Air compressor control sequencer

Abstract

A controller for managing a plurality of compressors in an efficient manner such that the system uses less energy, has lower maintenance cost and experiences less wear. For a system with multiple compressors the controller has the minimum number of compressors needed to maintain the pressure on at any given time and has no more than one compressor running in an unloaded condition for maximum efficiency. The system can quickly pressure up or down in conjunction with the needs of the system. The controller rotates the order of use of the compressors to spread the time of use and for limiting the number of times during an hour that each compressor can be turned on such that the compressors take turns running and turning on and off for even wear. The system seldom uses more than one compressor unloaded at any time. The timers for adding or shedding motors or loads can descend from long to short time delays when necessary so that the compressors can cycle to the correct pressure for the loads faster and save energy by shutting down faster and avoiding an extra compressor being on when it should have timed out, thus saving energy. The system uses both pressure and rates of change of pressure to decide if motors and loads should be added and shed. The system also has varying response times due to larger or smaller of change of pressures for greater efficiency in energy use.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.