System and method for operating a pump
AssigneeFranklin Electric Co., Inc.
InventorsLyon van der Merwe, Don Brown, Paul Luarde
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pumping system and method for operating a pumping system including a motor coupled to a variable speed drive to drive a pump. A torque indicator corresponding to the torque presented to the drive is determined. The torque indicator may be used to detect a fault if it exceeds a baseline torque, or to detect a defective transducer, or to detect a system change by perturbing one parameter and comparing another to a predicted value.
Claims23
A pumping system comprising:
- a variable frequency drive adapted to drive a pump with a motor, the variable frequency drive including a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium having embedded therein processing instructions configured to perform a method when executed by the processor, the method including:
- determining a torque indicator comprising one of torque, motor power or motor current;
- determining the torque indicator during a fault calibration period to determine a baseline;
- setting a fault threshold based on the baseline;
- after setting the fault threshold, detecting a fault if the torque indicator exceeds the fault threshold;
- reducing pump speed if the torque indicator exceeds a limit greater than the baseline but lower than the fault threshold;
- and
- identifying a stall condition if the pump operates at the reduced speed for a predetermined time.
A method for operating a pumping system with a variable speed drive including a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium having embedded therein processing instructions configured to perform the method when executed by the processor, the method comprising:
- driving a motor and a pump coupled with the motor;
- determining a torque indicator comprising one of torque, motor power or motor current, wherein the torque is proportional to head pressure and pump speed is proportional to flow;
- determining the torque indicator during a fault calibration period after a start-up period to determine a baseline;
- setting a fault threshold based on the baseline;
- after setting the fault threshold, detecting a fault if the torque indicator exceeds the fault threshold;
- and
- reducing, a pump speed responsive to detecting the fault.
A method for operating a pumping system with a variable frequency drive including a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium having embedded therein processing instructions configured to perform the method when executed by the processor, the method comprising:
- driving a motor and a pump coupled with the motor;
- determining a torque indicator comprising one of torque, motor power or motor current;
- determining the torque indicator during a fault calibration period to determine a baseline;
- setting a fault threshold based on the baseline;
- after setting the fault threshold, detecting a fault if the torque indicator exceeds the fault threshold,
- wherein the torque is proportional to head pressure and pump speed is proportional to flow;
- and
- discontinuing operation of the pump upon detecting the fault.
A method for operating a pumping system with a variable frequency drive including a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium having embedded therein processing instructions configured to perform the method when executed, by the processor, the method comprising:
- driving a motor and a pump coupled, with the motor;
- determining a torque indicator comprising one of torque, motor power or motor current;
- determining the torque indicator during a fault calibration period to determine a baseline;
- setting a fault threshold based on the baseline;
- after setting the fault threshold, detecting a fault if the torque indicator exceeds the fault threshold;
- reducing pump speed if the torque indicator exceeds a limit greater than the baseline but lower than the fault threshold;
- and
- identifying a stall condition if the pump operates at the reduced speed for a predetermined time.
A pumping system comprising:
- a variable frequency drive adapted to drive a pump with a motor, the variable frequency drive including a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium having embedded therein processing instructions configured to perform a method when executed by the processor, the method including:
- determining a torque indicator comprising one of torque, motor power or motor current, wherein the torque is proportional to head pressure and pump speed is proportional to flow;
- determining the torque indicator during a fault calibration period to determine a baseline;
- setting a fault threshold based on the baseline;
- after setting the fault threshold, detecting a fault if the torque indicator exceeds the fault threshold;
- and
- reducing a pump speed responsive to detecting the fault.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.