Priming protection
AssigneesPentair Water Pool and Spa, Inc., Danfoss Low Power Drives
InventorsRobert W. Stiles, Jr., Lars Hoffmann Berthelsen, Gert Kjaer, Florin Lungeanu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Embodiments of the invention provide a pumping system for at least one aquatic application. The pumping system includes a pump, a motor coupled to the pump, and a controller in communication with the motor. The controller determines an actual power consumption of the motor and compares the actual power consumption to a reference power consumption. The controller also determines that the pump is in an unprimed condition if the actual power consumption is less than the reference power consumption and that the pump is in a primed condition if the actual power consumption is at least equal to the reference power consumption.
Claims17
A pumping system for at least one aquatic application, the pumping system comprising:
- a pump;
- a motor coupled to the pump;
- and
- a controller in communication with the motor,
- the controller determining an actual power consumption of the motor,
- the controller comparing the actual power consumption to a reference power consumption,
- the controller determining that the pump is in an unprimed condition if the actual power consumption is less than the reference power consumption, and
- the controller determining that the pump is in a primed condition if the actual power consumption is at least equal to the reference power consumption for a plurality of process iterations within a user input timeout value.
A pumping system for at least one aquatic application, the pumping system comprising:
- a pump;
- a motor coupled to the pump;
- and
- a controller in communication with the motor,
- the controller determining an actual power consumption of the motor,
- the controller comparing the actual power consumption to a reference power consumption,
- the controller determining that the pump is in an unprimed condition if the actual power consumption is less than the reference power consumption, and
- the controller determining that the pump is in a primed condition if the actual power consumption is at least equal to the reference power consumption,
- wherein the controller increments a prime counter when the actual power consumption is less than the reference power consumption and decrements the prime counter when the actual power consumption is greater than the reference power consumption,
- wherein the controller determines a priming status based on whether the prime counter exceeds a high threshold value in order to be considered in a first unprimed condition, and wherein the controller increases a speed of the motor,
- wherein the controller determines a new reference power consumption and a new actual power consumption relative to the increased speed of the motor, the new reference power consumption becoming the reference power consumption and the new actual power consumption becoming the power consumption for use in determining whether the pump is in the primed condition or the unprimed condition.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.