JP2005287401A - Watering-saving automation system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a watering-saving automation system composed of a watering-saving apparatus watering greening facilities set on a rooftop according to moisture content in soil, inexpensive using general purpose parts and excellent in accuracy. <P>SOLUTION: This watering-saving automation system has such a mechanism that a moisture sensor 1 comprising a thermocouple is laid under the soil of the greening facilities which is formed by plants vegetated on soil, a comparator 2 is connected to the moisture sensor 1, and the comparator 2 outputs when the output power of the moisture sensor 1 exceeds a threshold level of voltage corresponding to the moisture content in soil previously set with the comparator 2, and as a result of this, a solenoid valve 12 is opened so as to water plants in the greening facilities. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a water-saving irrigation automation system that uses as little water as possible in a greening facility such as a roof of a building or factory that is said to be effective in improving the urban environment.

  There is a growing demand for urban greening, for example, rooftop greening of buildings such as buildings, for the purpose of improving urban environments such as urban heat island phenomenon, but the running costs of water costs for irrigation to maintain plant growth The large size is considered to be one of the causes that prevent the spread.

  In particular, when rooftop greening is performed, except for succulent plants such as agave, it is necessary to either thicken the soil or thin the soil by adding irrigation equipment to the soil. And if the soil is thick, the load-bearing capacity of the rooftops and roofs where these greening facilities are installed becomes a problem, and most of the existing buildings are often difficult to install, so it is common to add irrigation equipment with thin soil Is.

In the operation of the irrigation equipment of such a greening facility, an automatic irrigation equipment such as a timer is often employed for labor saving of the manager and the like, and a large amount of water is wasted.
The applicant established a greening facility of 300 m ² in Tokyo, and investigated the operation status of the irrigation equipment. According to the survey results, the watering valve was opened for irrigation in the last year for more than a dozen times, and the facility was used for experiments. The watering valve was opened only when necessary.

On the other hand, the trial calculation result of the amount of water used when watering with a general automatic irrigation equipment is shown. The amount of water per 100 m ² when drip-type irrigation pipes are irrigated every day for 30 minutes except for 2 months in winter is the number of spouts per sprinkling hole: 2.3 liters / hour, the number of sprinkling holes of 1 m ² : 6.66 pieces (in the 100m ² 666 pieces), the annual amount of water = 2.3 liter × 0.5 hours × 666 or × 300 days = 229,770 liters of about 230 tons, and water rates = about 230 tons × @ 500 Yen = 115,000 yen / year.

If the construction cost of the greening facility is set at @ 20,000 yen, it will be ² million yen at 100 m ² , and the running cost will be about 6% per year for the initial cost of 100%, and about 60% for 10 years. In this way, it was found that a large amount of water was almost wasted. If there is an administrator in such a greening facility, the water content of the soil is checked every day, and watering is performed only when irrigation is necessary. For example, if the amount of water used can be reduced to 1/10, the running cost against the initial cost of 100% Is about 0.6% per year and about 6% in 10 years.

  The amount of water that can be absorbed from soil during plant growth is the most important. Moisture in the soil is partly stored in the gap between the soil due to rain water or irrigation, and the plant grows by absorbing nutrients etc. from the root together with moisture, but when the soil begins to dry and the plant begins to wilt Irrigation to the soil is required. Therefore, the applicant performed the calculation by the simulation of the soil based on the rainfall data of 1999 Tokyo. As a result, as described above, it was found that if the soil moisture necessary for plant growth can be managed, the annual water charge can be suppressed to about 1/10 or less.

  As mentioned above, in the operation of irrigation equipment in general greening facilities, automatic irrigation equipment is adopted for labor saving of managers, etc., regardless of whether it is raining or sunny, or the soil is wet Irrespective of irrigation by a timer or the like, a large amount of water is irrigated wastefully. Moreover, such excessive irrigation promotes the root rot of the plant itself and the generation of moss in the greening facility, which causes adverse effects. In addition, unnecessary irrigation must be avoided to promote self-growth of plants.

  On the other hand, a soil moisture suction force meter (hereinafter referred to as a “pF meter”) has been conventionally used as an instrument for measuring the wet state of soil, and this is the force required to pull water away from soil. The logarithm of (cm) is a numerical value (hereinafter referred to as “pF value”) ranging from 0 to 7, with 0 being saturated, and the larger the number, the less moisture. This pF meter is expensive, requires specialized knowledge and experience in handling, and requires skillful techniques for installation in soil. Furthermore, this pF meter changes the display of the meter according to the degree of vacuum of the vacuum part provided in the equipment, and the mouth that discharges the water injected into the pipe provided in the equipment to the outside is due to the ground bokeh It was easy to clog and it was necessary to wash each time it was clogged. In addition, as described above, water must be poured from the outside into a pipe provided in the device as necessary. As described above, the conventional pF meter has many problems in use.

  Therefore, the present invention is, for example, irrigation automation that consists of an inexpensive and accurate irrigation device that uses a general-purpose part to irrigate a greening facility provided on a rooftop or the like according to the moisture content in the soil. A system (method) is provided to solve the above problems.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, in a greening facility formed by a plant planted in soil, a moisture sensor comprising a thermocouple is embedded in the soil of the planting facility, and a comparator is connected to the moisture sensor. When the output voltage exceeds the threshold value of the voltage corresponding to the moisture content in the soil set in advance by the comparator, the comparator outputs, thereby opening the solenoid valve and irrigating the plant of the greening facility. It was.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a water-saving irrigation automation system according to the first aspect in which the moisture sensor is encapsulated with earth and sand composed of particles having a uniform particle diameter and embedded in the soil. The invention of claim 3 is the irrigation-saving automation system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the moisture content detection and irrigation of the soil by the moisture sensor are performed only at the time of setting by a 24-hour timer. Furthermore, the invention according to claim 4 is the water-saving irrigation automation system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the moisture sensor has a flat shape, and the moisture sensor is vertically installed and embedded in soil. .

  According to each invention of Claims 1 thru | or 3, the moisture sensor is embed | buried in the soil of a greening facility, the moisture content in the said soil is detected, and the detected moisture content of the soil is a preset threshold value If it is larger, it is decided to irrigate the plant of the greening facility, so that the amount of irrigation can be reduced to about 1/10 of the conventional level only when irrigation is necessary, and the water bill for the greening facility is greatly reduced. I can do it. In addition, since a thermocouple is used as the moisture sensor and the detection conditions of the moisture sensor are controlled by a comparator, an irrigation apparatus equipped with a highly accurate moisture sensor can be made inexpensive. As a result, it greatly contributes to the spread of greening facilities.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the moisture sensor is encapsulated with soil and sand composed of particles having a uniform particle size, the moisture sensor is embedded in the soil. Therefore, stable and reliable moisture sensor sensing performance is ensured, and skill in embedding the moisture sensor becomes unnecessary. Further, according to the invention of claim 3, since the moisture content detection and irrigation of the soil by the moisture sensor is performed only at the time of setting by the 24-hour timer, and the operation time of the power source of the moisture sensor is minimized. The power consumption as a system can be minimized. Furthermore, according to the invention of claim 4, since the moisture sensor has a flat shape and is vertically erected and embedded in the soil, it is possible to avoid weight and trauma from the soil placed thereon.

  A moisture sensor consisting of a thermocouple is embedded in the soil of the tree planting facility, and a comparator is connected to the moisture sensor so that the output voltage of the moisture sensor is set to a voltage threshold value corresponding to the moisture content in the soil preset by the comparator. When it exceeds, the comparator outputs, thereby opening the electromagnetic valve and irrigating the plant in the greening facility.

  In addition, the moisture sensor is encapsulated in soil composed of particles of a uniform particle size and embedded in the soil, and the moisture content detection and irrigation of the soil by the moisture sensor is performed only when set by a 24-hour timer. The moisture sensor was flattened and erected vertically and embedded in soil.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show an irrigation apparatus A used in the irrigation automation system of this embodiment. This water-saving irrigation device A is composed of general-purpose parts, roughly, moisture sensor 1, comparator 2, power source 3, 24-hour pin type setting timer 4 (hereinafter simply referred to as “24-hour timer”), relay switch 5, It is constituted by an amplifier 6.

  FIG. 3 shows a moisture sensor 1 to which a thermocouple is applied, which is a circuit in which a heater 7 is attached to one connection point H side of the thermocouple, and the periphery of the moisture sensor 1 is covered with a medium 9. Here, when a current is passed through the heater 7, the connection point H side is heated and the heat is conducted to the medium 9. In the case where the medium 9 is the atmosphere, as shown in FIG. 4, since the heat is not easily taken away, the output is constant, and since the medium 9 has much heat taken away by the water, the output is constant and appears in the voltmeter arranged in FIG. . However, when the medium 9 is soil, as shown in FIG. 5, the output is intermediate between air and water, and for example, an output corresponding to the amount of water in the soil is obtained. And in this Example, since it uses in the range below 30% of the moisture content of the soil required for a plant, the change of a voltage is large by the difference in a moisture content. Therefore, the difference in water content appears remarkably. In addition, in the state where no current is passed through the heater 7, there is no output because there is no balance and the influence of the medium temperature is small.

  As shown in FIG. 6, such a moisture sensor 1 has a 1 cm × 3 cm sheet shape, and is surrounded by a detection soil made of particles having a uniform particle diameter. Further, a net is used to maintain the encapsulation. Etc. (not shown). As a result, when the moisture sensors 1 are arranged in different soils, the contact conditions of the respective soils are equalized, and the soil moisture change around the soil soaks into the fine particles of sand, adheres to the moisture sensor 1, and the soil Even under different conditions of different types, the moisture change can be measured immediately without being affected. The moisture sensor 1 can cover the entire planting facility if it is embedded in a place where the planting plant is dried most quickly. The proper location of the moisture sensor 1 in the soil is 30 cm from the drip hose (irrigation porous hose, not shown) from the root of the plant. 2 to 3 cm is optimal.

  The detection condition of the moisture sensor 1 is controlled by the comparator 2, and the on / off signal of the relay switch 5 is converted by the output value from the comparator 2. The start time for applying electricity to the moisture sensor 1 is controlled by the 24-hour timer 4, and the time for applying electricity is controlled by the 3-minute timer 10 dedicated to the moisture sensor 1 so that the electricity is applied only for a certain period of time. Yes.

  The power supply 3 of such a water-saving irrigation apparatus A may be selected depending on the application and installation location, but is solar solar + storage battery (DC10-12V), AC power supply + AC (100V)-DC converter (DC10-12V) Etc. Further, the comparator 2, the 24-hour timer 4, and the relay switch 5 are housed in a case 11 having a size of 20 cm × 20 cm × 10 cm. From this case 11, the moisture sensor 1 is extended with a cord 1 a of several meters, and a cord extending to the power source 3 and the electromagnetic valve 12 is extended. Here, as the electromagnetic valve 12 for irrigation, an on-type valve of 10 to 12 V DC during charging is used.

  Such a water-saving irrigation device A is installed in a greening facility provided on the rooftop. At the time of installation, as shown in FIG. 6, the moisture sensor 1 of the water-saving irrigation apparatus A is fixed to the vertical plate 13a of the stand 13 having a reverse T-shaped cross section, and is placed in the soil in this state. The reason why the moisture sensor 1 is inserted vertically is to avoid being liable to receive weight and trauma from the soil on the moisture sensor 1 when it is placed horizontally. Also, if a display tag or the like is set up at the position where the moisture sensor 1 is placed, the work can be easily performed later.

  The detection operation start interval and the irrigation time zone of the moisture sensor 1 installed in the soil are set by on / off setting by the 24-hour timer 4 performed in advance. Multiple positions can be set according to the type of soil and plant detection and irrigation time. When the 24-hour timer 4 is turned on, the DC 12v power source 3 is turned on, and the moisture sensor 1 is energized for the set time of the timer 10 for 3 minutes (here, 2 minutes), and the heater 7 of the moisture sensor 1 is applied. Current flows. When a current flows through the heater 7 of the moisture sensor 1 for 2 minutes, a voltage corresponding to the soil moisture state (soil moisture content) around the moisture sensor 1 is output due to the Seebeck effect of the thermocouple of the moisture sensor 1. The voltage output from the moisture sensor 1 is amplified by the amplifier 6 and sent to the comparator 2.

  When the soil moisture state (soil moisture content) at which the plant begins to wilted is preset as a threshold value and the output voltage in the moisture sensor 1 exceeds the threshold value set by the comparator 2, the relay switch 5 operates and the solenoid valve 12 Is opened and irrigation is started. When sufficient moisture is contained in the soil due to rain or cloudy weather, the threshold value is not exceeded, so the solenoid valve 12 does not operate and irrigation is not performed. In this way, the threshold value corresponding to the soil moisture content is arbitrarily set and controlled by the comparator 2. Further, as the irrigation time zone, the electromagnetic valve 12 operates from the on-time of the 24-hour timer 4 to the set time zone of off, and irrigation is performed. The detection operation start interval by the moisture sensor 1 is twice in the morning and evening in the summer and once in the morning in the winter.

Next, as shown in FIG. 7, a greening facility B is installed on the roof of the building by this water-saving irrigation system, and a greening facility D by an automatic irrigation system using a conventional timer or the like (hereinafter referred to as “conventional irrigation system”). A comparative experiment was conducted.
The area of the greening facilities B and D is 1 m ² , the soil is a general lightweight soil (natural artificial aggregate soil), the soil thickness is 15 cm, and the planted plant is a mint and one section 25 pots (small seedling raising pot) In the irrigation method, a dropping hose was used, the discharge port was provided with 7 ports per section, and the irrigation time was 30 minutes.

The measurement items in this comparative experiment were the number of irrigation, amount of irrigation, weather (meteorological observatory data), atmospheric temperature, humidity, vegetation plant growth (leaf tension, plant height), and weed generation.
Threshold values were selected for each soil (black soil, double soil, general light soil). From the past measurement results of soil where plants start to wilting, it is a numerical value that begins to wilting near pF2.1, and the moisture content at this time is 13% (see “dotted circle shape” in FIG. 5). The soil moisture content at each pF value was measured by a moisture sensor, and the threshold value of the irrigation start point pF2.2 was set from the generated voltage at this time.

  As a method for preparing the soil for the test, the test soil was put in a paper cup, the soil of the paper cup was dried to make it completely dry, and the weight at this time was measured. The soil water content of 10% means that water having a weight of 10% of the weight of soil in an absolutely dry state is added, and the total weight is 110 g. When the pF value at this time is measured and the water content is about 13%, the pF value was about 2.1.

  The results of this comparative test show that the irrigation count in the greening facility B of the reduced irrigation system of this example is 2 times from August to September in the summer of 2003, and the number of irrigations in the summer in July to September. Was about once a month. The amount of irrigation was 23 liters because the greening facility D of the conventional irrigation system irrigated every morning and evening for three months from July to September regardless of the wet state of the soil. In the greening facility B, it was 1/10 of 2.3 liters. There was no abnormality in the growth of the plants. Compared with the greening facility D of the conventional irrigation system, there was not much length and there were few weeds. The power supply was sufficiently possible with solar power. In the greening facility B of the irrigation system in this example and the greening facility D of the conventional irrigation system, there was no difference in the growth status of the plants.

  According to the greening facility B of the water-saving irrigation system of this embodiment, the operation time of the power source 3 of the moisture sensor 1 can be minimized in order to reduce power consumption. In addition, the performance and mechanical strength of the water-saving irrigation device A and the moisture sensor 1 were improved, and the channel of the moisture sensor 1 was made one. Furthermore, many general-purpose parts were used to form the water-saving irrigation device A. As a result, since the 24-hour pin type setting timer 4 was used, it became easy for the user to use this water-saving irrigation system. Since the relay timer is used for the 3-minute timer 10 for operating the moisture sensor 1 and the output value from the comparator 2 of the water saving apparatus A is converted to on / off of the relay switch 5, the system is operated. As a result, it is easy, cheap, and durable, can be easily maintained, and has improved reliability.

  In the above embodiment, the moisture sensor 1 applies thermocouples and the detection conditions are controlled by the comparator 2. However, the moisture sensor 1 is not limited to this, and is assumed to have a plurality of channels by, for example, microcomputer control. Also good. Furthermore, although only one moisture sensor 1 is installed in the soil, the number of moisture sensors 1 to be installed may be appropriate according to the scale of the greening facility. The moisture sensor 1 has a 1 cm × 3 cm sheet shape, but is not limited to a 1 cm × 3 cm sheet shape. Furthermore, in order to install the moisture sensor 1 in the soil, the moisture sensor 1 is fixed to a stand 13 having an inverted T-shaped cross section and is vertically inserted into the soil. However, the method of installing the moisture sensor 1 is not limited to this. is not.

It is a block diagram of the water saving apparatus of the Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the actual thing of the water-saving apparatus of the Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the operation | movement principle of the moisture sensor of the water-saving apparatus of the Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the operation | movement principle of the moisture sensor of the water saving apparatus of the Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the operation | movement principle of the moisture sensor of the water saving apparatus of the Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state which fixed the moisture sensor of the water-saving apparatus of the Example of this invention to the inverted T-shaped stand. It is explanatory drawing which shows a mode that the greening facility by the water-saving irrigation system of the Example of this invention installed in the roof of a building and the greening facility by a conventional irrigation system enter by performing a comparative experiment.

Explanation of symbols

A Water-saving irrigation device 1 Moisture sensor 2 Comparator 3 Power supply 4 24-hour timer 5 Relay switch 6 Amplifier 7 Heater 9 Medium in thermocouple 10 3-minute timer 11 Case 12 Solenoid valve 13 Inverted T-shaped stand

Claims (4)

In a greening facility formed by plants vegetated in the soil,
A moisture sensor consisting of a thermocouple is embedded in the soil of the greening facility, a comparator is connected to the moisture sensor, and the output voltage of the moisture sensor is a voltage threshold corresponding to the moisture content in the soil preset by the comparator. A water-saving irrigation automation system characterized in that a comparator outputs an output when the value exceeds the limit, thereby opening the electromagnetic valve and irrigating the plant of the greening facility. 2. The water-saving irrigation automation system according to claim 1, wherein the moisture sensor is encapsulated with earth and sand composed of particles having a uniform particle diameter and embedded in the soil. 3. The water-saving irrigation automation system according to claim 1, wherein the moisture content detection and irrigation of the soil by the moisture sensor is performed only at the time of setting by a 24-hour timer. The water-saving irrigation automation system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the moisture sensor has a flat shape, and the moisture sensor is vertically erected and embedded in soil.

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