The present invention relates to sprinklers used to irrigate turf and landscaping, and more particularly, to rotary stream irrigation sprinklers that eject relatively small individuals streams of water.
Many geographic locations have insufficient rainfall or dry spells that require turf and landscaping to be watered to maintain the proper health of the vegetation. Turf and landscaping are often watered utilizing an automatic irrigation system that includes a programmable controller that turns a plurality of valves ON and OFF to supply water through underground pipes connected to sprinklers. Golf courses, playing fields and other large areas typically require rotor-type sprinklers that eject a long stream of water via a single relatively large nozzle that oscillates through an adjustable arc. Smaller areas are often watered with spray heads or rotary stream sprinklers. Spray heads eject a fan-shaped pattern of water at a relatively high rate and much of this water often flows off the vegetation and/or blows away and is wasted. Rotary stream sprinklers eject relatively small individual streams of water and use less water than spray head sprinklers. In some cases drip nozzles are employed in residential and commercial irrigation systems for watering trees and shrubs, for example.
Rotary stream sprinklers sometimes incorporate a turbine and gear train reduction for slowly rotating the nozzle head or stream deflector. The turbine is typically located at the bottom of the sprinkler, below the gear box that holds the gear train reduction, and above the stator where one is employed. A rotary stream sprinkler can also use the water to directly power the stream deflector, in which case the flutes formed on the underside of the stream deflector that form and channel the streams of water are angled so that a rotational force on the stream deflector is generated. Where the water directly provides the rotary force to the stream deflector, a brake or damper is employed to slow the rate of rotation of the stream deflector.
The principal drawback of prior rotary stream sprinklers is that they cannot accurately, uniformly and reliably deliver a predetermined very low precipitation rate over a desired shape of coverage. By way of example, a conventional rotary stream sprinkler designed to provide a ninety degree arc of coverage would require an arcuate orifice in the nozzle plate only six thousandths of an inch wide in order to achieve a flow rate of 3.6 gallons per hour at a typical water pressure of between about 20 PSI and 50 PSI. Such a tiny orifice would soon become blocked by grit and/or mineral deposits. Mover, it would be difficult to rotate the stream deflector of a conventional rotary stream sprinkler at such a low flow rate.
According to the present invention, a sprinkler nozzle includes a nozzle plate having at least one orifice formed therein. A stream deflector is rotatably mounted adjacent the nozzle plate and has a plurality of flutes formed therein that face the nozzle plate. Each flute has an inner portion that can momentarily align with water flowing through the orifice in the nozzle plate during rotation of the stream deflector relative to the nozzle plate. Water flowing through the orifice will be channeled in a generally radial direction by the flute to form a stream of water that is ejected from the stream deflector. The flutes have a plurality of different tangential trajectories relative to the orifice in the nozzle plate so that in combination the streams of water successively ejected from the stream deflector establish a predetermined shape of coverage.
The entire disclosures of the following U.S. patents disclosing rotary stream sprinklers, which are all assigned to Hunter Industries, Inc., the assignee of the subject application, are hereby incorporated by reference: U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,201 granted Jun. 27, 1989 to Edwin J. Hunter entitled ROTARY STREAM SPRINKLER UNIT; U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,379 granted Sep. 19, 1989 to Edwin J. Hunter entitled ROTARY STREAM SPRINKLER UNIT; U.S. Pat. No. 4,898,332 granted Feb. 6, 1990 to Edwin J. Hunter et al. entitled ADJUSTABLE ROTARY STREAM SPRINKLER; U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,590 granted Jun. 12, 1990 to Edwin J. Hunter entitled ROTARY STREAM SPRINKLER UNIT WITH ROTOR DAMPING MEANS; U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,961 granted Nov. 6, 1990 to Edwin J. Hunter entitled ROTARY STREAM SPRINKLER UNIT; U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,250 granted Nov. 20, 1990 to Edwin J. Hunter entitled ROTARY STREAM SPRINKLER WITH ROTOR DAMPING MEANS, U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,806 granted Oct. 22, 1991 to Robert L. Rupar entitled STREAM PROPELLED ROTARY POP-UP SPRINKLER WITH ADJUSTABLE SPRINKLING PATTERN; U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,022 granted Feb. 22, 1994 to George L. Sesser entitled PART CIRCLE ROTATOR WITH IMPROVED NOZZLE ASSEMBLY; U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,521 granted Jun. 12, 2001 to George Sesser entitled MICRO-STREAM ROTATOR WITH ADJUSTMENT OF THROW RADIUS AND FLOW RATE; U.S. Pat. No. 6,499,672 granted Dec. 31, 2002 to George Sesser entitled MICRO-STREAM ROTATOR WITH ADJUSTMENT OF THROW RADIUS AND FLOW RATE; U.S. Pat. No. 6,651,905 granted Nov. 25, 2003 to George Sesser et al. entitled ADJUSTABLE ARC, ADJUSTABLE FLOW RATE SPRINKLER; U.S. Pat. No. 6,688,539 granted Feb. 10, 2004 to Loren Vander Griend entitled WATER DISTRIBUTION PLATE FOR ROTATING SPRINKLERS; U.S. Pat. No. 6,736,332 granted May 18, 2004 to George L. Sesser et al. entitled ADJUSTABLE ARC, ADJUSTABLE FLOW RATE SPRINKLER; U.S. Pat. No. 7,032,836 granted Apr. 25, 2006 to George Sesser et al. entitled ADJUSTABLE ARC, ADJUSTABLE FLOW RATE SPRINKLER; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,159,795 granted Jan. 9, 2007 to George L. Sesser et al. entitled ADJUSTABLE ARC, ADJUSTABLE FLOW RATE SPRINKLER. In addition, the entire disclosure of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/762,678 of Michael L. Clark filed Jun. 13, 2007 entitled “Gear Driven Sprinkler with Top Turbine,” and also assigned to Hunter Industries, Inc. is hereby incorporated by reference.
Referring to
Referring still to
Together the nozzle plate 60 and the stream deflector 54 provide a sprinkler nozzle with a unique manner of distributing water in a desired pattern which is referred to herein as a shape of coverage. Referring to
The nozzle plate 60 is generally cylindrical and has a round orifice 64 (
The stream deflector 54 is rotatably mounted adjacent the nozzle plate 60 so that the plurality of flutes 62 face the nozzle plate 60. Each flute 62 opens downwardly and has an inner portion 62a (
The flutes 62 are formed so that successive streams of water 66a (
Each flute 62 contributes to watering a specific portion of the desired shape of coverage. Only a single stream of water is ejected at any one time. This is to be contrasted with conventional rotary stream sprinklers that utilize a combination of broken and unbroken streams that are ejected simultaneously to fill in the shape of coverage. As each flute 62 comes into alignment with the stream of water ejected from the orifice 64 and goes out of alignment with the stream of water ejected from the orifice 64, the stream will effectively be turned On and OFF and water in the stream will gradually reach all the way out to the maximum radius and then all the way in, watering a sector along a radius that extends from the rotary stream sprinkler 30. In addition the vertical inclination of the flutes 62 can be varied so that the streams of water 66a, etc. will cover areas closer in or farther out from the rotary stream sprinkler 30. Also stream interrupters (not shown) can be employed to ensure that regions close to the rotary stream sprinkler 30 will receive adequate water.
The orifice 64 may be circular, or it may have another shape. The orifice 64 can be sized so that less than about eight gallons of water per hour will be ejected onto a predetermined shape of coverage at a pressure of between about 20 PSI and 50 PSI. Based on information and belief, this is less than the minimum precipitation rate of any conventional rotary stream sprinkler that has heretofore been commercialized. A preferred embodiment of the rotary sprinkler 30 delivers approximately 3.6 gallons of water per hour over a ninety degree arc of coverage using a round nozzle orifice 64 having a diameter of 0.028 inches.
The nozzle plate 60 has a central disk portion 72 (
The gear drive train reduction 46 is enclosed in a gear box 78 (
A cylindrical nozzle base 86 (
The rotary stream sprinkler 30 has a secondary flow path that includes small radial channels 88a (
The novel combination of the stream deflector 54, nozzle plate 60, gear train reduction 46 and nozzle base 86 is modular in the sense that this assembly can be manufactured with varying water distribution patterns and/or flow rates and can be conveniently screwed into the top of a fixed riser instead of a conventional spray head. This assembly can also be screwed into the riser of a pop-up spray-type sprinkler. Locating the turbine 38 above the gear train reduction 46 eliminates the pressure difference that otherwise tends to cause dirt and other debris to enter the gear box 78. The top placement of the turbine 38 reduces adverse effects of water and air surges that can damage a turbine located at the lower end of a sprinkler. Locating the turbine 38 at the top of the rotary stream sprinkler 30 also allows the turbine 38 to have a larger diameter which produces a larger drive force for the stream deflector 54. The additional water flow needed for large radius or arc of coverage does not have to flow around the turbine 38, thereby providing increased torque.
While I have described and illustrated an embodiment of a pop-up sprinkler with an improved rotary stream nozzle in detail, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that my invention can be modified in arrangement and detail. For example, there may be a stator or bias opening above the turbine 38 for flow requirements from a larger nozzle, increased arc or increased radius. The rotary stream sprinkler 30 may have a fixed arc or an adjustable arc or it can be designed to provide a shape of coverage that is a full circle. The shape of coverage can also take other shapes, such as semi-circular, square, rectangular, oval, thin strip, or any other shape employed in commercial and residential irrigation. Other components may be included to control the radius. The rotary stream sprinkler 30 may include an alternate nozzle plate that has multiple orifices so that the nozzle simultaneously ejects multiple streams of water. Therefore, the protection afforded my invention should only be limited in accordance with the following claims.
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20090108099 A1 | Apr 2009 | US |