JP2006288250A - Liquid feeding system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a convenient liquid feeding system comprising using colorful and inexpensive dye-sensitive solar battery suitable for being set in the environment where plants grow, having a flexible shape, and feeding liquid to the plants. <P>SOLUTION: The liquid feeding system is provided with a solar battery exchanging light to electric energy, a storage device storing the electric energy generated by the solar battery, and a liquid feeding device put into action using the electric energy stored in the storage device and feeding the liquid to the plants. The solar battery comprises the dye-sensitive solar battery, and is set in the vicinity of the plants to which the liquid is fed. The storage device comprises an electric double layer capacitor. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid delivery system, and more particularly, a solar cell that converts light into electrical energy, a storage device that stores electrical energy generated by the solar cell, and electrical energy stored in the storage device. A liquid supply device that supplies liquid to the plant, the solar cell is a dye-sensitized solar cell, and is installed in the vicinity of the plant to which the liquid is supplied, and the storage device is electrically The present invention relates to a liquid delivery system which is a double layer capacitor.

  In order to grow a plant, it is necessary to appropriately give a liquid such as water to the plant. A method of supplying a liquid such as water to a plant has been generally performed manually by a method of supplying the plant with a hose connected to a water pipe or a liquid pumped into a container. Or, in a facility that grows plants on a large scale such as a farm, an automatic watering device such as a sprinkler automatically supplies liquids such as water to the plants without human intervention.

  For example, in relatively small-scale facilities such as flower beds, gardens, kitchen gardens, or gardening, it is troublesome to manually apply liquids to plants every time. There is a demand for a simple apparatus capable of providing the above-mentioned characteristics.

  Such devices need to be supplied with the liquid to be given to the plant and the power to operate the device. As the liquid source, for example, a water pipe or a container for storing a liquid can be used. The container can be installed at a location remote from where the plant is growing, or can be installed adjacent to the location where the plant is growing. When the container is installed at a remote place, a pipe is used to guide the liquid from the container to the place where the plant is grown. In addition, a pump or the like is used to pump the liquid from the container.

  Generally, electric power is used as power for operating the apparatus. This power is supplied from a pump for pumping liquid from a container, a valve for opening or closing a water pipe or pipe, a control means for controlling the supply of liquid, an input means for setting a liquid supply operation, or a device. It is used to operate a display means for displaying the operation state of the display. Such electric power is supplied from a commercial power source, home-use electric power generation, or a chargeable / dischargeable battery.

  If the device uses water as a liquid source and uses a commercial power source or a private power generator for household use as a power source, it has the advantage that a sufficient amount of liquid and power can be used. However, in this case, piping such as hoses connected to water pipes and electrical connection lines for sending power from the power supply are required, and it is not possible to install the device in a free place away from the place of water pipes and power supplies. In other words, it cannot be configured to be portable, requires a configuration that can withstand the liquid pressure from the water pipe, and has a drawback that the device itself is large and bulky.

  In order to eliminate such a drawback, several apparatuses have been proposed.

  For example, an apparatus using a container as a liquid source and a dry battery as a power source is known. This device uses a timer to drive a pump with electric power of a dry battery at regular time intervals to draw liquid from a container and supply it to a plant. Although such a device does not require a pipe for leading a liquid from a water source and an electric connection line from a power source, it requires a regular replacement of the dry cell, which causes high operating costs and troublesome replacement of the dry cell. It was what had.

  Therefore, an apparatus has been proposed that uses a solar cell as a power source that does not require replacement once it is installed instead of using a dry cell that needs to be replaced periodically. For example, Kuwano Yukinori and Takeoka Akio, “Solar Cell Utilization Guidebook”, Power Corporation, February 10, 1998, pages 132 to 139 use water as a liquid source and inorganic solar cells such as amorphous silicon as a power source. An apparatus using is described. In the apparatus described in this document, the electric power generated by the inorganic solar cell is stored in the nicad battery, and the means for supplying the liquid is operated by the stored electric power. This device also includes a sensor that detects the amount of moisture in the soil, and when the sensor detects a moisture amount lower than a predetermined value, the electromagnetic valve connected to the water supply is opened and closed with the power stored in the NiCd battery. Water to the plants.

  The device described in this document does not require an electrical connection line from a power source, but has a disadvantage that piping from a water supply is necessary. In addition, the nickel-cadmium battery has a problem of increasing costs because it needs to be recovered in order to cause secondary pollution when it is discarded including heavy metals such as cadmium. More seriously, inorganic solar cells, such as amorphous silicon, have a color close to black, which makes them unsuitable for flower beds, gardens, kitchen gardens, or gardening environments where plants grow, and usually on glass substrates. Since it was formed, it was not flexible and the degree of freedom in shape was limited. Thus, inorganic solar cells such as amorphous silicon have a drawback that their presence is conspicuous in an environment where plants grow, and cannot be dissolved in such an environment.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-140073 discloses an apparatus using an electric double layer capacitor that does not require recovery instead of a nickel-cadmium battery containing heavy metal. This device uses the power stored in the electric double layer capacitor when it is detected that the power generated by the inorganic solar cell such as amorphous silicon is stored in the electric double layer capacitor and the surroundings are dark. Turn on the light or light emitting diode (LED).

  On the other hand, as a solar cell which can be processed into a free shape with rich colors, for example, J.A. Am. Chem. Soc. 115, (1993), page 6382, is known. This is also called a Gretzel cell, which is a thin film substrate made of oxide semiconductor fine particles that are sensitized by a dye on a transparent electrode and becomes one of the electrodes, and a counter electrode in which a reducing agent such as platinum is arranged to face this thin film substrate. A charge transfer layer (electrolytic solution containing a redox substance) is sandwiched between the substrate and the substrate, and is constituted by adsorbing a ruthenium complex dye on a porous titanium oxide electrode. The dye-sensitized solar cell can obtain solar cells of various colors according to the dye used, and a flexible and free-form solar cell can be obtained by using a flexible film as a substrate. Has the advantage that it can. Therefore, it is preferable for use in an environment where plants grow. Furthermore, the dye-sensitized solar cell has an advantage that it can be manufactured at low cost.

  However, the electric power obtained by the dye-sensitized solar cell currently developed is weak compared to inorganic solar cells such as amorphous silicon and dry cells, and the A5 size light receiving area is less than 0.1 watt. Currently. Therefore, the load that can be driven by the dye-sensitized solar cell is extremely limited. In order to directly drive the pump for pumping the liquid from the container with the electric power obtained from the dye-sensitized solar cell, a considerably large light receiving area is required, and the installation place of the dye-sensitized solar cell is limited. Therefore, it is difficult to directly drive a means for supplying a liquid such as a pump with electric power obtained from a dye-sensitized solar cell. Therefore, it is conceivable to store and use the weak power obtained from the dye-sensitized solar cell, but in a rechargeable battery such as a nickel-cadmium battery generally used, such weak power is efficiently stored. There was a problem that could not be done.

Interest in research on dye-sensitized solar cells has been focused on increasing the light energy conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells, and application aspects such as how to use the weak power currently available in dye-sensitized solar cells. It was not directed to. For this reason, studies on devices using dye-sensitized solar cells, such as how to store the weak electric power obtained by dye-sensitized solar cells to operate the device, have been rarely performed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-140073 Kuwano Yukinori and Takeoka Akio, “Solar Cell Utilization Guidebook”, Power Company, February 10, 1998, pp. 132-139 J. et al. Am. Chem. Soc. 115, (1993), page 6382.

  The present invention relates to a plant using a dye-sensitized solar cell which is a solar cell suitable for installation in an environment where the plant grows, can have a rich color and can have a free shape, and is inexpensive. The present invention provides a liquid feeding system that is simple to supply a liquid to the liquid and can be configured to be portable.

According to the first aspect of the invention, a solar cell that converts light into electrical energy, a storage device that stores electrical energy generated by the solar cell, and an operation that uses electrical energy stored in the storage device A liquid supply system comprising a liquid supply device for supplying a liquid to a plant,
The solar cell is a dye-sensitized solar cell, and is installed in the vicinity of a plant to which a liquid is supplied, and the storage device is an electric double layer capacitor.

  With such a configuration, a dye-sensitized solar cell suitable for installation in an environment where a plant grows is installed in the vicinity of the plant, and the electric energy generated by the dye-sensitized solar cell is transferred to the electric double layer capacitor. It is possible to provide a liquid delivery system that accumulates and operates a liquid supply device to supply liquid to plants.

According to the invention which concerns on Claim 2, the liquid supply apparatus stores the container which stores the liquid which should be supplied to a plant, the pump which pumps the liquid stored in the container from a container, and the liquid pumped by the pump is plant. A control circuit for controlling the operation of the pump, and a detection means for detecting the dryness of the soil on which the plants are grown and generating a dryness detection signal representing the dryness of the soil,
When the dryness detection signal from the detection means represents a dry state of the soil that exceeds a threshold value indicating a predetermined dryness of the soil, the control circuit sends a pump operation signal to the pump to operate the pump. And

  By such a configuration, when the soil is in a dry state exceeding a predetermined threshold, which is a state where it is necessary to supply liquid to the plant, the pump is operated to supply liquid to the plant. Can supply liquids to plants when needed. Therefore, efficient use of the liquid stored in the container becomes possible.

According to the invention of claim 3, further comprising charge amount signal generating means for generating a charge amount signal representing the charge amount accumulated in the electric double layer capacitor,
The dryness detection signal from the detection means indicates a dry state of the soil that exceeds a predetermined threshold value indicating the dryness of the soil, and the charge amount signal from the charge amount signal generation means is required for operating the pump. When representing a charge amount that exceeds the amount, the control circuit sends a pump activation signal to the pump to activate the pump.

  With such a configuration, it is possible to prevent the wasted electric power from being wasted by operating the pump in a state where the electric double layer capacitor is not charged with a sufficient amount of power capable of operating the pump. Can do. Therefore, efficient use of the electric power stored in the electric double layer capacitor is possible.

According to the invention according to claim 4, the liquid feeding system further includes at least one of a soil dry indicator and a charge indicator,
The soil dry indicator is driven when the dryness detection signal from the detecting means represents a dry state of the soil that exceeds a predetermined threshold value indicating the dryness of the soil, and the charge indicator is supplied from the charge amount signal generating means. It is characterized in that it is driven when the charge amount signal exceeds the power required to operate the pump.

  With such a configuration, it can indicate whether the soil is dry and / or whether the power required to operate the pump is stored, and indicate to the user the condition of the delivery system Can do.

According to the invention which concerns on Claim 5, the liquid supply apparatus stores the container which stores the liquid which should be supplied to a plant, the pump which pumps the liquid stored in the container from a container, and the liquid pumped by the pump is plant. A nozzle for supplying the liquid, a control circuit for controlling the operation of the pump, and a timer for generating a liquid supply timing signal representing the timing of supplying the liquid to the plant,
When the liquid supply timing signal is sent from the timer, the control circuit sends a pump operation signal to the pump to operate the pump.

  With such a configuration, when the liquid is supplied to the plant, the liquid can be supplied at a necessary time by operating the pump and supplying the liquid to the plant. Therefore, efficient use of the liquid stored in the container becomes possible.

According to the invention which concerns on Claim 6, the charge amount signal generation means which produces | generates the charge amount signal showing the charge amount accumulate | stored in the electric double layer capacitor is further provided,
When the liquid supply timing signal is sent from the timer and the charge amount signal from the charge amount signal generating unit represents the charge amount exceeding the amount of power necessary for operating the pump, the control circuit outputs the pump operation signal. It sends to a pump and it is characterized by operating this pump.

  With such a configuration, it is possible to prevent the wasted electric power from being wasted by operating the pump in a state where the electric double layer capacitor is not charged with a sufficient amount of power capable of operating the pump. Can do. Therefore, efficient use of the electric power stored in the electric double layer capacitor is possible.

According to the invention of claim 7, the liquid feeding system further includes at least one of a liquid supply timing indicator and a charge indicator,
The liquid supply timing indicator is driven when a liquid supply timing signal is sent from the timer, and the charge indicator is operated when the charge amount signal from the charge amount signal generating means exceeds the power necessary for operating the pump. It is characterized by being driven.

  With such a configuration, it is possible to indicate whether it is time to supply liquid and / or whether the power required to operate the pump is stored, and to indicate to the user the status of the system Can do.

According to the invention which concerns on Claim 8, It is a method of supplying a liquid automatically to a plant,
A liquid supply device for supplying a liquid to a plant, comprising a container for storing a liquid to be supplied to the plant, and a liquid supply means for supplying the liquid stored in the container to the plant;
Install a dye-sensitized solar cell that converts light into electrical energy in the vicinity of the plant to which the liquid is supplied,
The electrical energy generated by the dye-sensitized solar cell is stored in the electric double layer capacitor,
The liquid stored in the container is supplied to the plant by operating the liquid supply means of the liquid supply device using the electric energy accumulated in the electric double layer capacitor.

  With such a configuration, it is possible to provide a method for automatically supplying a liquid to a plant using a dye-sensitized solar cell suitable for the environment of the plant to which the liquid is supplied.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 9, the power supply system for low power applications which combined the dye-sensitized solar cell and the electric double layer capacitor is provided.

  With such a configuration, the weak power obtained by the dye-sensitized solar cell can be efficiently stored, and the dye-sensitized solar cell can be used as a power supply system for a low-power application.

  In FIG. 1, the schematic block diagram of one Embodiment of the liquid feeding system by this invention is shown.

  The liquid feeding system shown in FIG. 1 includes a dye-sensitized solar cell 1, an electric double layer capacitor 2, a diode 3, a soil dryness detector 4 as a detection means, a container 5, a pump 6, and a nozzle. 7, plant 8, control circuit 9, soil dryness indicator 10, charge indicator 11, and charge amount signal generation means 12.

  The dye-sensitized solar cell 1 is installed in the vicinity of the plant 8 to be grown, and red, orange, yellow, green, blue, etc. according to the color of the flower or leaf of the plant 8 or the environment in which the plant 8 is grown. Are formed so as to have a vivid color and a free shape. In particular, it is formed so as not to impair the aesthetics required in flower beds, gardens, kitchen gardens or gardening. As an example of the dye-sensitized solar cell 1, an A5-sized dye-sensitized solar cell 1 having an output voltage of 5 V and an output power of 0.05 watt can be used.

  The electric double layer capacitor 2 can accumulate a weak current of about 10 milliamperes supplied from the dye-sensitized solar cell 1 and can be fed many times by repeatedly driving the pump 6 over a long period of time. It is desirable to be able to withstand the charging / discharging. As an example of the electric double layer capacitor 2, two electric double layer capacitors AL series manufactured by Matsushita Electric can be connected in parallel, and the electric double layer capacitor 2 having a capacity of 20 Farads can be used. The form of the electric double layer capacitor 2 may be any form such as a coin type, a cylinder type, and a multilayer type. In addition, if there exists a secondary battery which has the performance equivalent to the electric double layer capacitor 2, it can also be used.

  The diode 3 is a diode for preventing a reverse current that is a current from the electric double layer capacitor 2 to the dye-sensitized solar cell 1. As an example of the diode 3, a 1N4148A type manufactured by Philips Semiconductor can be used.

  The soil dryness detector 4 detects the dryness in soil such as a flower pot in which the plant 8 is planted, and sends a dryness detection signal indicating the detected dryness of the soil to the control circuit 9. An arbitrary detector can be used as the soil dryness detector 4. For example, two probes are inserted into a flower pot in which the plant 8 is planted, and the dryness of the soil is detected by a resistance value between the probes. A detector or the like can be used.

  The container 5 is a container for storing a liquid such as water to be given to the plant 8, and is connected to the pump 6 through a pipe 51. The liquid stored in the container 5 is not limited to water, and can be a liquid containing a fertilizer or an agrochemical, if necessary. The volume of the container 5 is determined according to the supply amount necessary for supplying the liquid to the plant once and the frequency of supplying the liquid to the plant. The liquid stored in the container 5 is appropriately replenished as necessary. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the container 5 is installed adjacent to a flowerpot or the like in which the plant 8 is planted. However, the container 5 may be made small and embedded in the flowerpot. it can. The material, shape, and color of the container 5 can be appropriately determined according to the intended use.

  The pump 6 is a pump for sending the liquid stored in the container 5 to the plant 8 through the nozzle 7. The pump 6 is connected to the container 5 through the pipe 51 and connected to the nozzle 7 through the pipe 52. Is done. The operation of the pump 6 is controlled by the control circuit 9. That is, the pump 6 is operated in response to a pump operation signal sent from the control circuit 9. The pump 6 is desirably a pump with low power consumption as much as possible. As an example of the pump 6, CM-15W-3 rated 3 volts, 0.8 amp manufactured by Enomoto Micropump can be used.

  The nozzle 7 is a nozzle for supplying the liquid stored in the container 5 sent by the pump 6 to the plant 8, and the shape is preferably a shape suitable for supplying the liquid to the plant 8 to be supplied. . In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a configuration is shown in which one nozzle 7 is installed above the plant 8 and the liquid is sprayed on the plant 8 from above. The nozzle 7 can be installed near the root of the plant 8 or can be divided into a plurality of nozzles. The material, shape, and color of the nozzle 7 can be appropriately determined according to the intended use.

  The plant 8 is a plant to which the liquid stored in the container 5 is to be given as appropriate, and can be a seed. The type and amount of liquid to be supplied to the plant 8 are determined according to the type of the plant 8, the growth stage of the plant 8, the temperature at which the plant 8 is grown, the humidity, the environment such as sunlight, and the like.

  The control circuit 9 is a control circuit that controls the operation of the entire liquid feeding system including the operation of the pump 6. The control circuit 9 is preferably a circuit with low power consumption as much as possible.

  The control circuit 9 receives the soil dryness signal from the soil dryness detector 4 and the charge amount signal from the charge amount signal generating means 12. When the dryness detection signal indicates a dry state of the soil that exceeds a threshold value indicating the dryness of the predetermined soil, or the soil is in a dry state and the charge amount signal activates the pump 6. In order to represent the amount of charge stored in the electric double layer capacitor 2 that exceeds the amount of power required for the operation, a pump operation signal is sent to the pump 6 and the pump 6 is operated to be contained in the container 5 with respect to the plant 8. Supply liquid. By the operation of the control circuit 9 as described above, the liquid is supplied only when the soil is in a dry state where it is necessary to supply the liquid to the plant 8, thereby preventing unnecessary liquid supply. The liquid stored in the container 5 can be used efficiently. Further, when the electric double layer capacitor 2 is in a state where the amount of electric power necessary for operating the pump 6 is accumulated, the pump 6 is operated to supply liquid to the plant 8 to thereby operate the pump 6. It is possible to efficiently use the electric power stored in the electric double layer capacitor 2 by preventing wasteful use of the stored electric power when the amount is not charged.

  The control circuit 9 can be configured with an appropriate circuit configuration, and includes a comparator that compares the soil dryness signal with a predetermined threshold value, and a charge amount signal and an amount of power required to operate the pump 6. It can have a comparator to compare. Furthermore, an appropriate input means for inputting a threshold value indicating the dryness of a predetermined soil and an amount of electric power necessary for operating the pump can be provided, and these values can be changed.

  The soil dryness indicator 10 is driven when the dryness detection signal from the soil dryness detector 4 serving as a detection means indicates a dry state of the soil that exceeds a threshold value indicating a predetermined dryness of the soil. The charge indicator 11 is driven when the charge amount signal from the charge amount signal generating means 12 exceeds the threshold power indicating the power necessary for operating the pump 6. These indicators 10 and 11 are preferably as low power consumption indicators as possible. By observing the state of these indicators 10, 11, the user can determine whether the soil is in a dry state and / or the electric power necessary to operate the pump 6 is stored in the electric double layer capacitor 2. You can know if you are. For example, the soil is in a dry state, but the pump 6 is not operated because a sufficient amount of power is not stored, or a sufficient amount of power is stored, but the soil is in a dry state. You can know the state of not. In addition, it can also comprise in the liquid feeding system of lower power consumption, without using these indicators 10 and 11.

  The charge amount signal generating means 12 generates a charge amount signal representing the amount of charge charged in the electric double layer capacitor 2, and can be realized with an appropriate circuit configuration. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the control circuit 9 is incorporated.

  In the liquid feeding system shown in FIG. 1, the electric double layer capacitor 2, the diode 3, the soil dryness detector 4, the container 5, the pump 6, the drive circuit 9, and the charge amount signal generating means 12 are separate components. However, it is also possible to configure them in a small size and embed them in the soil where the plant 8 is grown, or install them in a suitable location near the plant 8. Furthermore, such a small liquid feeding system can be configured to be portable.

  In FIG. 2, the schematic block diagram of another embodiment of the liquid feeding system by this invention is shown.

  The difference from the liquid feeding system of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is that a timer 20 is provided instead of the soil dryness detector 4 and a liquid supply timing indicator 21 is provided instead of the soil dryness indicator 10. .

  The timer 20 generates a liquid supply timing signal indicating the timing of supplying the liquid to the plant 8.

  In this embodiment, the control circuit 9 receives the liquid supply timing signal sent from the timer 20 and the charge amount signal sent from the charge amount signal generating means 12. The control circuit 9 is supplied with a liquid supply timing signal from the timer 20 and when it is time to supply the liquid to the plant 8 or when liquid is supplied, and the electric double layer capacitor 2 has a pump 6. When the amount of electric power necessary for operating is stored, the pump 6 is operated to supply liquid to the plant 8. By such an operation of the control circuit 9, unnecessary liquid supply can be prevented and the liquid stored in the container 5 can be used efficiently. Furthermore, it is possible to prevent the wasteful stored power from being wasted when the amount of power for operating the pump 6 is not charged, and to efficiently use the power stored in the electric double layer capacitor 2. Become.

  The liquid supply timing indicator 21 is driven to display that it is the timing to supply the liquid. It is desirable that the liquid supply timing indicator 21 and the charging indicator 11 are as low power consumption indicators as possible. By looking at these indicators 21, 11, the user knows whether it is time to supply liquid to the plant 8 and / or whether the power necessary to operate the pump 6 is stored. be able to. For example, it is time to supply the liquid, but the pump 6 is not activated because a sufficient amount of power is not stored, or a sufficient amount of power is stored, but the liquid is supplied. You can know the state of not timing. In addition, it is also possible to configure a liquid feeding system with lower power consumption without using these indicators 21 and 11.

  In the liquid feeding system shown in FIG. 2, the electric double layer capacitor 2, the diode 3, the timer 20, the container 5, the pump 6, the drive circuit 9, and the charge amount signal generating means 12 are shown as separate components. However, these can be integrated into a small size, embedded in the soil where the plant 8 is grown, or installed at a suitable location near the plant 8. Also in this case, such a small liquid feeding system can be configured to be portable.

  Further, the liquid can be automatically supplied to the plant by the following method.

First, a liquid is supplied to a plant, which includes a container 5 for storing a liquid to be supplied to the plant 8 and liquid supply means for supplying the liquid stored in the container 5 to the plant, such as a pump 6 and a nozzle 7. A liquid supply device for
The dye-sensitized solar cell 1 that converts light into electric energy is installed in the vicinity of the plant 8 to which the liquid is supplied,
The electric energy generated by the dye-sensitized solar cell 1 is stored in the electric double layer capacitor 2;
The liquid energy stored in the container 5 is supplied to the plant 8 by operating the liquid supply means 6 and 7 of the liquid supply device using the electric energy accumulated in the electric double layer capacitor 2.

  Furthermore, a power supply system for a low power application can be realized as follows.

  That is, a power supply system for a low-power application that uses the weak power currently obtained with the dye-sensitized solar cell 1 that has hardly been studied until now includes a dye-sensitized solar cell 1 and an electric double layer capacitor 2. By combining, the weak electric power obtained by the dye-sensitized solar cell 1 can be realized by efficiently accumulating in the electric double layer capacitor 2.

  Next, an embodiment in which the electric power generated by the dye-sensitized solar cell 1 is stored in the electric double layer capacitor 2 and the liquid is supplied by operating the pump 6 will be described below.

  An A5 size dye-sensitized solar cell 1 having an output voltage of 5 volts and an output power of 0.05 watt is used as the dye-sensitized solar cell 1, and an electric double-layer capacitor having a capacity of 10 farads as the electric double-layer capacitor 2 2 (Matsushita Electric Double Layer Capacitor AL Series) An electric double layer capacitor 2 having a capacity of 20 Farad connected in parallel, and a diode 3 of Philips Semiconductor 1N4148A type 3 was used as a diode 3 for backflow prevention. . The assembly in which these were connected was installed so that the light-receiving surface of the dye-sensitized solar cell 1 was directly above the sunny outdoors (Tokyo) without an angle. The dye-sensitized solar cell 1 was irradiated with sunlight (November) having a strength of about 10,000 lux or more for a total of 33 hours. The electric power generated by the dye-sensitized solar cell 1 with this sunlight was accumulated in the electric double layer capacitor 2. Using the electric power of the electric double layer capacitor 2 accumulated in this manner, a motor pump (CM-15W-3 rated 3 volts, 0.8 amps manufactured by Enomoto Micropump) is operated, and 85.3 cc of water is consumed for 50 seconds. Was able to be supplied from the container 5 through the nozzle 7.

  Further, using the dye-sensitized solar cell 1 and the electric double layer capacitor 2 having the same configuration as described above, sunlight (December) having an intensity of about 10,000 lux or more was irradiated for a total of 73 hours. Water could be supplied from the container 5 through the nozzle 7.

  As described above, according to the liquid feeding system of the present invention, it is a solar cell suitable for installation in an environment in which plants grow, can be rich in color and have a free shape, and is inexpensive. A simple liquid feeding system for supplying a liquid to a plant using a certain dye-sensitized solar cell can be provided. Furthermore, this liquid feeding system can be configured to be portable, and does not require battery replacement.

  Further, an overcharge prevention device is provided between the dye-sensitized solar cell 1 and the electric double layer capacitor 2, an overload prevention device is provided between the electric double layer capacitor 2 and the pump 6, and other electrical abnormal states. By incorporating an avoiding device or the like, it is possible to obtain further safety during operation. The application of the liquid feeding system of the present invention is most preferably applied to the case where a liquid is sprayed on a plant containing seeds in a flower bed, a garden, a kitchen garden, or gardening. It can also be applied when water is given every hour.

The schematic block diagram of one Embodiment of the liquid feeding system by this invention is shown. The schematic block diagram of another embodiment of the liquid feeding system by this invention is shown.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Dye-sensitized solar cell 2 Electric double layer capacitor 3 Diode 4 Soil dryness detector 5 Container 6 Pump 7 Nozzle 8 Plant 9 Control circuit 10 Soil dryness indicator 11 Charge indicator 12 Charge amount signal generation means 20 Timer 21 Liquid Supply timing indicator 51, 52 Piping

Claims (9)

A solar cell that converts light into electrical energy, a storage device that stores electrical energy generated by the solar cell, and a liquid that is operated using the electrical energy stored in the storage device and that supplies liquid to plants A liquid delivery system comprising a supply device,
The liquid feeding system, wherein the solar cell is a dye-sensitized solar cell, is installed near a plant to which a liquid is supplied, and the storage device is an electric double layer capacitor. A liquid supply device for storing a liquid to be supplied to the plant; a pump for pumping the liquid stored in the container from the container; a nozzle for supplying the liquid pumped by the pump to the plant; A control circuit for controlling the operation, and a detection means for detecting the dryness of the soil on which the plant is grown and generating a dryness detection signal representing the dryness of the soil,
When the dryness detection signal from the detection means represents a dry state of the soil that exceeds a threshold value indicating a predetermined dryness of the soil, the control circuit sends a pump operation signal to the pump to operate the pump. The liquid delivery system according to claim 1. A charge amount signal generating means for generating a charge amount signal representing the charge amount stored in the electric double layer capacitor;
The dryness detection signal from the detection means represents a dry state of the soil that exceeds a predetermined threshold indicating the dryness of the soil, and the charge amount signal from the charge amount signal generation means is the power required to operate the pump. 3. The liquid delivery system of claim 2, wherein the control circuit sends a pump actuation signal to the pump to actuate the pump when representing an amount of charge that exceeds the quantity. The liquid delivery system further comprises at least one of a soil dry indicator and a charge indicator,
The soil dry indicator is driven when the dryness detection signal from the detecting means represents a dry state of the soil that exceeds a predetermined threshold value indicating the dryness of the soil, and the charge indicator is supplied from the charge amount signal generating means. 4. The liquid delivery system according to claim 3, wherein the charge amount signal is driven when the power required for operating the pump is exceeded. A liquid supply device for storing a liquid to be supplied to the plant; a pump for pumping the liquid stored in the container from the container; a nozzle for supplying the liquid pumped by the pump to the plant; A control circuit for controlling the operation, and a timer for generating a liquid supply timing signal representing the timing of supplying the liquid to the plant,
2. The liquid feeding system according to claim 1, wherein when a liquid supply timing signal is sent from the timer, the control circuit sends a pump operation signal to the pump to operate the pump. A charge amount signal generating means for generating a charge amount signal representing the charge amount stored in the electric double layer capacitor;
When the liquid supply timing signal is sent from the timer and the charge amount signal from the charge amount signal generating unit represents the charge amount exceeding the amount of power necessary for operating the pump, the control circuit outputs the pump operation signal. The liquid feeding system according to claim 5, wherein the pump is operated by being sent to a pump. The liquid delivery system further comprises at least one of a liquid supply timing indicator and a charge indicator,
The liquid supply timing indicator is driven when a liquid supply timing signal is sent from the timer, and the charge indicator is operated when the charge amount signal from the charge amount signal generating means exceeds the power necessary for operating the pump. The liquid feeding system according to claim 6, wherein the liquid feeding system is driven by A method of automatically supplying liquid to a plant,
A liquid supply device for supplying a liquid to a plant, comprising a container for storing a liquid to be supplied to the plant, and a liquid supply means for supplying the liquid stored in the container to the plant;
Install a dye-sensitized solar cell that converts light into electrical energy in the vicinity of the plant to which the liquid is supplied,
The electrical energy generated by the dye-sensitized solar cell is stored in the electric double layer capacitor,
The liquid is automatically supplied to the plant, wherein the liquid stored in the container is supplied to the plant by operating the liquid supply means of the liquid supply device using the electric energy accumulated in the electric double layer capacitor. Method.   A power supply system for low-power applications that combines a dye-sensitized solar cell and an electric double layer capacitor.

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