Presence activated flow control system
AssigneeEko Tech Inc.
InventorsRichard Ringelstetter, Jason Ringelstetter, Geoff Maestas
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for automatically controlling the flow of water in a showering environment includes an electrically controlled valve coupling a water inlet to a discharge head. A sensor array is positioned within the showering environment and has a multitude of sensors that are each directed to sense heat from a distinct location within the showering environment. A controller coupled to the valve and sensor array receives heat signals from each sensor in the array, derives a statistic from among all of the heat signals, and opens or closes the valve according to the derived statistic.
Claims20
A flow control system for a showering environment having a water inlet and a discharge head, the system comprising:
- an electrically controlled valve fluidically connecting the water inlet to the discharge head;
- a sensor array having multiple sensors, each sensor directed to sense heat from a distinct location within the showering environment;
- a power source providing electrical power to the system;
- and
- a controller having memory and electrically coupled to the power supply, the valve and the sensor array, the controller configured to receive a heat signal from each of the sensors, store the heat signal corresponding to each sensor in the memory, derive at least one statistic from the heat signals, and command the valve according to the derived statistic, wherein the derived statistic comprises calculating a standard deviation for each heat signal using a current heat signal from each sensor and the stored heat signals for each sensor to determine location of an object within the showering environment based on changes among the calculated standard deviations.
A flow control system for a showering environment having a water inlet and a discharge head, the system comprising:
- an electrically controlled valve fluidically connecting the water inlet to the discharge head;
- a sensor array having multiple sensors, each sensor directed to sense heat from a distinct location within the showering environment;
- a power source providing electrical power to the system;
- and
- a controller having memory and electrically coupled to the power supply, the valve and the sensor array, the controller receiving a heat signal from each of the sensors, storing the heat signal corresponding to each sensor in the memory, deriving a maximum temperature location from the heat signals, calculating a standard deviation for each heat signal, determining location of an object within the showering environment based on the maximum temperature location and the calculated standard deviations and commanding the valve based on the location of the object.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.