Patent Application
20230064992
The invention relates generally to plant irrigation, and more particularly to a plant irrigation system that autonomously waters an outdoor plant during warmer daytime hours.
Outdoor plantings around one's home or business contribute to attractive and welcoming appearances as well as adding to a property's value. While beautiful, most in-ground or potted native and ornamental plants are expensive as is the cost to properly plant and maintain them. To protect this type of investment, property owners know that plants need to be watered. Such watering can be accomplished manually or with irrigation systems. However, manual watering is time consuming, is often neglected or forgotten, and frequently results in under watering or over watering conditions. Conventional irrigation systems are expensive to install. Furthermore, conventional irrigation systems use moving sprinkler parts (e.g., sprinkler heads), underground pipes and couplings, and timing and/or moisture-sensing control systems that require frequent maintenance leading to ongoing maintenance down-time and the expenses associated therewith.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an irrigation system for outdoor plants.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an outdoor plant irrigation system that waters plants autonomously.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an outdoor plant irrigation system that is reliable, economical, and uses ambient environmental conditions to control irrigation output.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious hereinafter in the specification and drawings.
In accordance with the present invention, a plant irrigation system for autonomous daytime-watering includes a rigid endothermic container adapted to be positioned on a ground surface in an outdoor environment. The container has a first port and a second port in fluid communication with the container's interior volume. When the container is on the ground surface, a first height of the first port above the ground surface is greater than a second height of the second port above the ground surface. An indicator is coupled to the container for identifying a fill level of the container such that, when the container is on the ground surface, less than 50% of the container's interior volume lies below the fill level. A lid provides sealing engagement with the first port. An open-ended conduit has a first end and a second end. The first end is sealingly coupled to the second port, and the second end is adapted to be positioned near a plant. The conduit is configured to traverse a path such that a portion of the path is above the container's identified fill level when the container is on the ground surface.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reference to the following description of the preferred embodiments and to the drawings, wherein corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings and wherein:
Referring now the drawings, simultaneous reference will be made to
Plant irrigation system 10 includes a rigid container 12 configured for placement on a ground surface 200 (e.g., plant bed, patio, walkway, deck, stairs, etc.). Container 12 includes a base 12A, side walls 12B, and a top 12C such that container 12 defines an interior volume 14 for holding liquid 50 therein. Container 12 can be constructed as one piece (e.g., molded) or could be an assembled structure without departing from the scope of the present invention. For reasons that will be explained later herein, container 12 must remain rigid at all times. If needed for container rigidity, internal supports (not shown) can be provided inside container 12. Container 12 can be realized by a variety of sizes and shapes without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, in the illustrated embodiment, base 12A and top 12C can be parallel to one another when container 12 will be placed on a relatively level ground surface 200 such that pot 100 can be placed on top 12A. However, the present invention is not so limited as the container could also be configured as a decorative garden feature that may or may not support a potted plant thereon.
Regardless of its size or shape, container 12 is constructed to be endothermic, i.e., one that absorbs heat from its surrounding environment. At a minimum, side walls 12B and top 12C are configured to be heat absorbing or endothermic for ready passive absorption of available outdoor environmental heat during daytime hours. For example, at least side walls 12B and top 12C can be painted in a dark color (e.g., black, dark navy, dark green, etc.) or made from such dark colored materials. Base 12A can also be configured to be endothermic and can be a significant source of heat absorption when ground surface 200 is one that heats up when in sunlight (e.g., pavement, bricks, deck materials, etc.).
In the illustrated embodiment, container 12 has a liquid fill port 16 in top 12A, and has an egress/recharge port 18 in a side wall 12B immediately adjacent to base 12A. It is to be understood that fill port 16 can also be placed in a side wall 12B as will be explained later herein. However, in all embodiments of the present invention with container 12 on ground surface 200, the height “H1” of port 16 above ground surface 200 is greater than the height “H2” of port 18 above ground surface 200. Removably coupled to port 16 is a sealing lid 20 that forms an airtight and water tight seal with port 16. Lid 20 can be of any design that is removable from port 16 to permit introduction of liquid 50, and that seals port 16 when in place.
For purposes of plant irrigation in accordance with the present invention, the amount of liquid 50 in container 12 must always be less than 50% of the total volume defined by interior volume 14. The remainder of the total volume of interior volume 14 is air 54 above the top surface 52 of liquid 50. To enable adherence to this requirement, an indicator 22 is provided on container 12. Since container 12 will generally have liquid 50 added thereto when base 12A rests on ground surface 200, indicator 22 identifies a maximum fill level for liquid 50 when container 12 is resting on ground surface 200. That is, when container 12 is on ground surface 200, indicator 22 identifies a location in container 12 where less than 50% of interior volume lies between base 12A and indicator 22. For many applications, indicator 22 identifies the location in container 12 where 30-49% of interior volume 14 lies between indicator 22 and base 12A when container 12 is on ground surface 200. For example, for a container whose interior volume was 10,000 cubic centimeters, indicator 22 could identify a less-than-50% fill volume ranging from 3 to 4.9 liters. Lower volume percentages can be used when a container is to be positioned or configured for use on sloped ground surfaces.
Indicator 22 can be realized in one or more ways without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example and as shown in the illustrated example, indicator 22 can be a visual indicator constructed as a transparent or translucent window 24 in side wall 12B with a visible marking 26 on window 24 to indicate the maximum level for top surface 52 of liquid 50. Window 24 can extend towards base 12A to provide a user with knowledge about how much liquid 50 remains in container 12. In some embodiments of the present invention, indicator 22 could be supplemented or replaced with an audible indicator (e.g., a liquid sensor coupled to a sound producer) and/or a tactile indicator (e.g., a flexible diaphragm that is pushed out from side wall 12B when liquid 50 presses there against).
Plant irrigation system 10 also includes an open-ended conduit (e.g., tube, hose, etc.) 30 having a first open end 32 coupled to egress/recharge port 18 and having a second open end 34 for positioning in ambient air near the base of plant 102. Conduit 30 traverses a path from open end 32 to open end 34 such that a portion of the path is above the fill level of container 12 identified by marking 26 in the illustrated example. To assure this condition, some or all of conduit 30 can be rigid. For example, all of conduit 30 could be made from plastic tubing. In other embodiments, the vertical portion 30A of conduit 30 could be rigid and the horizontal portion 30B could be flexible to provide for adjustability in the positioning of open end 34. However, in all embodiments of the present invention, the inside diameter of conduit 30 to include that of open ends 32 and 34 is approximately 0.25 inches or less.
In operation with container 12 on ground surface 200, lid 20 is removed from port 16 and liquid 50 is introduced into container 12 to a level not to exceed that indicated by marking 26. Lid 20 is then replaced on port 16 to form a seal therewith. The combination of liquid 50, container 12, and lid 20 define a sealed volume for air 54. During typically warmer daytime hours as illustrated in
As daytime heating transitions to nighttime cooling (
In other embodiments of the present invention, an overflow drain can be incorporated into the system's container. For example and as illustrated in
In some embodiments of the present invention, the plant irrigation system can be used to irrigate bedding plants as shown in
In still other embodiments of the present invention, the plant irrigation system's container can incorporate an open recessed volume that serves as a flower or plant pot/container. For example and as illustrated in
The advantages of the present invention are numerous. Outdoor plants are autonomously irrigated using naturally-occurring temperature swings between daytime and nighttime hours. Temperature differences of 10° F. or greater are very common between daytime hours and nighttime hours. The present invention takes advantage of the day/night temperature difference as well as sunlight heating effects to irrigate during day and recharge with ambient air during the night. No control system or daily monitoring of the system is required. Requirements for replenishment of irrigating liquid are dependent on the size of the plant irrigation system and local temperature day/night ranges.
Although the invention has been described relative to a specific embodiment thereof, there are numerous variations and modifications that will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described.
What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:
