Zone and Circuit

 

Circuiting the heads is a quick and flexible method of deciding how the heads are to be grouped into valve stations. When you circuit heads:

§	Group like heads together. Turf spray heads will never be grouped with shrub heads.

§	Group like plant materials together. Water loving plants should not be grouped with drought tolerant plants.

§	Group like exposures together. Shade areas should not be grouped with sunny areas.

§	Group rotor types together. One rotor model should not be group with a different model.

§	Group rotor arc together. Most rotors are not matched precipitation, so group similar arc heads only on the same system.

 

To select the Circuit function select either:

Selecting the Circuit function.

 

The Circuit dialog box.

 

Head Type

It is important to select a specific head type to be circuited. The head type you select will be the only one considered when you circuit or add a zone, all others will be ignored.

 

Valve Zones

Valve Zones allow you to quickly indicated grouping of heads into specific zones for a valve to control. After choosing a head type at the top, select New Zone and draw a polyline fence around a group of heads. When you are done, the zone will be labeled and colored.

Zone Number: The Zone Number box indicates the zone number that you have created on the drawing. Use the drop down arrow to select a specific zone number.

Zone Total: This is the total gpm flow for the Zone Number indicated above.

Recalc Zones: Re-calculates all zones, after user has moved the points of any polyline zone boundaries.

New Zone: Selecting New Zone will allow you to draw a new zone, and the zone number will automatically advance, and will place that zone number along with the total flow for that group of heads within the zone. Each zone is created with a different color for clarity.

Add New: Select a specific Zone Number and click on Add New to add another zone area to this existing zone number. For example, select zone 5 from the Zone Number, click on Add New, and add another group of heads that will also be indicated as zone 5, and the Zone Total for zone 5 will reflect the total of those two areas.

Add Existing: Select a specific Zone Number and click on Add Existing to select any other existing zone and add it to the selected zone. For example, select zone 2 from the Zone Number, click on Add New, and click on another zone grouping of heads. That zone grouping will be changed to indicate Zone 2, the color of that zone will change to match Zone 2, and the Zone Total for Zone 2 will reflect the total of the original zone and the added area.

Head Tally: Allows a quick method of totaling the flow of a group of heads without needed to create a zone.

 

Flow Total

 

The Flow Total function will tally the total flow of the heads in the drawing, categorized by type, and then perform some basic calculations based upon the flow capabilities of the source data for the project (if any).

 

Flow Total button.

 

After selecting Flow Total, the command line will prompt:

 

Upper left corner of Flow Total:

 

Select a point in the drawing for the values to be placed like a schedule. This can be handy when determining the number of valves necessary, rather than repeatedly running the Flow Total. Note that even if you do Right Click to only view the totals in a dialog box, the values are also printed out to the text screen.

 

Example of GPM flow totals.

 

Basic system requirements can now be ascertained. Note that if there is more than one water source for the project, the valve numbers will be represented as a range. The actual number of valves used will probably vary, but this simple calculation can help in determining what Controller will be necessary, or if the system is too much for a single Point of Connection.

 

Circuit

 

The circuit function allows you to add up the flow of heads by picking them one at a time, picking a group with a polyline, or selecting and labeling a Zone with a polyline.

F Remember: You must first determine the maximum flow that is allowed by your point of connection to be able to properly circuit. The flow of each head grouping that makes up a circuit should not exceed the maximum allowable for the point of connection.

 

Watch the video on Circuiting and Zoning.

 

For this example, As indicated in the Flow Total Function, the maximum flow for each circuit in this example is no greater than 65 GPM. The heads need to be circuited together in logical groupings that do not exceed this limit.

 

Select the Circuit command, check the type of head you want to circuit (and it will ignore all others), and click on Add New to add a new zone, then place the zone.

 

Notice that when you place a zone:

§	The radius layer of the heads turns off to help clarify the drawing.

§	While each zone polyline border is a different color, they are all on the layer LI-HEAD-ZONE. At any time you wish, turn off the zone layer by either the Layer dialog box, or by the Express Tools Turn Objects Layer Off button.

§	The layer LI-HEAD-ZONE is a non-plot layer and will not show up if you plot.

§

The zone polyline border has a line weight of 0.40mm. If you work in line colors and not line weights, this function turns on the AutoCAD function line weight, indicated at the bottom of the screen with the LWT button. When you are finished with the zoning, you may want to turn off the LWT button if it is still on.

 

Drawing two zones around turf spray areas.

 

Notice that the zone polyline borders ignores heads of a different type, in this case shrub spray. The zone border acts as a crossing, and will only count those heads of the type selected within the border area or intersecting the bounding polyline.

 

From the Circuit dialog box, highlight Zone Number 1, and select Add Area. Now zone an additional area and review the Circuit dialog box.

 

Adding the small turf spray area at the top to Zone #1 results in a Zone Total of 39.90 in the dialog box.

 

F Remember: The circuit numbers are arbitrary, and relate only to the order that you circuited areas. To delete a circuit, simply delete the polyline boundary and its text total – the next time you start the Circuit dialog box, that Zone number will be gone. It IS possible to have multiple zones counting the same head more than once.