an application or application portion) as computer hardware that operates to perform certain operations as described herein.

In various embodiments, computer hardware, such as a processing element, may be implemented as special purpose or as general purpose. For example, the processing element may comprise dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanently configured, such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or indefinitely configured, such as an FPGA, to perform certain operations. The processing element may also comprise programmable logic or circuitry (e.g., as encompassed within a general-purpose processor or other programmable processor) that is temporarily configured by software to perform certain operations. It will be appreciated that the decision to implement the processing element as special purpose, in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or as general purpose (e.g., configured by software) may be driven by cost and time considerations.

Accordingly, the term “processing element” or equivalents should be understood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner or to perform certain operations described herein. Considering embodiments in which the processing element is temporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of the processing elements need not be configured or instantiated at any one instance in time. For example, where the processing element comprises a general-purpose processor configured using software, the general-purpose processor may be configured as respective different processing elements at different times. Software may accordingly configure the processing element to constitute a particular hardware configuration at one instance of time and to constitute a different hardware configuration at a different instance of time.

Computer hardware components, such as communication elements, memory elements, processing elements, and the like, may provide information to, and receive information from, other computer hardware components. Accordingly, the described computer hardware components may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Where multiple of such computer hardware components exist contemporaneously, communications may be achieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuits and buses) that connect the computer hardware components. In embodiments in which multiple computer hardware components are configured or instantiated at different times, communications between such computer hardware components may be achieved, for example, through the storage and retrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiple computer hardware components have access. For example, one computer hardware component may perform an operation and store the output of that operation in a memory device to which it is communicatively coupled. A further computer hardware component may then, at a later time, access the memory device to retrieve and process the stored output. Computer hardware components may also initiate communications with input or output devices, and may operate on a resource (e.g., a collection of information).

The various operations of example methods described herein may be performed, at least partially, by one or more processing elements that are temporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured to perform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanently configured, such processing elements may constitute processing element-implemented modules that operate to perform one or more operations or functions. The modules referred to herein may, in some example embodiments, comprise processing element-implemented modules.

Similarly, the methods or routines described herein may be at least partially processing element-implemented. For example, at least some of the operations of a method may be performed by one or more processing elements or processing element-implemented hardware modules. The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed among the one or more processing elements, not only residing within a single machine, but deployed across a number of machines. In some example embodiments, the processing elements may be located in a single location (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment or as a server farm), while in other embodiments the processing elements may be distributed across a number of locations.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, discussions herein using words such as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” “presenting,” “displaying,” or the like may refer to actions or processes of a machine (e.g., a computer with a processing element and other computer hardware components) that manipulates or transforms data represented as physical (e.g., electronic, magnetic, or optical) quantities within one or more memories (e.g., volatile memory, non-volatile memory, or a combination thereof), registers, or other machine components that receive, store, transmit, or display information.

As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

The patent claims at the end of this patent application are not intended to be construed under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) unless traditional means-plus-function language is expressly recited, such as “means for” or “step for” language being explicitly recited in the claim(s).

Although the invention has been described with reference to the embodiments illustrated in the attached drawing figures, it is noted that equivalents may be employed and substitutions made herein without departing from the scope of the invention as recited in the claims.

Having thus described various embodiments of the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent includes the following: