ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,471,545, issued on Nov. 18, was assigned to STMicroelectronics S.r.l. (Agrate Brianza, Italy).
"Energy-autonomous battery-free system for smart irrigation" was invented by Roberto La Rosa (Catania, Italy), Luigi Malpighi (Milan) and Pio Quarticelli (Merate, Italy).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An irrigation system includes a first valve fluidly-coupled between an inlet pipe and an outlet pipe, and a second valve fluidly-coupled between the inlet pipe and a power harvester. The power harvester generates electrical power at a power output in response to fluid flowing therethrough. An energy storage unit is coupled to the power output to st...