System and method for fluid flow measurement and control

1. A system for measuring, monitoring and controlling fluid flow in a fluid control system, comprising:

an irrigation controller;

at least one control valve which controls fluid distribution to a use area or zone;

at least one flow meter, wherein the total number of said flow meters is not to exceed the total number of said control valves;

a wired or wireless communication mechanism between the flow meters and the irrigation controller;

wherein the irrigation control is configured to:

activate each of the control valves in turn until one of the flow meters measures fluid flow greater than zero such that a relation is automatically determined between the control valve and the flow meter;

measure and calculate an average fluid flow for each of the control valves using a moving average of some number, N, of fluid flow measurements at preset time intervals;

determine that the average fluid flow measurement is stable when the range of the N fluid flow measurements divided by the average of the N fluid flow measurements is less than a preset threshold;

learn a typical fluid flow for each of the control valves by setting the typical flow equal to the stable average fluid flow measurement for each of the control valves which is measured during an initial period when the system is operating normally;

compare the typical fluid flow for each of the control valves to the current stable average fluid flow for each of the corresponding control valves to determine if the irrigation system is malfunctioning; and

issue electronic alerts or deactivate said control valves depending on a severity of the system malfunction.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising tracking historical fluid use based on past stable average fluid flow measurements stored in a memory of the irrigation controller.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the irrigation controller is further configured to project future fluid use for planned schedules based on the typical fluid flows learned for each of the control valves.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein one flow meter is connected at an output of said control valves.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein one flow meter is connected to inputs of multiple ones of said control valves.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein only one flow meter is associated with said control valve such that said flow meter is only connected to only one of an input or an output of the said control valve.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein only one of the control valves at a time is activated.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the electronic alerts can be issued as SMS (text) or e-mail alerts.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein N, the total number of measurements in the fluid flow moving average, is greater than or equal to 3.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the preset threshold is 10% or greater to determine if the average fluid flow is stable.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the fluid comprises water.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein malfunctioning includes one or more of fluid leaks, high fluid flow, damaged dispense mechanism, or faulty control valves.

13. A method for measuring, monitoring and controlling fluid flow in a fluid control system, comprising:

providing wired or wireless communication between an irrigation controller and at least one flow meter, wherein a total number of said flow meters is not to exceed a total number of at least one control valve;

controlling, with the irrigation controller, fluid distribution to a use area or zone with the least one control valve, wherein the controlling fluid distribution includes:

activating each of the control valves in turn until one of the flow meters measures fluid flow greater than zero such that a relation is automatically determined between the control valve and the flow meter;

measuring and calculating an average fluid flow for each of the control valves using a moving average of some number, N, of fluid flow measurements at preset time intervals;

determining that the average fluid flow measurement is stable when the range of the N fluid flow measurements divided by the average of the N fluid flow measurements is less than a preset threshold;

learning a typical fluid flow for each of the control valves by setting the typical flow equal to the stable average fluid flow measurement for each of the control valves which is measured during an initial period when the system is operating normally;

comparing the typical fluid flow for each of the control valves to the current stable average fluid flow for each of the corresponding control valves to determine if the irrigation system is malfunctioning; and

issuing electronic alerts or closing said control valves depending on the severity of the system malfunction.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein malfunctioning includes at least one of fluid leaks, high fluid flow, damaged dispense mechanism, or faulty control valves.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising projecting future fluid use for planned schedules based on the typical fluid flows learned for each of the control valves.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein activating each of the control valves comprises activating only one of the control valves at a time.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein issuing electronic alerts comprises issuing at least one of SMS alerts or e-mail alerts.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein N, the total number of measurements in the fluid flow moving average, is greater than or equal to 3.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein the preset threshold is 10% or greater to determine if the average fluid flow is stable.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the fluid comprises water.