NZ530924A - Electric fence energiser including control means to maintain output voltage at or near a desired value - Google Patents
Electric fence energiser including control means to maintain output voltage at or near a desired valueInfo
- Publication number
- NZ530924A NZ530924A NZ53092404A NZ53092404A NZ530924A NZ 530924 A NZ530924 A NZ 530924A NZ 53092404 A NZ53092404 A NZ 53092404A NZ 53092404 A NZ53092404 A NZ 53092404A NZ 530924 A NZ530924 A NZ 530924A
- Authority
- NZ
- New Zealand
- Prior art keywords
- output voltage
- electric fence
- control means
- energiser
- energy
- Prior art date
Links
- 238000007599 discharging Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 30
- 238000004146 energy storage Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 19
- 230000003044 adaptive effect Effects 0.000 claims description 11
- 239000004020 conductor Substances 0.000 claims description 9
- 230000007246 mechanism Effects 0.000 claims description 2
- 230000000007 visual effect Effects 0.000 claims description 2
- 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0.000 claims 1
- 239000003990 capacitor Substances 0.000 description 17
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 description 6
- 241001465754 Metazoa Species 0.000 description 5
- 230000007423 decrease Effects 0.000 description 3
- 230000004044 response Effects 0.000 description 2
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- 235000018783 Dacrycarpus dacrydioides Nutrition 0.000 description 1
- XUIMIQQOPSSXEZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N Silicon Chemical compound [Si] XUIMIQQOPSSXEZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 238000007792 addition Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000009286 beneficial effect Effects 0.000 description 1
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- 230000003247 decreasing effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000001419 dependent effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000005684 electric field Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000005669 field effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000001914 filtration Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000012212 insulator Substances 0.000 description 1
- 244000144972 livestock Species 0.000 description 1
- 238000012986 modification Methods 0.000 description 1
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- 230000008569 process Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000035939 shock Effects 0.000 description 1
- 229910052710 silicon Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 239000010703 silicon Substances 0.000 description 1
Landscapes
- Catching Or Destruction (AREA)
- Housing For Livestock And Birds (AREA)
Abstract
An electric fence energiser which comprises: (a) A power supply; (b) A discharge circuit including at least one energy storage means which receives and temporarily stores electrical energy output from the power supply, and which produces an actual output voltage which is applied to an electric fence; (c) A control means which controls the transfer of energy to the energy storage means and the discharge of energy from an energy storage means and which is adapted to receive an actual voltage value for the discharge circuit; (d) An input means connected to the control means, the input means being adapted to provide the control means with a desired output voltage value set by a user for the discharge circuit; and (e) Wherein the control means adjusts the power supply energy output and/or the discharging of energy from the discharging circuit so as to attempt to maintain the actual output voltage of the discharge circuit at or near the desired output voltage for the discharging unit.
Description
Intellectual Property Office of N.Z.
28 JAN 2005
RECEIVED
PATENTS FORM NO. 5
Fee No. 4: $250.00
PATENTS ACT 1953 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
After Provisional
No: 530924
Dated: 2 February 2004
ELECTRIC FENCE ENERGISER
We, Gallagher Group Limited, a New Zealand company of Kahikatea Drive, Hamilton, New Zealand hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed to be particularly described in and by the following statement:
ELECTRIC FENCE ENERGISER
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to electric fences used to contain livestock in a desired area, and in particular, though not solely, to energisers for electric fences.
BACKGROUND ART
The electrical impedance of an electric fence is variable. The fence's impedance may decrease with time as the quality or effectiveness of the insulators which attach the conductor(s) of the fence to posts or standards decreases or as grass grows into contact with the conductor(s). Similarly, if an animal or some other conductive body 10 comes into contact with the conductor(s) of the fence then the fence's impedance will decrease.
Energisers basically, consist of an energy storage element (a capacitor), a switch which controls the amount of charge on the capacitor and a transformer through which the stored charge on the capacitor is discharged in order to step up the output 15 voltage to a desirable and useful level. Existing energisers for electric fences generally operate with fixed energy or power (that is, V2 / Z = constant, where V is the energiser's output voltage and Z is the fence's impedance). Accordingly, a low fence impedance will result in a high output voltage which falls away as the fence's impedance increases.
The upper limit of the energiser's output voltage is dictated by standards requirements for a safe output pulse and also by practical requirements for a voltage which is not sufficiently high that arcing may occur which would pose a fire risk. The energiser's lower voltage limit is dictated by practical requirements for a fence pulse of sufficient voltage and energy to provide a deterrent to animals. In order for the 25 output voltage of conventional fixed energy energisers to be limited to a safe level
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James & Wells Ref: 29590/16
under light loads (that is, a high fence impedance), it is inevitable that the energiser's output voltage at higher loads (reduced fence impedance) may be less than desired for effective animal control.
The above problem is dealt with in some energisers by using multiple discharge 5 stages and/or adaptive control designs wherein additional energy storage capacitors are selectively switched in or the stored energy is adjusted in some other way in response to the impedance presented by the fence. As a result, these multiple stage or adaptive energisers maintain output voltage to a safe and effective level over much wider ranges of fence impedance than conventional fixed energy energisers. 10 Exemplary output voltage versus fence impedance relationships for adaptive 20 and fixed energy 21 energisers are shown in Figure 1. EP0543621A discloses an example of an adaptive type electric fence energiser, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
However, the output voltage profile from multiple stage or adaptive control energisers 15 is fixed at design time so that the user has no control over the output voltage level. Because the output voltage profile will not be suitable for all fence conditions (such as in dry summer conditions where there is a risk that high output voltages may cause arcing and subsequent fires) these energisers are not ideal. Furthermore, it would be beneficial to be able to tailor the output voltage of the energiser to suit the animals 20 being contained within the fence as some animals are very sensitive to shock and need only a low voltage while others may require a high voltage to penetrate thick hides and pelts.
Some other energisers provide alternative low power output terminals in addition to normal (full power) output terminals so that the electric fence may be connected to 25 either the full or low power output as required to suit conditions. However, the output voltage for the low power output is also fixed at design time, limiting the choices the farmer has to optimise the output voltage.
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James & Wells Ref: 29590/16
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an electric fence energiser which will go at least some way towards overcoming the above disadvantages or addressing the above problems or to at least provide the industry with a useful choice.
All references, including any patents or patent applications cited in this specification 5 are hereby incorporated by reference. No admission is made that any reference constitutes prior art. The discussion of the references states what their authors assert, and the applicants reserve the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinence of the cited documents. It will be clearly understood that, although a number of prior art publications are referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission 10 that any of these documents form part of the common general knowledge in the art, in New Zealand or in any other country.
It is acknowledged that the term 'comprise' may, under varying jurisdictions, be attributed with either an exclusive or an inclusive meaning. For the purpose of this specification, and unless otherwise noted, the term 'comprise' shall have an inclusive 15 meaning - i.e. that it will be taken to mean an inclusion of not only the listed components it directly references, but also other non-specified components or elements. This rationale will also be used when the term 'comprised' or 'comprising' is used in relation to one or more steps in a method or process.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided an electric fence energiser comprising:
a power supply,
a discharging circuit including at least one energy storage means which receives and temporarily stores electrical energy output from the power supply, and which 25 produces an actual output voltage which is applied to an electric fence, and
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James & Wells Ref: 29590/16
a control means which controls the transfer of energy to the energy storage means and the discharge of energy from an energy storage means and which is adapted to receive an actual output voltage value for the discharging circuit, and an input means connected to the control means, said input means being adapted to provide the control means with a desired output voltage value for the discharging circuit,
wherein the control means adjusts the power supply energy output and/or the discharging of energy from the discharging circuit so as to attempt to maintain the actual output voltage of the discharging circuit at or near the desired output voltage for the discharging circuit.
Preferably, the input means includes a keypad.
Preferably, display means are connected to the control means to provide a visual indication of the desired output voltage for the discharging circuit.
Alternatively, the input means may include one or more switches or jumpers, the position(s) of which is/are adjustable and represent at least one desired output voltage for the discharging circuit.
Preferably the control means attempts to maintain the actual output voltage of the discharging circuit within a predetermined range of voltages centred about the desired output voltage.
Preferably the desired output voltage is set by a user.
Preferably an input means is adapted to receive a range of desired output voltage values.
Preferably an actual output voltage is maintained at or near a desired output voltage by adaptive mechanisms.
James & Wells Ref: 29590/16
Preferably an actual output voltage is obtained through adjusting the charging voltage of the energy storage means.
Preferably an actual output voltage is obtained by switching in or out banks of energy storage means.
Preferably, the input means may be connected locally to the control means.
Alternatively, the input means may be connected to the control means remotely.
Preferably, the remotely connected input means utilises at least one conductor of the electric fence to connect the input means to the control means.
Alternatively, the remotely connected input means is wirelessly connected to the 10 control means.
Preferably, the control means attempts to maintain the output voltage of the discharging circuit within a predetermined range of voltages about the desired energiser voltage by occasionally checking the output voltage, comparing the output voltage to the desired output voltage and increasing the output voltage if it is below a 15 lower predetermined limit of the range and decreasing the output voltage if it is above a predetermined upper limit of the range.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
Further aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description which is given by way of example only and with reference to the 20 accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a graph of output voltage versus fence impedance for prior art adaptive and fixed energy energisers,
Figure 2 is a basic circuit schematic of an electric fence energiser in accordance
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James & Wells Ref: 29590/16
with the present invention, and
Figure 3 is a graph showing multiple possible output voltage versus fence impedance relationships for the energiser of Figure 2.
BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
With reference to the drawings and in particular Figure 2 initially, a basic circuit schematic of an electric fence energiser according to the present invention is shown. The energiser includes a power supply and charging circuit 1 which provides an energy storage and discharging circuit 2 with electrical energy. The charging circuit includes a first switching means such as a semiconducting switching device, (for 10 example, such as Triacs, bipolar transistors or field effect transistors) which selectively transfers energy from the charging circuit 1 to the energy storage and discharging circuit 2. Energy storage and discharging circuit (or circuits) 2 includes an (or multiple) energy storage means such as a capacitor (or bank of serially and/or parallelly connected capacitors) which receives energy transferred by the first 15 switching means and a step-up transformer 2A, the output of which is connected to one or more conductors of an electric fence 4. Discharging circuit 2 also includes a second switching means such as a silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) which selectively connects or disconnects the capacitor to/from the step-up transformer 2A.
A control means such as controller 3 which may comprise a microprocessor and 20 associated memory is connected to control the operation of the charging 1 and discharging 2 circuits. Accordingly, controller 3 controls the state of the first and second switches to thereby control the amount of charge on the capacitor and, once the capacitor is sufficiently charged, connects the capacitor to the step-up transformer 2A. When the second switch is closed, energy which has been stored within the 25 capacitor's electric field is discharged through the transformer and appears as a voltage pulse on the conductor(s) of electric fence 4.
7
James & Wells Ref: 29590/16
Controller 3 receives data input from an input means such as a keypad 5 via which a user such as a farmer may input a desired energiser output voltage. The keypad may include numeric keys so that a user could enter the desired output voltage directly and/or the keypad may include up/down arrow type keys via which the user may 5 increment the current desired output voltage value at will. The desired energiser output voltage may then be stored in the memory associated with the controller. Controller 3 also receives a voltage input signal from the output of the discharging circuit 2 via an output sensing circuit 9. In this way the controller 3 obtains feedback of the actual value of the energiser's output voltage which is of course dependent 10 upon the impedance offered by the electric fence 4.
Optionally a display device 6 such as an LCD display screen may be attached to controller 3 in order to provide a graphical display to the user of for example, the desired energiser output voltage and/or the present actual energiser output voltage.
Controller 3 attempts to maintain the energiser's output voltage at the desired output 15 voltage using adaptive control methods such as the method described in the aforementioned EP0543631B. Accordingly, if the sensed output voltage is less than the user input desired output voltage then the controller may increase the charge on the capacitor within the discharge circuit 2 prior to causing the capacitor to discharge through the transformer. Alternatively or in addition, controller 3 may be able to switch 20 in (or out) additional capacitors in the discharge circuit 2 if required to thereby alter the capacitor charge voltage and/or the amount of energy stored in (and discharged by) the capacitor(s).
The controller may also operate within a predetermined range of voltages about the desired energiser output voltage. In this way, the controller would only need to adjust 25 the charging and/or discharging circuits if the actual energiser output voltage dropped below a predetermined lower limit, (for example 5 volts below the desired output voltage) or if the actual voltage increased above a predetermined upper limit (for
8
James & Wells Ref: 29590/16
example 5 volts above the desired energiser output value).
As can be seen in Figure 3, according to this invention, controller 3 may be capable of effectively switching between a plurality of output voltage curves 10, 11, 12 in response to the user's input. Although only three possible output curves are shown in 5 Figure 3 it will be understood that practically any number of output voltage curves could be possible. Each of the voltage curves may be obtained via known adaptive control techniques. Should the controller 3 decide that the difference between the actual output voltage and the desired output voltage is too great (because, for example a user has changed the desired output voltage value or because the fence 10 impedance changes thereby changing the actual output voltage) then the controller may switch between output voltage curves by, for example, adjusting the number of capacitors switched into the discharge circuit.
As an alternative or in addition to the use of a key pad 5 as the input means, the controller may be equipped with a serial input/output port 7 to allow the connection of 15 a locally situated computer which, utilising suitable software, would be enabled alter the desired energiser voltage. Alternatively, a remotely located computer may be connected (via suitable filtering hardware) to one of the electric fence's conductors and using suitable software, may transmit and receive data to/from the controller which is able to extract this data from the electric fence via connection 8 to the electric 20 fence conductor(s). A further remote connection option is the use of suitable wireless radiotelephony or data links such as mobile telephone text messaging or data protocols as a channel via which control signals may be sent to the control means. In this way a remotely located computer may be able to alter the desired energiser output voltage value stored within the energiser. As a further alternative, the user 25 input means may comprise configuration switches or jumpers within the energiser, the configuration or orientation of which may be altered by a user to thereby provide the controller with a desired energiser output voltage.
9
James & Wells Ref: 29590/16
It will therefore be seen that the present invention adds the benefit of user selectable output voltage to adaptive control electric fence energiser systems.
Aspects of the present invention have been described by way of example only and it should be appreciated that modifications and additions may be made thereto without departing from the scope thereof.
James & Wells Ref: 29590/16
Claims (14)
1. An electric fence energiser which includes: a power supply, a discharging circuit including at least one energy storage means which receives and temporarily stores electrical energy output from the power supply, and which produces an actual output voltage which is applied to an electric fence, and a control means which controls the transfer of energy to the energy storage means and the discharge of energy from an energy storage means and which is adapted to receive an actual output voltage value for the discharging circuit, and an input means connected to the control means, said input means being adapted to provide the control means with a desired output voltage value set by a user for the discharging circuit, wherein the control means adjusts the power supply energy output and/or the discharging of energy from the discharging circuit so as to attempt to maintain the actual output voltage of the discharging circuit at or near the desired output voltage for the discharging circuit.
2. An electric fence energiser as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control means attempts to maintain the actual output voltage of the discharging circuit within a predetermined range of voltages centred about a desired output voltage.
3. An electric fence energiser as claimed in any previous claim, wherein the input means is adapted to receive a range of desired output voltage values. 11 Intellectual Property Office of N.Z. 1 9 APR 2005 RECEIVED
4. An electric fence energiser as claimed in any previous claim, wherein an input means includes a key pad.
5. An electric fence energiser as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein an input means includes one or more switches with adjustable positions adapted to represent at least one desired energiser output voltage.
6. An electric fence energiser as claimed in any previous claim, wherein the input means is connected locally to the control means.
7. An electric fence energiser as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the input means is connected remotely to the control means.
8. An electric fence energiser as claimed in claim 7, wherein a remotely connected input means uses at least one conductor of the electric fence to connect the input means to the control means.
9. An electric fence energiser as claimed in any previous claim, wherein an actual output voltage is maintained at or near a desired output voltage by adaptive mechanisms.
10. An electric fence energiser as claimed in any previous claim, wherein an actual output voltage is obtained through adjusting the charging voltage of an energy storage means.
11. An electric fence energiser as claimed in any previous claim, wherein an actual output voltage is obtained by switching in or out banks of energy storage means.
12. An electric fence energiser as claimed in any previous claim, which includes a display means adapted to provide visual indication of a desired output voltage for the discharging circuit. 12 Intellectual Property Office of N.Z. 1 9 APR 2005 R E C EIV E D
13. An electric fence energiser substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying figures 2 and 3 and/or examples.
14. A method of manufacturing an electric fence energiser substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying figures 2 and 3 and/or examples. GALLAGHER GROUP LIMITED by their Attorneys JAMES & WELLS Intellectual Property Office of N.Z. 1 9 APR 2005 RECEIVED 13
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| NZ53092404A NZ530924A (en) | 2004-02-02 | 2004-02-02 | Electric fence energiser including control means to maintain output voltage at or near a desired value |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| NZ53092404A NZ530924A (en) | 2004-02-02 | 2004-02-02 | Electric fence energiser including control means to maintain output voltage at or near a desired value |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| NZ530924A true NZ530924A (en) | 2005-06-24 |
Family
ID=34748253
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| NZ53092404A NZ530924A (en) | 2004-02-02 | 2004-02-02 | Electric fence energiser including control means to maintain output voltage at or near a desired value |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| NZ (1) | NZ530924A (en) |
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US9642230B2 (en) | 2013-03-15 | 2017-05-02 | Electric Guard Dog, Llc | Systems and methods of providing enhanced electric fence diagnostics |
-
2004
- 2004-02-02 NZ NZ53092404A patent/NZ530924A/en unknown
Cited By (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US9642230B2 (en) | 2013-03-15 | 2017-05-02 | Electric Guard Dog, Llc | Systems and methods of providing enhanced electric fence diagnostics |
| US9839104B2 (en) | 2013-03-15 | 2017-12-05 | Electric Guard Dog, Llc | Systems and methods of providing enhanced electric fence diagonstics |
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