Control device and non-transitory computer readable medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12501867-B2
Application number	US-202318188703-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 23, 2023
Priority date	Sep 25, 2020
Publication date	Dec 23, 2025
Grant date	Dec 23, 2025

Abstract

A control device controls a water supply device that supplies irrigation water to an open farm field in which a plant grows. The control device includes a storage unit, a calculation unit, and an output unit. The storage unit stores an environment value of each of a plurality of divided areas obtained by dividing the farm field and weather forecast of the farm field. The calculation unit calculates, based on an environment value and the weather forecast, an irrigation schedule in which supply time and amount of the irrigation water individually supplied to each of the plurality of divided areas during the irrigation period are determined. The output unit outputs to the water supply device, a control signal to control supply and no supply of the irrigation water to each of the plurality of divided areas based on the irrigation schedule.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A control device configured to control a water supply device, which is configured to supply irrigation water to an open farm field in which a plant grows, to control a supply time and an amount of the irrigation water supplied to the open farm field, the control device comprising:
a storage unit configured to store
an environment value, which is input from an environment sensor provided to each of a plurality of divided areas obtained by dividing the open farm field, wherein the environment value includes a soil moisture content in a soil layer of the plurality of divided areas, and
a weather forecast for the open farm field, which is input from an external information source;
a calculation unit configured to calculate, based on the environment value and the weather forecast, an irrigation schedule in which the supply time and the amount of the irrigation water individually supplied to each of the plurality of divided areas during an irrigation period are determined; and an output unit configured to output to the water supply device, a control signal to control supply and no supply of the irrigation water to each of the plurality of divided areas based on the irrigation schedule,
wherein
the storage unit is configured to store, in addition to the weather forecast and the environment value, a growth inhibition moisture point and a permanent wilting point of the plant, and
the calculation unit is configured to
set, as target values between the growth inhibition moisture point and the permanent wilting point, a first target value closer to the growth inhibition moisture point and a second target value closer to the permanent wilting point, and
determine the irrigation schedule to maintain the soil moisture content in each of the plurality of divided areas between the first target value and the second target value.

2 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the environment value includes, in addition to the soil moisture content, an evaporation amount of water per unit time in the soil layer of the plurality of divided areas, the storage unit is configured to store, in addition to the weather forecast, the environment value, the growth inhibition moisture point, and the permanent wilting point, a water absorption amount, which is an amount of water absorbed by the plant per unit time and a water retention capacity of the soil layer, and the calculation unit is configured to estimate a decrease amount of the soil moisture content per unit time during the irrigation period based on the environment value, the water absorption amount, and the water retention capacity.

3 . The control device according to claim 2 , wherein
the calculation unit is configured to determine the supply time and the amount of the irrigation water supplied during the irrigation period based on the soil moisture content at beginning of the irrigation period, the decrease amount of the soil moisture content per unit time during the irrigation period, and the weather forecast.

4 . The control device according to claim 2 , wherein
a physical quantity related to the evaporation amount includes at least one of a solar radiation amount, a temperature, a humidity, and an air volume.

5 . The control device according to claim 2 , wherein
the calculation unit is configured to set a difference between the second target value and the permanent wilting point based on a recovery time, which is required for recovery of the water supply device that has failed, and the decrease amount of the soil moisture content per unit time.

6 . The control device according to claim 2 , wherein
the calculation unit is configured to set, as the supply time of the irrigation water, a time point, at which the soil moisture content is expected to reach the second target value during the irrigation period.

7 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the calculation unit is configured to set a difference between the growth inhibition moisture point and the first target value based on climate of the open farm field.

8 . The control device according to claim 7 , wherein
the climate of the open farm field includes at least one of an expected value of an average rainfall amount of the open farm field during the irrigation period and a total rainfall amount predicted by the weather forecast during the irrigation period.

9 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the calculation unit is configured to determine the irrigation schedule and determine a total water supply amount of the irrigation water before a forecasted rainfall time, which is predicted by the weather forecast, to prevent the soil moisture content from exceeding the first target value at the forecasted rainfall time, due to rainfall at the forecasted rainfall time.

10 . The control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the calculation unit is configured to
perform weather prediction for each of the plurality of divided areas based on the environment value of each of the plurality of divided areas and
calculate the irrigation schedule based on the weather prediction, which is based on the environment value, and the weather forecast.

11 . A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions to, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to
acquire an environment value, which is input from an environment sensor provided to each of a plurality of divided areas obtained by dividing an open farm field in which a plant grows, and a weather forecast, which is input from an external information source, wherein the environment value includes a soil moisture content in a soil layer of the plurality of divided areas, calculate, based on the environment value and the weather forecast, an irrigation schedule in which a supply time and an amount of irrigation water individually supplied to each of the plurality of divided areas during an irrigation period are determined, output a control signal to control supply and no supply of the irrigation water to the plurality of divided areas based on the irrigation schedule, store, in addition to the weather forecast and the environment value, a growth inhibition moisture point and a permanent wilting point of the plant, set, as target values between the growth inhibition moisture point and the permanent wilting point, a first target value closer to the growth inhibition moisture point and a second target value closer to the permanent wilting point, and determine the irrigation schedule to maintain the soil moisture content in each of the plurality of divided areas between the first target value and the second target value.

12 . A control device configured to control a water supply device, which is configured to supply irrigation water to an open farm field in which a plant grows, to control a supply time and an amount of the irrigation water supplied to the open farm field, the control device comprising:
a storage device configured to store
an environment value, which is input from an environment sensor provided to each of a plurality of divided areas obtained by dividing the open farm field, wherein the environment value includes a soil moisture content in a soil layer of the plurality of divided areas, and
a weather forecast for the open farm field, which is input from an external information source;
a processor configured to
calculate, based on the environment value and the weather forecast, an irrigation schedule in which the supply time and the amount of the irrigation water individually supplied to each of the plurality of divided areas during an irrigation period are determined;
output to the water suppl

Assignees

• Denso Corp

Inventors

• Niimi Naohisa
• Kuroda Michitake
• Uchigashima Hiroshi
• Yokochi Tomohiro
• Tanioku Hiroshi
• Hasegawa Naoki

Classifications

• G05B13/026

  using a predictor · CPC title

• A01G27/00

  Self-acting watering devices, e.g. for flower-pots · CPC title

• A01G7/00

  Botany in general · CPC title

• A01G25/16 Primary

  Control of watering · CPC title

• Y02A40/22

  Improving land use; Improving water use or availability; Controlling erosion · CPC title