GARDENING DEVICE FOR SOIL CULTIVATION AND METHOD FOR SOWING OR PLANTING WITH THE GARDENING DEVICE

Abstract

A gardening device for soil cultivation and a sowing or planting method are provided. The gardening device includes a handle section, a ground contact section, a power supply, detecting devices for detecting variables corresponding to soil properties, a computing unit for calculating the soil properties from the number of variables corresponding to the soil properties, and an output device for outputting the soil properties. The ground contact section carries electrodes, via which the number of the variables corresponding to the soil properties are detected, and one of the number of detection devices is a nutrient detection device for detecting a number of variables corresponding to the nutrient content in the soil, the computing unit is designed for calculating the nutrient content in the soil from the number of variables corresponding to the nutrient content in the soil and the output device for outputting the nutrient content in the soil.

Claims

1. A gardening device for soil cultivation, comprising a handle section, a ground contact section attached thereto, for example a blade, a power supply, a number of detection devices for detecting a number of variables corresponding to soil properties, a computing unit for calculating the soil properties from the number of variables corresponding to the soil properties, and an output device for outputting the soil properties and/or soil properties based information, wherein the ground contact section carries electrodes, via which the number of the variables corresponding to the soil properties are detected, and wherein one of the number of detection devices is a nutrient detection device for detecting a number of variables corresponding to the nutrient content in the soil, and the computing unit is designed for calculating the nutrient content in the soil from the number of variables corresponding to the nutrient content in the soil and the output device for outputting the nutrient content in the soil, wherein the ground contact section is made of fiber-reinforced plastic such as glass-fiber-reinforced plastic, and the nutrient detection device detects an electrical conductivity of the soil as a measure of the nutrient content and comprises at least two of the electrodes for conductivity detection, which are mounted spaced apart on the ground contact section, wherein these conductivity measuring electrodes comprise or consist of a layer deposited as electroless nickel on the ground contact section.

2. The gardening device according to claim 1, wherein the electrodes are applied to the surface of the ground contact section.

3. The gardening device according to claim 1, wherein the gardening device has a moisture detection device for detecting a number of variables corresponding to soil moisture, wherein the computing unit is designed for calculating the soil moisture from the number of variables corresponding to the soil moisture and the output device for outputting the soil moisture and/or data based on the soil moisture, and wherein the moisture detection device has at least two of the electrodes, which are mounted as a plate capacitor spaced from each other on the ground contact section, such that a capacitance of the plate capacitor is influenced with the soil as a dielectric when the soil is contacted with the ground contact section in the region between these capacitor electrodes.

4. The gardening device according to claim 1, wherein the computing unit is designed to calculate an output variable representing the soil moisture from the capacitance of the plate capacitor and/or a variable derived from the capacitance of the plate capacitor as an input variable.

5. The gardening device according to claim 1, wherein the moisture detection device comprises a vibration generator, which is interconnected to the plate capacitor to form an oscillator circuit, and wherein the frequency of the generated vibration and/or the capacitance of the plate capacitor is supplied to the computing device as an input variable for the soil moisture.

6. The gardening device according to claim 1, wherein the two capacitor electrodes of the moisture detection device consist of a conductive material such as copper or a copper alloy and are applied to the ground contact section in an air-tight and moisture-tight sealed manner against the ambient environment.

7. The gardening device according to claim 1, wherein the ground contact section is interchangeably attached to the handle section.

8. The gardening device according to claim 1, wherein the handle section comprises a handle in which a microcontroller of the computing unit and a number of rechargeable batteries of the power supply are housed, wherein on the handle an ON/OFF switch and also a display of the output device are arranged.

9. The gardening device according to claim 7, wherein the gardening device comprises a number of differently shaped ground contact sections including a blade, a trowel, and a hoe, in each case provided with the two capacitor electrodes and matching the handle section.

10. The gardening device according to claim 1, wherein the gardening device has a temperature detecting device for detecting a number of variables corresponding to the ambient temperatures, a light detecting device for detecting a number of variables corresponding to the light conditions in the environment, and/or a clock device for determining the season, wherein the computing unit is configured for the ambient temperature, the lighting conditions in the environment and/or the season, and wherein the output device is configured for outputting the ambient temperature, the lighting conditions in the environment and/or the season.

11. The gardening device according to one of the claim 2, wherein the two capacitor electrodes are arranged between the two conductivity measuring electrodes.

12. The gardening device according to claim 1, wherein the layer consisting of electroless nickel of the two conductivity measuring electrodes is covered with a gold layer.

13. The gardening device according to claim 1, wherein the output device is a communication module for wireless data transmission to an external device.

14. The gardening device according to claim 1, wherein the gardening device has a user interface, e.g. a touchscreen, a selection program of garden plants and/or vegetable species selectable via a user interface, in which the favourable target values (soil moisture, nutrient content in the soil, ambient temperature, lighting conditions in the environment and/or sowing or planting season) for the garden plants and/or vegetable species are stored, as well as a comparator device, in particular a program routine running on the microcontroller, which compares the stored target values for the selected garden plant or vegetable species with the detected actual values for soil moisture, nutrient content in the soil, ambient temperature, ambient light conditions and/or season and transmits the result for output on the output device.

15. A method for sowing or planting, wherein favorable target values for a number of soil properties such as soil moisture, and a nutrient content in the soil, and advantageous ambient temperature, lighting conditions in the environment and/or sowing or planting season are determined for a garden plant and/or vegetable species to be sowed or planted, actual values for the number of soil properties and, advantageously, the ambient temperature, the ambient light conditions and/or the season are determined at a location intended for sowing or planting, then the target values are compared with the actual values and, if the comparison is positive, the sowing or planting is carried out and not otherwise, wherein at least the determination of the actual values, optionally also the determination of the target values, the comparison of the target values with the actual values and the sowing or planting is performed with the aid of a gardening device according to claim 1.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] The invention will now be described with reference to the drawings wherein:

[0035] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a garden trowel according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention;

[0036] FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the garden trowel shown in FIG. 1;

[0037] FIG. 3 shows a further exploded view of the garden trowel shown in FIG. 1; and

[0038] FIG. 4A shows a first circuit diagram of the garden trowel shown in FIGS. 1-3.

[0039] FIG. 4B shows a second circuit diagram of the garden trowel shown in FIGS. 1-3.

[0040] FIG. 4C shows a third circuit diagram of the garden trowel shown in FIGS. 1-3.

[0041] FIG. 5A shows a fourth circuit diagram of the garden trowel shown in FIGS. 1-3.

[0042] FIG. 5B shows a fifth circuit diagram of the garden trowel shown in FIGS. 1-3.

[0043] FIG. 6A shows a sixth circuit diagram of the garden trowel shown in FIGS. 1-3.

[0044] FIG. 6B shows a seventh circuit diagram of the garden trowel shown in FIGS. 1-3.

[0045] FIG. 6C shows an eighth circuit diagram of the garden trowel shown in FIGS. 1-3.

[0046] FIG. 6D shows a ninth circuit diagram of the garden trowel shown in FIGS. 1-3.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

[0047] FIG. 1 shows a garden trowel with which it is possible to measure, while working, the moisture and the nutrient content of the soil or of the plant or potting soil and to determine the ambient temperature and the lighting conditions, so that one immediately receives indicators, whether the planting or seed stock is supplied at this point with sufficient water and nutrients and whether the light and temperature conditions are conducive to the planting or seed stock.

[0048] For this purpose, the electronic garden trowel is inserted at a selected location into the ground or earth. The electronic garden trowel now measures nutrient content and soil moisture, temperature, ambient light conditions and any other parameters and then informs the user via the display or other user interface based on the data and the current date of an internal real-time clock (not shown) whether or not the season and the selected location are suitable for the selected plant or vegetable species. If the selected location and season are suitable, the plant or seed can be introduced there.

[0049] The garden trowel has a blade 1, which is typically made of glass-fiber-reinforced plastic, since it is well suited as a dielectric and has high stability and abrasion resistance. On the upper side of the blade 1, four electrodes 3, 4, 7, 8 are applied. It would also be conceivable to attach the electrodes to the underside of the blade. The electrodes 3, 4, 7, 8 can be vapor-deposited, glued, printed or applied by other mechanical or chemical processes. Of the four electrodes 3, 4, 7, 8, two first electrodes 3, 4 designated as capacitor electrodes serve to measure the moisture of the soil. The two other outer electrodes 7, 8, which are designated as conductivity electrodes, are used to measure the nutrient content of the soil.

[0050] The more nutrient ions are in the soil, the greater the electrical conductivity. In order to avoid electrochemical corrosion of the conductivity measuring electrodes 7, 8, these two external conductivity measuring electrodes 7, 8 are typically made of electroless nickel/immersion gold (electroless nickel immersion gold, ENIG), a process which is already used today for printed conductors on printed circuit boards with a typical gold layer of 0.05-0.1 ?m and nickel layer of 4-7 ?m.

[0051] The immersion gold layer prevents oxidation of the nickel. This is intended to prevent the conductivity measuring electrodes 7, 8 from decomposing and releasing toxic ions for the plants.

[0052] The two inner capacitor electrodes 3, 4 form a plate capacitor. These two capacitor electrodes 3, 4 are sealed air-tight and moisture-tight over their entire surface in order to prevent the water or soil or air from being able to reach the electrode surfaces directly. They serve to determine the soil moisture. Since these capacitor electrodes 3, 4 are sealed and thereby not subject to corrosion or oxidation, their electrode material does not have to be surface-treated with difficulty or consist of expensive elements or alloys. For example, copper or the like can be used. The moist soil or the moist earth serves as a dielectric, which influences the capacitance of the plate capacitor formed from the two electrodes 3, 4.

[0053] Since the blade 1 and especially the exposed outer electrodes 7, 8 are worn down by the gardening that can be performed therewith, the blade 1 is designed so that it can be replaced without special tools. This also opens up the possibility of using blades of different shapes and offering them as accessories.

[0054] In addition to an ON/OFF switch 10, an OLED or LCD display 9 and a microcontroller 5, there are three further sensors in the garden trowel shown on or in a handle section 2 (see FIGS. 2 and 3)a 3-axis acceleration sensor 17, a phototransistor 16, and a temperature sensor 15. The 3-axis acceleration sensor 17 measures the inclination of the electronic garden trowel. The analog or digital and pre-filtered values of the 3 axes are fed to a microcontroller 5, which determines the position of the electronic garden trowel.

[0055] Depending on the inclination, the values displayed on the OLED or LCD display 9 are rotated, so that the user can read the values no matter in which position the electronic gardening trowel is currently located. A similar principle can already be found today in most smartphones. In addition, it would be possible to use the 3-axis acceleration sensor 17 as a user interface.

[0056] The phototransistor 16 measures the illuminance, i.e., what fraction of the luminous flux arrives on a square meter surface of the illuminated object.

[0057] FIGS. 4A to 4C, 5A, 5B, and 6A to 6D show possible examples of circuit diagrams for the above-described garden trowel without the aforementioned internal real-time clock and user interface, which as mentioned may include, for example, buttons, a trackball, miniature joystick or touch screen.

[0058] FIGS. 4A to 4C show as an example of the display 9, a 128?64 OLED display, referred to here in the diagram as U1, which is configured so that the communication runs on an I.sup.2C BUS, also for the usual 5V microcontroller 5, referred to here in the circuit diagram as U5, the necessary level converters of the 3.3V I.sup.2C bus and the 3.3V reset line as well as the power supply for the complete circuit.

[0059] FIGS. 5A and 5B show as another example a typical 5V microcontroller U5 and its periphery. In FIGS. 5A and 5B, the microcontroller U5 has a USB interface made up of CN1 and the USB/serial converter U4 in order to program and debug the same. But this does not necessarily have to be the case. Programming and debugging of the microcontroller U5 could also be done via an SPI interface or the like, so that CN1 and U4 could then be omitted.

[0060] The plate capacitor comprising the capacitor electrodes 3, 4 (in the circuit diagram: PROBE 1, PROBE 2) forms, together with a Schmitt trigger IC2 of the type 74HC14, an oscillator and thus, in total, the moisture detection device. Depending on the area of the capacitor, the frequency is between a few 100 kHz and several MHz. The oscillator itself is an RC oscillator, wherein the one capacitor electrode is not at GND, as usual, but at signal level to minimize interference that might be spread over the ground line. The moister the soil or the earth, the greater the capacity of the capacitor and the lower the frequency of the oscillator. The output signal of the oscillator is supplied to a digital input of the microcontroller U5, which measures the frequency of the oscillator and calculates the soil moisture from it.

[0061] In addition to the two conductivity measuring electrodes 7, 8, which can be seen in the circuit diagram as PROBE3 and PROBE4, the nutrient detection device likewise comprises further electronic components. One of the two conductivity measuring electrodes 7, 8, or in the circuit diagram PROBE3 or PROBE4, is connected to the base of an npn transistor Q5, the other via a series resistor R19 to the positive supply voltage. The more conductive the ground, the more the transistor Q5 conducts. The transistor Q5, which itself acts like a resistor, forms a voltage divider with the resistor at an emitter R17. The signal is fed to an analog input of the microcontroller 5, or in the circuit diagram to U5. This measures the voltage and calculates therefrom the nutrient content of the soil. To further increase the life of the PROBE 3, PROBE 4 electrodes, they are not permanently connected to the supply voltage. Via a p-channel MOSFET Q4, the sensor formed from the electrodes PROBE3 and PROBE4 is only activated by the microcontroller U5 if a command for measuring the nutrient content is given in the program sequence.

[0062] FIGS. 6A to 6D show once again the five sensors of the garden trowel: the 3-axis acceleration sensor 17 consisting of three low-pass filter capacitors C17 to C19, here in the circuit diagram U6, the ambient light sensor consisting of the phototransistor 16, here in the circuit diagram Q3 and the resistor R13, the temperature sensor 15 consisting of IC1 and R11, the nutrient sensor consisting of the further electrodes PROBE3 and PROBE4, the npn transistor Q5, the p-channel MOSFET Q5 and the resistors R17 to R19, and the capacitive moisture sensor consisting of the first electrodes PROBE1 and PROBE2, the Schmitt trigger IC2 and the resistors R15 to R16.

[0063] The phototransistor Q3 and the resistor R13 are connected as a voltage divider. The signal is fed to an analog input of the microcontroller U5. The greater the fraction of luminous flux, the greater the voltage at the output of the voltage divider. From the measured voltage, the microcontroller U5 then calculates the illuminance. The temperature sensor IC1 is, for example, as shown here, a digital thermometer with a programmable resolution of 9-12 bits, a measuring range of ?55? C. to +125? C. and a tolerance of ?0.5? C. in the range of ?10? C. to +85? C. The temperature sensor IC1 measures the ambient temperature and communicates with the microcontroller U5 via the so-called single-wire bus.

[0064] The electronic garden trowel is supplied by a standard 9V block battery 6, here BAT1 in the circuit diagram, or similar compact batteries or accumulators. The battery BAT1 can be removed and exchanged from the rear end of the handle 2 when it is depleted. For this purpose, the closure cap 3, which is provided with a thread or other sealing method, must first be removed. The cap 3 and the handle 2 themselves are waterproof, so that no water or dirt can get inside and damage the electronics.

[0065] It would also be conceivable not to have to remove the battery for charging. The electronic garden trowel would then require a corresponding socket for a charger or a contactless battery charging system, as it is already common today, for example, for electric toothbrushes.

[0066] The electronics are accommodated in a chamber separate from the battery compartment in the handle section 2, which has a closure cover 13 for this purpose. From this chamber lines are led to the blade 1, through a hollow connecting shaft 12 of the handle section. 2.

[0067] It is understood that the foregoing description is that of the exemplary embodiments of the invention and that various changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.