GB2261694A - Water distribution system - Google Patents

Abstract

A water distribution system, primarily for domestic use, comprises a distribution device mounted in a housing, the distribution device including a closed ring water conduit having an inlet for connection to a water supply and a number of solenoid controlled outlet valves spaced along the conduit, and a programmable controller which automatically controls operation of the outlet valves.

Description

WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM The invention relates to water distributions systems, particularly for domestic use.

It is conventional in domestic environments to water gardens and the like by attaching a hose to an external water supply tap and manually to carry the hose outlet to the different sections of a garden to be watered. In more sophisticated applications, systems are available in which a supply pipe is laid permanently along the surface or underground and manually controllable outlets provided at different points along the pipe attached to sprinkler systems and the like. This arrangement suffers from a number of disadvantages. In particular, water pressure will vary along the length of the fixed pipe so that the delivery from outlets at the far end of the pipe will not be as efficient as at outlets nearer the water supply end.

Furthermore, the conduit forming the line is fixed in place and not readily movable.

In most cases, even with these fixed systems, water is supplied under manual control. That is, when it is desired to water the garden the external tap is switched on manually and watering takes place. It has been proposed, however, to insert a programmable control valve upstream of the first outlet from the conduit and downstream of the supply tap so that water can be supplied automatically without the need for manual intervention. However, this is a very simple control system involving the supply of water solely to the conduit and will cause all the outlets which had previously been manually activated to operate simultaneously. It is also known in large, non-domestic applications to bury a ring main and provide individually controllable outlets around the ring main, those outlets being automatically controllable from a preprogrammed controller.However, these applications are not suited to domestic use requiring large diameter pipe which is unsuited to the relatively low pressure supply associated with domestic water supplies. This problem might be reduced by incorporating a pumping system downstream of the external domestic tap but this would increase the cost and complexity of any system making it generally unsuited to domestic use.

In accordance with the present invention, a water distribution system comprises a distribution device mounted in a housing, the device including a closed ring water conduit having an inlet for connection to a water supply and a number of outlet valves spaced along the conduit; and programmable control means for automatically controlling operation of the outlet valves.

The invention deals with the problems outlined above by providing a closed ring water conduit mounted within a housing so that the advantages of a ring main are achieved in terms of even pressure distribution around the conduit but without the problems of having to bury the ring main.

Also, by providing a relatively small closed ring water conduit within a housing, the system can be easily maintained and operated and positioned wherever is most convenient. Furthermore, the system can be used to water any area which could be watered by means of a simple hose connection to a water supply thus enabling accurate and controlled watering despite the relatively low water supply pressure and without the need for any further pumping.

Typically, each outlet valve comprises a solenoid controlled valve and in some cases a further, for example gate, valve is provided downstream of the outlet valve to provide further flow control. In addition, it is preferable to provide a feeder downstream of the outlet valve which can be loaded with suitable feed material. It will be appreciated that the feed loaded into each feeder can be different and selected in accordance with the area to be supplied by that outlet valve.

Typically, each outlet valve will be controllable independently of the others although in some cases two or more of the outlet valves could be controlled together.

In some applications, the system further comprises a rain sensor connected to the programmable control means to override activation signals supplied to the selected outlet valves if rain is sensed. This enables the automatic control to continue in respect of certain outlet valves such as connected to greenhouses and the like while preventing activation of others which are not necessary if rain is detected.

Typically, the housing comprises a closed unit surrounding the distribution device, the unit having an access door to enable the user to gain access to the outlet valves and, where provided, the feeders.

Conveniently, the housing comprises a backplate to which is removably connected a frame supporting the distribution device and a cover surrounding the frame.

The housing preferably can be wall mounted or supported by legs secured to the ground.

The outlet valves are conveniently connected to hose connectors to enable hoses to be connected to each outlet and these connectors are preferably fast or quick fit connectors of conventional form.

The programmable control means will typically be sited at a remote location from the housing and will typically comprise a microprocessor which generates respective output control signals which are supplied to the respective outlet valves. The programmable control means will typically be programmable to determine the times of operation of the individual control valves as will be described in more detail below.

Preferably, a further control valve is provided upstream of the inlet to the closed ring water conduit which, when no water is to be supplied, can be activated to protect the distribution device.

An example of a water distribution system according to the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a section through the closed ring water conduit; Figure 2 illustrates an example of an outlet spur; Figure 3 illustrates schematically the control arrangement; Figure 4 is a perspective view of the manifold cage; Figure 5 is a perspective view of the cover; and, Figure 6 is a perspective view of the backplate.

The water distribution device of the system to be described comprises a closed ring water conduit 1 (Figure 1) formed by 3/4 inch diameter plastic pipe. The conduit will normally be vertically arranged within the housing, to be described, and has an inlet port 2 connected to a horizontal supply pipe (not shown) and a set of six outlet ports 3 connected to respective, horizontally oriented outlet spurs.

An example of a typical outlet spur is shown in Figure 2. The outlet port 3 is connected to a conventional solenoid operated valve 4 the outlet of which is connected 3 via a 3/4 inch to i inch adaptor (not shown) to a feeder 5 of the type manufactured for example by Gardena. A feed holder of the feeder 5 can be unscrewed in order to locate the appropriate feed within the feeder. The outlet of the feeder 5 is connected to a gate valve 6 which is manually operable for flow control purposes. The outlet of the gate valve is connected to an outlet pipe formed from i inch plastic pipe which is connected to a conventional fast fitting 7 to enable an external pipe or hose to be fitted quickly and easily.

In this example, six outlet ports 3 and corresponding spurs are illustrated but in practice this number can be varied and in one particularly convenient arrangement nine outlet ports would be used.

In the preferred arrangement, the inlet pipe connected to the port 2 will include a further solenoid operated valve (not shown).

Each outlet spur is connected, via an outlet pipe, to conventional i inch pipework or i inch polythene pipe which is distributed to those parts of a garden which are to be watered as well as to other areas such as greenhouses, hanging baskets and the like. Each pipe will be connected to conventional water delivery devices such as sprinkler arrangements or drip feeds, for example of the type manufactured by Gardena. The pipework may be buried or run along a surface of a garden as required. The number of delivery devices which can be connected to each section of pipework will depend among other things upon the number of outlet ports 3 which are open at any one time, and the rate of delivery of water delivered by the open ports.

This will have to be determined empirically.

Operation of the valves 4 is controlled from a remote, programmable controller 8 (Figure 3) which conveniently is of a conventional type such as the Toro Vision controller.

This controller enables individual control sequences to be set up for each solenoid controlled valve 4 (and the valve connected to the inlet port 2). For example, each solenoid can be programmed to turn on at specific times on specific days and for specific lengths of time which may be different on each occasion. As can be seen in Figure 3, each valve 4, and the inlet control valve 4', is connected by (two) wires to a control box 9 situated within the same housing 10 as the ring conduit 1. Each pair of wires from the solenoids 4 includes a common wire, the common wires being combined in the control box 9 so that only eight wires pass from the control box 9 to the control unit 8.

In addition, it is possible to incorporate a rain sensor (not shown) connected to one or more of the common wires from the solenoids 4 so that when rain is sensed, the connection along those common wires can be broken and thus control from the unit 8 is overriden. This override control can be provided for those outlet spurs which are connected to exposed parts of the garden but not for those spurs connected to covered areas such as greenhouses.

The conduit 1 and outlet spurs are all contained within a metal housing which is formed of three sections shown in Figures 4 to 6. A backplate 11 (Figure 6) is provided having lugs 12 to enable it to be connected to a vertical wall or if required a pair of legs. The backplate also has a set of four elongate slots 13 for supporting the remainder of the housing.

The housing also includes a manifold cage 14 (Figure 4) which is an open framework apart from a lower surface 15. The rear of the lower surface 15 of the cage has a rectangular, open sided slot 16 to enable supply and outlet pipes to be brought into the cage. The rear side of the cage has four lugs 17 which slot, in use, into the slots 13 of the backplate 11. The cage 14 has a door 21 which is pivotable between an open position (shown) and a closed position (not shown) where it can be secured or locked.

Preferably, the lower surface 15 forms a drip tray and in this connection has holes 22 to allow water to escape.

The third section of the housing is a three-sided cover 18 (Figure 5) having a top surface 19 and side surfaces 20 which slots over the cage 14. The top surface 19 is sloped to enable rainwater to run off.

The control box 9 is mounted below the manifold cage 14 (figure 4).

The conduit 1 and outlet spurs are secured, within the cage 14, into the door frame using straps (cable ties).

The spurs are supported and secured by a set of bars (not shown) and the outlet pipes are also secured to the frame, with cable ties, as they leave the cage 14 through the open sided slot 16. The fast fittings 7 are located just below the slot 16. The housing is then assembled together and mounted on the backplate 11 to form a closed unit. The spurs are arranged close to the top and side faces of the cage 14 and the outlet pipes are arranged close to the rear face to enable easy access to the feeders 5 when the door 21 is open.

Each outlet spur is connected to a respective outlet hose and the inlet port 2 is connected to an external water tap via a valve 4'. The user then programs operation of the solenoid control valves 4, 4' using the unit 8 and thereafter the system automatically waters the various areas in accordance with the program control.

Typically the height of the backplate 6 will be 62 inches and its width 66 inches while the height of the front of the cage 14 will be about 57 inches.

In some cases, it is desirable to connect the fast fittings 7 via vertical down pipes to a distribution manifold anchored into the ground (for example buried) so as to hold the vertical down pipes relatively steady.

Pipework distributed around the garden is then connected to outlets of the distribution manifold.

Claims (10)

1. A water distribution system comprising a distribution device mounted in a housing, the device including a closed ring water conduit having an inlet for connection to a water suppply and a number of outlet valves spaced along the conduit; and programmable control means for automatically controlling operation of the outlet valves.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the system is portable.

3. A system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the system is adapted for connection to a domestic water supply.

4. A system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the outlet valves are independently controllable.

5. A system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the outlet valves comprise solenoid controlled valves.

6. A system according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising feeder units connected to each of the outlet valves.

7. A system according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising a rain sensor connected to the control means so as to suppress control signals from the control means to selected outlet valves whenever rain is sensed.

8. A system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the housing comprises a closed unit surrounding the distribution device, the housing including an access door.

9. A system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the programmable control means includes a microprocessor.

10. A water distribution system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.