Systems and methods for a connected sump pump

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12219664-B2
Application number	US-202318485728-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 12, 2023
Priority date	Oct 31, 2018
Publication date	Feb 4, 2025
Grant date	Feb 4, 2025

Abstract

Systems for monitoring a sump pump are provided. A system includes a power adapter designed to receive power from a power source. The power adapter is provided in the form of a controller establishing a wireless connection a wireless network and a housing having a first receptacle and a second receptacle. The first receptacle and the second receptacle are designed to accept a float-switch input and a sump pump input, respectively. The float-switch input and the sump pump input are electrically coupled to controller and the power source when accepted by the first receptacle and the second receptacle, respectively.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for monitoring a sump pump, the system comprising:
a power adapter designed to receive power from a power source, the power adapter provided in the form of:
a controller establishing a wireless connection to a wireless network; and
a housing having a first receptacle designed to accept a float-switch input and electrically couple the float-switch input to the controller and the power source, and a second receptacle designed to accept a sump pump input of the sump pump and electrically couple the sump pump input to the controller and the power source.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the power adapter further includes an energy storage system provided in the form of at least one of a battery, an ultracapacitor, or a fuel cell.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the energy storage system is designed to provide power to the power adapter when power from the power source is interrupted.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a relay in communication with the controller and the sump pump, wherein the controller operates the relay to selectively provide power to the sump pump.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the power source includes a power outlet; and
the housing includes at least one prong extending away from the housing, the at least one prong designed to couple with the power outlet.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is designed to send alerts to a remote device.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the float-switch input is coupled to at least one of a vertical float switch, a tethered float switch, or an electronic float switch.

8. A system for monitoring a sump pump, the system comprising:
a power adapter designed to receive power from a power source, the power adapter provided in the form of:
a housing;
a controller positioned within the housing, the controller establishing a wireless connection to a wireless network and transmitting a message over the wireless network;
a first receptacle designed to accept a float-switch input, the float-switch input in electrical communication with the controller upon insertion into the first receptacle;
a second receptacle designed to accept a sump pump input, the sump pump input in electrical communication with the controller upon insertion into the second receptacle; and
one or more terminals designed to couple with a supplementary input, the supplementary input in electrical communication with the controller upon coupling with the one or more terminals.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the supplementary input is coupled to a secondary switch designed to detect a high water condition.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the supplementary input is coupled to a secondary switch, and wherein the power adapter indicates a float switch fault when the float-switch input is opened and the secondary switch is on.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the power adapter is designed to receive one or more instructions from the wireless network for controlling the sump pump.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the power adapter is designed to send alerts via at least one of an email, a text message, or a push notification.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the controller is designed to operate in one of a plurality of power modes, and wherein the controller consumes less power when operating in a first power mode than when operating in a second power mode.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the power adapter includes one or more indicators designed to indicate when the power adapter is undergoing a firmware update.

15. A system for monitoring a sump pump, the system comprising:
a power adapter designed to receive power from a power source, the power adapter provided in the form of:
a housing;
a first receptacle designed to accept a float-switch input, the float-switch input in electrical communication with the power source upon insertion into the first receptacle;
a second receptacle designed to accept a sump pump input, the sump pump input in electrical communication with the power source upon insertion into the second receptacle; and
a controller positioned within the housing, the controller establishing a connection to a network and designed to selectively perform a health test on the sump pump, wherein when the controller performs the health test, the controller energizes the sump pump for a predetermined period of time and collects operational data from the sump pump.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the network comprises at least one of a Wi-Fi network, a peer-to-peer network, a cellular network, or a wired network.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the system performs the health test in response to an automated schedule.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein when the controller performs the health test, the controller generates a health test report from the operational data and sends the health test report to a user device.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the controller is designed to detect one or more abnormalities in the operational data of the sump pump.

20. The system of claim 15 , wherein the power adapter further includes an input device designed to initiate a pump process or to establish communication between the power adapter and a user device.

Assignees

• Pentair Flow Tech Llc

Inventors

• Khalid Hassan
• Sgambelluri Nicola
• Broga Brian
• Boothe Brian
• Featherstone Dan

Classifications

• G07C3/02

  Registering or indicating working or idle time only · CPC title

• G06F1/3209

  Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections · CPC title

• F04B23/023

  only the pump-part being immersed, the driving-part being outside the reservoir · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• H04W76/15

  Setup of multiple wireless link connections · CPC title