Determining and utilizing a desired frequency for a mechanical shaker for a sump pump system
AssigneeState Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company
InventorsNathan L. Tofte, Jonathan Christopher Hull, John Donovan, Richard Jan Tjaden
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A sump pump system enables automatic determination and utilization of frequencies for mechanical shakers for sump pumps. These techniques may be implemented to detect a fault (e.g., a stuck impeller) with a sump pump and to identify a desirable frequency at which a mechanical shaker for the sump pump should vibrate to correct the fault.
Claims20
A sump pump system configured to automatically determine and utilize frequencies for mechanical shakers, the sump pump system comprising:
- a sump pump disposed in a sump basin and configured to pump water out of the sump basin via an outlet pipe;
- a sensor configured to detect acceleration;
- a mechanical shaker attached to the sump pump and configured to shake the sump pump in order to produce vibrations in the sump pump;
- a sump pump control system coupled to the sump pump, the sensor, and the mechanical shaker, wherein the sump pump control system is configured to:
- detect a fault with the sump pump;
- respond to detecting the fault by activating the mechanical shaker at a first frequency to shake the sump pump in order to produce vibrations in the sump pump in an attempt to correct the fault;
- ramp the frequency up at a predetermined rate;
- while the sump pump control system is ramping the frequency:
- (i) collect acceleration data representing acceleration detected via the sensor, and (ii) detect, based on an analysis of the collected acceleration data, a desired acceleration pattern corresponding to a correction of the fault;
- and
- respond to detecting the desired acceleration pattern by deactivating the mechanical shaker.
A method for automatically determining and utilizing frequencies for mechanical shakers, the method comprising:
- detecting, via a sump pump control system, a fault with a sump pump;
- responding, via the sump pump control system, to detecting the fault by activating the mechanical shaker at a first frequency to shake the sump pump in order to produce vibrations in the sump pump in an attempt to correct the fault;
- ramping the frequency higher at a predetermined rate;
- while the sump pump control system is ramping the frequency:
- (i) collecting acceleration data representing acceleration detected via a sensor, and (ii) detecting, based on an analysis of the collected acceleration data, a desired acceleration pattern corresponding to a correction of the fault;
- and
- responding, via the sump pump control system, to detecting the desired acceleration pattern by deactivating the mechanical shaker.
A method for automatically determining and utilizing frequencies for mechanical shakers, the method comprising:
- detecting, via a sump pump control system, a fault with a sump pump;
- responding, via the sump pump control system, to detecting the fault by:
- (i) detecting, via a sensor configured to detect acceleration, a current acceleration pattern;
- (ii) analyzing a set of known relationships between known acceleration patterns, known faults, and suggested frequencies to identify a known acceleration pattern most closely corresponding to the current acceleration pattern;
- (iii) detecting, within the set of known relationships, a suggested frequency corresponding to the known acceleration pattern;
- and
- (iv) activating a mechanical shaker that is physically attached to the sump pump and that is configured to shake according to a frequency variable, to shake at the suggested frequency, to thereby shake the sump pump in order to produce vibrations in the sump pump in an attempt to correct the fault.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.