Smart molten metal pump
AssigneeMolten Metal Equipment Innovations, LLC
InventorsVince Fontana, James Robert Daniels
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A smart molten metal pump system and method automatically controls the operating speed of the pump rather than requiring an operator to control the speed. The system includes a pump, a controller for controlling the speed of the pump and one or more vibration sensors (such as an accelerometer) to measure vibration. The controller receives input about the vibration of the pump or one or more pump components, and possibly other data, such as the temperature of the molten metal, and/or the depth of the molten metal, ad/or parameters related to the operation of the pump. The controller analyzes the one or more inputs to vary the speed of the pump, turn the pump off, and/or send a communication to an operator.
Claims24
A molten metal pump system comprising:
- (a) a molten metal pump comprising a rotor shaft, a motor shaft, a motor, a superstructure, a rotor, one or more support posts, and a pump base;
- (b) a controller for controlling the speed of the pump, turning off the pump, or sending a message to an operator or monitor;
- (c) a thermocouple positioned in the pump base, one of the one or more support posts, the rotor, or the rotor shaft, wherein the thermocouple is configured to measure the temperature of molten metal in which the pump is positioned and communicate the temperature to the controller;
- (d) a laser mounted on the superstructure or mounted remote to the molten metal pump, the laser configured to measure the height of molten metal in a vessel in which the molten metal pump is positioned and to communicate the height to the controller;
- and
- (e) a vibration sensor positioned in the pump base, the one or more support posts, or the superstructure, wherein the vibration sensor is configured to measure the vibration of the rotor or rotor shaft and communicate the vibration to the controller,
- wherein the controller varies the speed of the molten metal pump, turns off the molten metal pump, and/or sends a message to a monitor or operator, based on one or both of the temperature of the molten metal and the height of the molten metal in the vessel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.