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US 10,240,590 B2Granted
Pump based fluid flow meter
AssigneeFize Research Ltd.
InventorNoam Levine
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fluid flow meter comprising a fluid pump to displace fluid with pumping strokes of one or more pumping stroke types wherein each of the one or more stroke types displaces a known volume of fluid, a sensor functionally associated with a fluid reservoir and adapted to generate a signal indicative of a fluid pumping condition within the fluid reservoir, which fluid reservoir is integral or functionally associated with the pump, and circuitry to trigger one or a sequence of strokes of the pump in response to a signal from the sensor.
Claims22
A fluid flow meter for metering fluid, said meter comprising:
- a fluid reservoir having an outlet and an inlet adapted to connect to a fluid source, which fluid reservoir has at least one flexible component adapted to stretch or contract to increase or decrease a volume of the reservoir, in response to an amount of fluid within said reservoir, such that different states of said flexible component are characterized by different volumes of said reservoir;
- a fluid pump connected to said outlet and adapted to displace metered amounts of fluid, from the reservoir, by pumping strokes, through said outlet, while said inlet remains connected to the fluid source;
- a sensor functionally associated with said fluid reservoir and including, (1) a physical sensor adapted to sense a parameter of fluid within said reservoir, and (2) first electronic circuitry adapted to generate a signal when the sensed parameter indicates a pumping condition relating to the fluid within the fluid reservoir has been met;
- and
- a controller, comprising:
- (1) communication circuitry communicatively coupled to said sensor and said pump;
- and (2) control circuitry configured to trigger a pre-defined cycle of one or more strokes of said pump in response to the signal from said sensor, wherein the pre-defined cycle of strokes displaces a known volume of fluid;
- a data storage to store a count of cycles of said pump triggered by said controller;
- processing circuitry configured to calculate a flow into said reservoir, through said inlet, from the fluid source, based on the stored count of cycles of said pump;
- and second electronic circuitry adapted to generate an electronic signal indicating the calculated flow.
7 more elements
A fluid flow meter for metering fluid flow at a given point of a system, said meter comprising:
- a fluid reservoir having an inlet adapted to connect the fluid reservoir to the given point in the system such that the fluid flows out of the system at the given point and enters the fluid reservoir through the inlet, thereby the given point serves as a fluid source of the reservoir, and wherein the reservoir includes an outlet;
- a fluid pump connected to said outlet and adapted to displace metered amounts of fluid from the reservoir by pumping strokes, through said outlet, while said inlet remains connected to the given point;
- a sensor functionally associated with said fluid reservoir and including:
- (1) a physical sensor adapted to sense a parameter of fluid within said reservoir and (2) electronic circuitry adapted to generate a signal when the sensed parameter indicates a pumping condition relating to the fluid within the fluid reservoir has been met;
- a controller, comprising:
- (1) communication circuitry communicatively coupled to said sensor and said pump;
- and (2) control circuitry configured to trigger a pre-defined cycle of one or more strokes of said pump in response to the signal from said sensor, wherein the pre-defined cycle of strokes displaces a known volume of fluid;
- a data storage to store a count of cycles of said pump triggered by said controller;
- processing circuitry configured to calculate a flow into said reservoir, through said inlet, from the fluid source, based on the stored count of cycles of said pump;
- and second electronic circuitry adapted to generate an electronic signal indicating the calculated flow;
- wherein the volume of said reservoir is variable;
- and wherein said reservoir has at least one flexible component adapted to stretch or contract to increase or decrease a volume of the reservoir, in response to an amount of fluid within said reservoir, such that different states of said flexible component are characterized by different volumes of said reservoir.
9 more elements
A fluid flow meter for metering fluid, said meter comprising:
- a connection to an outlet of a fluid reservoir having the outlet and an inlet adapted to connect to a fluid source, which fluid reservoir has at least one flexible component adapted to stretch or contract to increase or decrease a volume of the reservoir, in response to an amount of fluid within said reservoir, such that different states of said flexible component are characterized by different volumes of said reservoir;
- a fluid pump connected to said outlet and adapted to displace metered amounts of fluid, from the reservoir, by two or more different types of pumping strokes, through said outlet, while said inlet remains connected to the fluid source, wherein each of the two or more different types of pumping strokes of the pump displaces a different known volume of fluid;
- a sensor functionally associated with said fluid reservoir and including:
- (1) a physical sensor adapted to sense a parameter of fluid within said reservoir, and (2) electronic circuitry adapted to generate a signal when the sensed parameter indicates a pumping condition relating to the fluid within the fluid reservoir has been met;
- and
- a controller, comprising:
- (1) communication circuitry communicatively coupled to said sensor and said pump;
- and (2) control circuitry configured to trigger a pre-defined cycle of one or more strokes of said pump in response to the signal from said sensor, wherein the pre-defined cycle of strokes displaces a known volume of fluid;
- a data storage to store a count of cycles of said pump triggered by said controller;
- processing circuitry configured to calculate a flow into said reservoir, through said inlet, from the fluid source, based on the stored count of cycles of said pump;
- and second electronic circuitry adapted to generate an electronic signal indicating the calculated flow,
- wherein said processing circuitry is adapted to factor the different known volumes of fluid characterizing the two or more different types of pumping strokes of the pump when calculating the flow into said reservoir based on the count of cycles including two or more different types of pumping strokes.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.