Water gulping detection
AssigneeFranklin Electric Co., Inc.
InventorsAdrian Chavis, Kevin Michael Fox
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method to detect gulping in a pump driven by a motor drive to pump a liquid includes: determining a value of a work indicator corresponding to work performed by a pump pumping a liquid; comparing the value to a first threshold; changing a value of a tracking variable by a first amount if the value of the work indicator is below the threshold; changing the value of the tracking variable by a second amount if the value of the work indicator is above the threshold, wherein the first amount and the second amount have opposite signs; and determining that a gulping event occurred if an absolute value of the tracking variable is larger than an absolute value of a second threshold.
Claims15
A method to detect gulping includes:
- driving, with a motor drive, a motor mechanically coupled to a pump;
- receiving, by a controller, a signal from at least one of a power sensor, a current sensor, a torque sensor, a voltage sensor, a pressure sensor and a flow sensor;
- determining, by gulping control logic of the controller from the signal, a value of a work indicator corresponding to work performed by the pump;
- comparing, by the gulping control logic, the value of the work indicator to a first threshold;
- changing, by the gulping control logic, a value of a tracking variable by a first amount if the value of the work indicator is below the first threshold, wherein the change of the first amount is variable based on a difference between the work indicator and the first threshold;
- changing, by the gulping control logic, the value of the tracking variable by a second amount if the value of the work indicator is above the first threshold, wherein the first amount and the second amount have opposite signs;
- determining, by the gulping control logic, that a gulping event occurred if an absolute value of the tracking variable is larger than an absolute value of a second threshold;
- and
- in response to determining that a gulping event occurred, controlling, by the controller, operation of the motor drive.
A motor drive operable to drive a motor coupled to a pump to pump a liquid, the motor drive comprising:
- an inverter generating a motor voltage;
- a voltage sensor to determine a voltage;
- a current sensor to determine a current;
- and
- a controller including gulping control logic comprising processing instructions operable to:
- determine a value of a work indicator corresponding to work performed by the pump;
- compare the value to a first threshold;
- change a value of a tracking variable by a first amount if the value of the work indicator is below the first threshold, wherein the change of the first amount is variable based on a difference between the work indicator and the first threshold;
- change the value of the tracking variable by a second amount if the value of the work indicator is above the first threshold, wherein the first amount and the second amount have opposite signs;
- determine that a gulping event occurred if an absolute value of the tracking variable is larger than an absolute value of a second threshold;
- and
- in response to determining that a gulping event occurred, control operation of the motor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.