GB2439380A

GB2439380A - Aeration apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2439380A
Application number: GB0612058A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Stephen Barry Priest
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-06-19
Filing date: 2006-06-19
Publication date: 2007-12-27
Anticipated expiration: 2026-06-19
Also published as: GB2439380B; GB0612058D0

Abstract

Aeration apparatus for aerating water delivery systems such as hosepipes, aquaria and hydroponics is described. The apparatus comprises at least one water delivery pipe fitting having means to suck air into a water pipe. A water delivery pipe fitting 1 has a first short pipe portion 2 which, in use, is connected at the left side to a water supply feedline pipe carrying water and nutrients to be delivered to a plant or the like (not shown). The first pipe portion 2 is connected to a second short pipe portion 3 and a third pipe portion 4 by way of a T-piece connection 5. The third pipe portion 4, is connected downstream of the first and second portions 3, 4. The second pipe portion 3 has an open end 3a through which air is sucked into the second pipe portion by way of the Venturi effect, in use, and thus into the third pipe portion to be mixed with water and nutrients flowing therethrough from the first pipe portion 2. A water flow control valve may also be provided.

Description

1 2439380

IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO AERATION APPARATUS

This invention relates to improvements in or relating to aeration apparatus and is more particularly but not exclusively concerned with apparatus that may be utilised to aerate plants or the like.

Various apparatus has been proposed previously for delivering aerated water (often including nutrients) to plants or the like located in a series of individual plant pots or rockwool slabs. One such apparatus is known as the Wilma system from Pot-ponies.

This system is a self-watering system in which a circulation pump is placed in a tank of water and nutrients, and the water and nutrients are pumped under the control of a digital timer through piping having water drip or feedline branches leading to associated individual plant pots or slabs located on a porous tank top. Water is fed to growing medium (e.g. soil or any other suitable medium such as pebbles, rockwool, or coco) containing the plants and filters or drips through the medium and porous top, back into the tank, to be circulated once again by the pump to the plants. In this way, plants can be automatically watered and nourished each day and thus may be left unattended for a longer period of time (e.g. one week) than would otherwise be the case.

In such systems for growing plants, it is important that there is a balanced level of water and nutrients and the air or oxygen delivered to the growing plants is highly important for the rapid propogation of healthy plants. In practice, it is common to attempt to input as much air or oxygen as can practically be achieved. This may be done in a variety of ways, all of which tend to be disadvantageous in certain respects or which may even be relatively ineffectual. Additional pumps, compressors or bubblers may be provided in the piping and/or feedline system in an attempt to introduce more air into the water being fed to the plants. Such arrangements may have moderate levels of success but may be relatively costly and/or noisy. Additionally, or alternatively, Hydrogen peroxide (H202) may be introduced directly into the growing medium of the plants in an attempt to feed the plants with a greater oxygen content to speed up growth. Once again, a measured amount of success may be achievable using such chemical additives but such additives require labour and are relatively costly and it is believed that it should be possible to aerate plants in a much more simple, convenient, reliable and cost effective manner and possibly to a far greater extent.

It is an object of the present invention to at least alleviate one or more of the aforementioned, or other, disadvantages associated with aerating plants or the like or other systems requiring air or oxygen or to provide a simpler or improved aeration apparatus.

According to the present invention there is provided aeration apparatus comprising at least one water delivery pipe fitting having a first pipe portion connectable or connected to a water supply feedline pipe, in use carrying water delivered under pressure, for example, from a pump or mains water supply, the at least one delivery pipe fitting having a second pipe portion connected or connectable to the first pipe portion and having an opening to allow air to be sucked thereinto in use (according to the Venturi effect), the at least one delivery pipe fitting having a third pipe portion connected or connectable to the first and third pipe portions downstream thereof and arrangeable in use to deliver a mixture of water and air sucked into the second pipe portion to a plant or the like or other item requiring water and aeration.

By the present invention, it is believed that embodiments thereof are capable of delivering very dramatically increased levels of air or oxygen to a plant or other item requiring aeration than other known or generally accepted methods.

In fact, it is believed that embodiments may deliver double or five times the amount of oxygen or ten times the amount of oxygen and even possibly up to one hundred times the amount of oxygen deliverable by other methods.

The aeration apparatus, preferably, includes at least one control valve, in use, controlling the water flow to the at least one water delivery pipe fitting, said valve being positioned or positionable in a water feedline, for example from a main circuit water line fed from a pump. The control valve/s may be hand-controlled and/or possibly electronically or programmed controlled.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the first, second and third pipe portions are connected together by a 1-piece connection (which may be of standard form).

The first pipe portion may be arranged generally horizontally, with the second and third pipe portions, preferably, being arranged generally vertically and/or opposed to one another (and preferably axially aligned).

The second and third pipe portions may be rotatable or pivotable relative to the first pipe portion to allow for easier or more accurate positioning of the water delivery pipe fitting relative to a plant or the like (or other item) to be fed with aerated water.

Where a T-piece connection is provided as aforesaid, a head of the connection may be rotatable/pivotable relative to the first pipe portion (preferably generally in a vertical plane).

Usually, the T-piece connection will have an internal bore less than the internal bore of the third portion (and/or second or first portions). The T-piece connection may be provided with frusto-conical head portions engageable in associated first second and third pipe portion ends.

The first pipe portion may be fixed or clamped (or connected by adhesive) to a stake or support, that, preferably, can be rotated or pivoted with the T-piece connection, where provided, relative to the first pipe portion.

The stake or support may be used to position the delivery pipe fitting conveniently relative to e.g. a plant in a plant pot or rockwool slab by seating in a purpose-made hole in the pot rim or slab.

The third pipe portion may be connected to a further, rigid pipe portion and/or to an end pipe portion having an angled opening, to alleviate blockage of the pipe portion, e.g. with plant growing medium, in use.

More generally, according to the present invention, there is provided aeration apparatus comprising at least one water delivery pipe fitting having means to suck air into (by means of a Venturi effect) a water pipe for delivering aerated water to a plant or the like or other item, preferably with water flow through the fitting being controllable by a control valve, in use.

Preferably, the apparatus includes at least one water flow control valve to control the rate of flow of water to the first pipe portion.

Still further according to the present invention there is provided a kit of parts for supplying aerated water to plants or the like or other items, said kit having at least one water delivery pipe fitting having means to suck air into a water pipe portion of the fitting for delivering aerated water to the plants or the like or other items, the kit preferably including at least one T-piece connection or elbow pipe and a further pipe portion for connection to a water supply feedline.

The kit preferably includes at least one pipe clamp stake and clamping means or adhesive for attaching the stake to said further pipe portion preferably so that the T-piece connection/elbow pipe is pivotable/rotatable relative to the further pipe portion.

The kit may be sold as a conversion kit for converting an existing plant water supply system to such a system including water delivery pipe fittings in accordance with the present invention.

Many other advantageous features of the present invention will be apparent from the

following description and drawings.

An embodiment of aeration apparatus in accordance with the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the following simplified drawings, in which:-FIGURE 1 shows aeration apparatus in the form of a water delivery pipe fitting; FIGURE 2 shows a view of a T-piece connection of the delivery pipe fitting shown in FIGURE 1; FIGURE 3 shows a schematic overview of aeration apparatus arranged to deliver aerated water to a number of water delivery pipe fittings (and thereby to plants or the like) via a plurality of water flow control valves, and FIGURE 3a shows a modification to the apparatus shown in FIGURE 3.

Referring to FiGURES 1 and 2 of the drawings, a water delivery pipe fitting I has a first, short pipe portion 2 which, in use, is connected at the left side to a water supply feedline pipe f(not shown in FIGURES 1 &2 but see FIGURE 3) carrying water and nutrients to be delivered to a plant or the like (not shown). The first pipe portion 2 is connected to a second, short pipe portion 3 and a third pipe portion 4 by way of a T-piece connection 5, which is of a type known per se. The third pipe portion 4 is connected downstream of the first and second portions 3,4. The second pipe portion 3 has an open end 3a through which air is sucked into the second pipe portion by way of the Venturi effect, in use, and thus into the third pipe portion 4 to be mixed with water and nutrients flowing therethrough from the first pipe portion 2.

As is well known the Venturi effect is a special case of Bernoulli's principle, in the case of fluid or air flow through a pipe with a constriction in it. The flow of fluid speeds up at the constriction, reducing pressure and producing a partial vacuum. in the presently described embodiment of the invention, water is fed under pressure from a pump P (see FIGURE 3) through main water circuit line F to feedlines f and hence to a number of delivery pipe fittings I under the control of valves v. Water is fed to the first pipe portion 2 which is arranged generally horizontally and which has an external diameter of 6mm and an internal diameter of 4mm.

One end 5a of T-piece connection 5 is pushed into open end 2a of the first portion 2 and releasably retained therein by the resilience of the flexible nature of the first pipe portion (which, for example, may be of clear silicon tubing). End 5a has a head 5a' of generally frusto-conical shape which matches the frusto-conical shape of the heads 5b',5c' of the other two ends 5b, Sc of the T-piece connection. The base or widest part Sa" of the head 5a' is just wider than the internal diameter of the first pipe portion 2 so that the first pipe portion 2 expands around the head 5a to grip and accommodate the head when the head is pushed into the open end 2a of the first pipe portion 2.

Heads Sb' ,5c' are similarly located in the open ends 3b, 4a of the second and third pipe portions (of similar internal and external diameters as the first pipe portion) which are arranged generally vertically in opposed relationship to one another as should be evident from FIGURE 1 of the drawings.

The end 5a (and ends 5b,5c) is provided with an internal bore b which is substantially less than the internal diameter of the first, second and third pipe portions and which may be of 1mm diameter. Thus, as water is fed through the first pipe portion 2 into end 5a and through narrower bore b into the wider internal diameter of the third portion 4, air from the open end 3a of second pipe portion 3 is sucked through the narrower bore b of the head 5b' of T-piece connection end 5b positioned in the second pipe portion by way of the Venturi effect.

Thus, the 1-piece connection 5 provides a constriction in the water flow path having a narrower bore b open to atmosphere than the downstream internal wider diameter of the third pipe portion 4.ln this way, the air being sucked through the second pipe portion 3 is mixed with the water and nutrients in the third pipe portion which is fed to a plant or the like ( not shown).

The first pipe portion 2 is fixed or clamped relative to a vertically oriented pipe clamp stake S. for example by an adhesive, so that with the stake and first pipe portion held fixed, the 1-piece connection 5 and second and third pipe portions 3,4 can be pivoted or rotated by hand about the axis of the first pipe portion 2 to any desired angle through 3600, in order to facilitate delivery of aerated water and nutrients to a desired location.

The third pipe portion 4 is connected to a clear, rigid pipe portion 6 having an external diameter of 4mm and which fits snugly into the internal bore of the third pipe portion arid a further pipe portion 7 (of similar form to the first, second and third pipe portions 2,3,4) is fitted onto the lower end of pipe portion 6. Advantageously, the rigid pipe portion 6 allows easier reliable positioning and adjustment of the 1-piece connection and second and third pipe portions 3,4 relative to the first pipe portion 2 and plant or other item being fed with aerated water.

In use, the pointed end Si of the stake can be releasably fixed e.g. to a purpose made hole in the rim of a plant pot (not shown) containing a plant or the like or e.g. pushed into a rockwool slab at a convenient location, in order to accurately position the open end 7a of pipe portion 7 relative to a plant or the like supported e.g. in the pot or rockwool slab. On occasion, the end 7a will need to be pushed down into the growing medium (not shown) surrounding the plant or the like and so the end 7a is conveniently angled (in this instance at 450 as shown) in order to alleviate or prevent the pipe end 7a becoming effectively blocked up with the growing medium.

Thus, the angled end 7a provides a much more reliable dispersal of aerated water and nutrients to the plant or the like and the flow can be angled more conveniently towards a plant stem or root system. Once again, whilst the stake S may be arranged vertical or near vertical, the stem portions 3,4,6 and 7 may be rotated to any convenient angle in a vertical plane ( or parallel plane to the stake S) relative thereto.

Adjustment of the angle in this way facilitates more accurate positioning of the end 7a as well as varying the rate of flow of aerated water and nutrients to some extent to the plant or the like (the more vertical the flow pipe portions 4,6,7 the greater the flow).

Additionally, in order to more accurately control the flow of aerated water and nutrients to a plant or the like, FIGURE 3 shows the provision of the individual control valves v in water supply branch feedlines f which emerge from the main circuit feedline F and which includes the circuit pump P. Each of the feedlines f leads to associated water delivery pipe fittings 1 in a manner which should be evident from FIGURES 1 and 3 of the drawings. The flow of water to the delivery pipe fittings I can be controlled by valves v which are simple hand operated valves, in this embodiment.

FIGURE 3a shows a schematic modification to the arrangement shown in FIGURE 3.

Rather than the provision of individual valves as shown in FIGURE 3, the valves v' in FIGURE 3a' are now shown collected together in a remote bank B that can be readily and easily removably connected into a main circuit feedline F' including pump P', in a manner which should be evident. Feedlines f to delivery pipe fittings I emerge from the valves v2. Thus, the bank of valves v2 and delivery pipe fittings I constitute a conversion kit for existing drip line watering systems.

The Applicant has found that the rate of introduction of air into the water and nutrients being fed to a plant or the like is remarkable and very much higher than that provided by conventional (relatively expensive) bubblers and the like By adjusting the water flow rate via control valves v to ensure that water flow is not choked by the air intake it is believed that aeration of the water may be between ten and a hundred times greater than that achieved by other methods, some of which may seem highly ineffectual. Air can be admitted into the water so quickly that a fizzing volatile result can be achieved.

It is to be understood that the scope of the present invention is not to be unduly limited by the particular choice of terminology and that a specific term may be replaced or supplemented by an equivalent or generic term. For example, the term water delivery pipe fitting" could be replaced' fluid delivery apparatus; pipe' could be replaced by tube'. Further it is to be understood that individual features, method or functions relating to aeration apparatus might be individually patentably inventive.

The singular may include the plural and vice versa. Additionally, any range mentioned herein for any parameter or variable shall be taken to include a disclosure of any derivable sub-range within that range or of any particular value of the variable or parameter arranged within, or at an end of, the range or sub-range.

Although the present invention has been described in relation to apparatus having at least one aerated water delivery pipe fitting, it is possible that the fitting could be used to deliver an aerated fluid other than water. The water delivery pipe fitting could be used to deliver aerated water/fluid to any convenient location (e.g. a fish tank) rather than to plants or the like.

Claims

CLAIMS

I. Aeration apparatus comprising at least one water delivery pipe fitting having a first pipe portion connectable or connected to a water supply feedline pipe, in use carrying water delivered under pressure, for example, from a pump or mains water supply, the at least one delivery pipe fining having a second pipe portion connected or connectable to the first pipe portion and having an opening to allow air to be sucked thereinto in use (according to the Venturi effect), the at least one delivery pipe fitting having a third pipe portion connected or connectable to the first and third pipe portions downstream thereof and arrangeable in use to deliver a mixture of water and : * air sucked into the second pipe portion to a plant or the like or other item requiring water and aeration. * ** * * I S...

*
2. Apparatus as claimed in claim I having at least one control valve, in use, * controlling the water flow to the at least one water delivery pipe fitting, said valve

S

S..... . . . . . . being positioned or positionable in a water feedline.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which the feedline is from a main circuit water line fed from a pump.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3 in which the at least one control valve is hand-controlled.

5. Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 4 in which the at least one control valve is electronically or programmed controlled.

6. Apparatus claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the first, second and third pipe portions are connected together by a T-piece connection.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 in which the first pipe portion is arranged generally horizontally.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 in which the second and third pipe portions are arranged generally vertically and/or opposed to one another.

: 9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8 in which the second and third pipe portions are axially aligned. * ** * * S S...

* 10. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the second and * third pipe portions are rotatable or pivotable relative to the first pipe portion.

* .. ISS S * 11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10 when dependent from claim 6 in which a head of the T-piece connection is rotatable/pivotable relative to the first pipe portion.

12. Apparatus as claimed in claim I I in which the T-pipe connection is rotable/pivotable in a vertical plane.

13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 or any claim dependent therefrom in which the T-piece connection has an internal bore less than the internal bore of the third portion.

14. Apparatus as claimed in claim 13 in which the T-piece internal bore is less than the internal bore of the second or first portion.

15. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 or any claim dependent therefrom in which the T-piece connection is provided with frusto-comcal head portions engageable in associated first second and third pipe portion ends.

16. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the first pipe portion can be fixed or clamped (or connected by adhesive) to a stake or support.

17. Apparatus as claimed in claim 16 where dependant from claim 6 in which the S...

stake or support can be rotated or pivoted with the T-piece connection, relative to the ::. firstpipeportion.

* 18. Apparatus as claimed in claim 16 or claim 17 in which the stake or support can be S..... . . . . . . used to position the delivery pipe fitting relative to e.g. a plant in a plant pot or rockwool slab by seating in a purpose-made hole in the pot rim or slab.

19. Apparatus as claimed in one of the preceding claims in which the third pipe portion can be connected to a further, rigid pipe portion.

20. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the third pipe portion can be connected to an end pipe portion having an angled opening.

21. Aeration apparatus substantially as herein described with reference to FIGURES 1 to 3, or when modified as in FIGURE 3a, of the accompanying drawings.

22. Apparatus as claimed in claim I and substantially as herein described with reference to FIGURE 2 of the accompanying drawings.

24. The combination of apparatus as claimed in any one of claim I to 23 and a plurality of fluid delivery pipe fittings and associated flow control valves.

25. Aeration apparatus comprising at least one water delivery pipe fitting having means to suck air into (by means of a Venturi effect) a water pipe for delivering 0$S * *... aerated water to a plant or the like or other item. * ** * 4 S S...

* 26. Apparatus as claimed in claim 25 in which water flow through the fitting is * ** controllable by a control valve of the apparatus, in use.

I

S..... * S

27. Apparatus as claimed in claim 25 or 26 including at least one water flow control valve to control the rate of flow of water to the first pipe portion.

28. A kit of parts for supplying aerated water to plants or the like or other items, said kit having at least one water delivery pipe fitting having means to suck air into a water pipe portion of the fitting for delivering aerated water to the plants or the like or other items.

29. A kit as claimed in claim 27 including at least one T-piece connection or elbow pipe and a further pipe portion for connection to a water supply feedline.

29. A kit as claimed in claim 27 or 28 including at least one pipe clamp stake and clamping means or adhesive for attaching the stake to said further pipe portion.

30. Apparatus as claimed in claim 29 when dependant from claim 28 in which the T-piece connection/elbow pipe is pivotable/rotatable relative to the further pipe portion.

31. Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 28 to 30 in which the kit may is a : * conversion kit for converting an existing plant water supply system to such a system * ..* * *** * .* . including water delivery pipe fittings. * ** * . * a I..

S * S. * a * *1

S

S..... a