Dynamic linear control methods and apparatus for variable speed pump control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10048701-B2
Application number	US-201213717086-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 17, 2012
Priority date	Dec 16, 2011
Publication date	Aug 14, 2018
Grant date	Aug 14, 2018

Abstract

Apparatus, such as a pump controller, features a signal processor configured at least to: receive signaling containing information about a linear set point control curve based at least partly on an adaptive set point control curve related to fluid being pumped by a pump in a pumping system, and determine a control set point based at least partly on the signaling received. The signal processor may be configured to provide a control signal containing information to control the pump based on the control set point determined.

First claim

What we claim is:

1. A pump controller for providing an adaptive pump control to reduce energy consumption and operating cost of a heating and water cooling system, comprising:
a signal processor configured at least to:
receive signaling containing information about a linear set point control curve derived from adaptive and constant set point control curves related to fluid being pumped by a pump in a pumping system, and
determine corresponding signal containing information about a control set point to control and vary adaptively the speed of the pump in the pumping system using an adaptive control algorithm that obtains the control set point from the linear set point control curve derived, based at least partly on the signaling received.

2. The pump controller according to claim 1 , wherein the signal processor is configured to provide the corresponding signaling as a control signal containing information to control the pump based at least partly on the control set point determined.

3. The pump controller according to claim 1 , wherein the linear set point control curve is derived from the adaptive set point control curve with respect to system flow and pressure, including being derived from by the signal processor.

4. The pump controller according to claim 1 , wherein the signal processor is configured to determine a pressure set point P*(t) with respect to a requested flow rate Q*(t) using the linear set point control curve based at least partly on the following equation:
P *( t )= P 0 Q *( t )/ Q max +b 0 ,
where P 0 is a constant pressure set point,
Q*(t) is a requested flow rate
Q max is a maximum system flow rate,
Q max is a maximum adaptive flow rate, and
b 0 is a pressure threshold.

5. The pump controller according to claim 4 , wherein the signal processor is configured to determine a system flow rate as a summation of each individual zone flow rate, based as least partly on the following equation:

Q
*

⁡

(
t
)

=

∑

i
=
1

n

⁢

Q
i
*

⁡

(
t
)

,

where Q i * is a flow rate at zone i and n is the total number of zones.

6. The pump controller according to claim 5 , wherein the signal processor is configured to determine the system flow rate if zone temperature control parameters are used, based at least partly on the following equation:

Q
*

⁡

(
t
)

=

α
⁢

∑

i
=
1

n

⁢

⁢

Q

i
,
max

⁡

(

T
i
*

⁡

(
t
)

-

T
outdoor

)

/

(

T

i
,
max

-

T
outdoor

)

,

where T i * is a temperature set point for zone i,
Q i,max is a maximum flow rate to obtain a maximum temperature,
T i,max is designated for a zone i,
T outdoor is the outdoor temperature, and
α is a compensate coefficient.

7. The pump controller according to claim 1 , wherein the signal processor is configured to determine a requested flow rate Q* (t) based at least partly on the following equation:

Q
*

⁡

(
t
)

=

(

1
-
r

)

⁢

C
v
2

⁡

(
t
)

/

C
_

v
m

⁡

(
t
)

⁢

(

1
+

Assignees

• Fluid Handling Llc

Inventors

• Cheng Andrew A
• Gu James J
• Scott Graham A

Classifications

• F04D15/0066 Primary

  by changing the speed, e.g. of the driving engine · CPC title

• G05D7/0617 Primary

  specially adapted for fluid materials · CPC title

• F24D19/1012

  by regulating the speed of a pump · CPC title

• Y02B30/70

  Efficient control or regulation technologies, e.g. for control of refrigerant flow, motor or heating · CPC title