The present invention generally relates to watering devices used for irrigation, and more particularly, to watering devices for irrigating non-circular or semi non-circular areas.
Spray type sprinklers are well known in the art of irrigation and are typically used for irrigating lawns and gardens of both residential and industrial properties. Most of the sprinklers provide various degrees of coverage of areas where typically the water spray pattern covers a circle or semi-circle coverage in a fan-type of spray.
Circular spraying around the sprinkler requires large overlapping between each sprinkler to cover an area with appropriate coverage. Therefore, circular spraying solutions end up with either wasting water or under watering, as certain areas are not covered by the sprinkler system. There are certain attempts to provide solutions for non-circular shapes, particularly rectangles. However, these solutions are complex and far from providing appropriate coverage. This is shown in
As a result of the deficient circular and semi-circular sprinkler solutions, there have been attempts to irrigate using various rectangular sprinkling solutions. The solutions discussed in the related art are mostly based on the use of moving parts, are complex to operate, have a relatively low reliability and are high in cost. Moreover, none of the prior art solutions deal effectively with odd shaped areas that require irrigation. Sprinklers that irrigate square and partially square surfaces exist, but they cannot be adjusted and their irrigation surfaces, as determined during the manufacturing process, are permanent. These permanent irrigation patterns might cause over or under irrigation of an area as specified above.
It would be therefore advantageous to provide a solution where a sprinkler can be adjusted to cover a predetermined area pattern that is not a circle or semi-circle. It would be further advantageous if such a solution does not require the use of moving parts.
Certain embodiments disclosed herein include a watering device for irrigation of non-circular areas. The watering device comprises a deflector having an uneven curved surface designed to cause liquid meeting the deflector to reach a distance that changes respective of the uneven surface to cover an irrigation area; a spiral sector object connected to the deflector and providing an adjustable spray orifice for adjusting an irrigation pattern of the watering device; and a two-diameter tubular body connected to the spiral sector object and allowing the liquid to flow from a pipe to the uneven curved surface of the deflector.
Certain embodiments disclosed herein also include a watering device for irrigating of non-circular areas that comprises a deflector having a lateral surface determined by a radius that changes around a height axis of the deflector, the lateral surface having at least a first angle that determines a first irrigation distance from the center of the deflector for deflection of water hitting the deflector and a second angle that determines a second irrigation distance from the center of the deflector for deflection of water hitting the deflector; and an adjustable rectangular spray orifice for adjusting a non-circular irrigation pattern from an angle 0 degrees up to approximately 360 degrees.
Certain embodiments disclosed herein also include a deflector that comprises a high-angled deflection surface defined by at least one peak angle; and a low-angled deflection surface defined by at least one deep angle, such that when liquid hits the high-angled deflection surface, the liquid is deflected to a minimum distance from the deflector, and when the liquid hits the low-angled deflection surface, the liquid is deflected to a maximum distance from the deflector.
The subject matter that is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The embodiments disclosed herein are only examples of the many possible advantageous uses and implementations of the innovative teachings presented herein. In general, statements made in the specification of the present application do not necessarily limit any of the various claimed inventions. Moreover, some statements may apply to some inventive features but not to others. In general, unless otherwise indicated, singular elements may be in plural and vice versa with no loss of generality. In the drawings, like numerals refer to like parts through several views.
Various exemplary embodiments disclosed herein include a watering device for irrigation of a non-circular or semi non-circular area. The watering device comprises a deflector having essentially the shape of a cone; the lateral surface of the deflector is determined by a radius that changes as it rotates about its center. While a cone is a geometric shape that tapers smoothly from its base to a point called the apex or vertex, the deflector's modified cone tapers unevenly to the apex or vertex. The irrigation radius can be changed according to an equation that determines the liquid deflection that hits the deflector from a tubular pipe coupled thereto. As a result of the deflector's different angles on the lateral surface, the liquid is distributed at variable distances from the deflector's center. Therefore, the watering device allows the irrigation of non-circular or semi non-circular areas. In one exemplary embodiment, the deflector has a variable radius with respect to its base and therefore provides liquid (e.g., water) coverage without unnecessary waste for both regular shaped areas (e.g., ovals, rectangles, parallelograms, trapezes, pentagons, hexagons, and the like) as well as irregular shaped areas.
The deflector 300 also includes an indicator 360 that indicates to a user as to where to start to open the orifice, four corners 370 which determine a rectangular shape of the irrigation area, and a spray head indicator 380 utilized to set the shape of the irrigation areas, e.g., a square, a rectangle, or a triangle, and so on. The edges of a rectangular spray head are labeled as 390.
It is important to emphasize that the number and location of deep angles 340 and peak angles 350 can vary depending on a configuration of the watering device and the watering applications and need not even be at identical distance from each other (i.e., no symmetry is required). However, if the distances are equal, then watering coverage for shapes such as triangles, squares, pentagons, hexagons, etc. may be reached. Furthermore, if there is a variance in different peak angles 350 and/or different deep angles 340, as the radius rotates about its center and length, then watering coverage for other shapes such as rectangles, parallelograms, trapezes, as well as other odd shapes, may be achieved. On top of the deflector 300, the cog-wheel 320 is shown and described with respect of
The structure of the watering device 700 is shown in greater detail in
In an embodiment, the angles α1 and α2, listed in Tables 1 and 2 correspond to the peak angle 350 and the deep angle 340, respectively. The peak angle (α1) determines the “width” distance for a rectangular irrigation or the “Radius” for an irrigation area having a square shape. The deep angle (α2) determines the “Diagonal” distance of the irrigation area. It should be noted that in
Thus, different deflection angles (α1, α2) result in a different distance and different coverage areas 900A and 900B, as shown in
Merely for the purpose of illustration, the factors used to determine a square irrigation area is described hereinafter. With this aim, the surface angles (i.e., deep and peak angels 340 and 350) of the deflector 300 may be determined by the following non-limiting equation:
where, α represents the angles of deflection, R is the radius coverage of the watering device, and V0 is the initial velocity of the water droplet which depends on the water pressure, i.e., the higher the pressure, the higher the velocity, and vice versa.
It should be noted that for the creation of a square irrigation area there would be four angles of α1 four of α2 and varying angles in between them. If a different number were chosen, such as five of each, a pentagon would have been created, and so on and so forth. It should also be readily understood that if α1 was 10 degrees and α2 was 18.45 degrees a rectangle having a shape of 4×6 meters would be created with the appropriate equation.
In another embodiment of the invention, the surface angles of the deflector 300 may be determined by the following equation, where α represents the angles of deflection, but not by way of limitation:
In one embodiment, as shown in
By twisting the deflector 300, the water injunction can be determined and realigned and the irrigation pattern will change accordingly. The irrigation pattern and coverage area also depend on the water pressure.
While the present invention has been described at some length and with some particularity with respect to the several described embodiments, it is not intended that it should be limited to any such particulars or embodiments or any particular embodiment, but it is to be construed with references to the appended claims so as to provide the broadest possible interpretation of such claims in view of the prior art and, therefore, to effectively encompass the intended scope of the invention. Furthermore, the foregoing describes the invention in terms of embodiments foreseen by the inventor for which an enabling description was available, notwithstanding that insubstantial modifications of the invention, not presently foreseen, may nonetheless represent equivalents thereto.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 61/523,598 filed Aug. 15, 2011, U.S. provisional application No. 61/536,008 filed Sep. 18, 2011, U.S. provisional application No. 61/591,925, filed Jan. 29, 2012, and U.S. provisional application No. 61/591,927 filed Jan. 29, 2012. The contents of each of the above-referenced provisional applications are herein incorporated by reference.
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