System and method for predicting tank failure of a water heater

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020348049-A1
Application number	US-202016864864-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 1, 2020
Priority date	May 1, 2019
Publication date	Nov 5, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

A storage-type water heater including a tank configured to contain a fluid, a powered anode at least partially disposed in the fluid, and an electronic processor. The electronic processor is configured to receive a current measurement of the powered anode, determine whether the current measurement exceeds a maximum threshold, record, when the current measurement exceeds the maximum threshold, a plurality of tank potential measurements over a duration of time, determine, based on the recorded tank potential measurements, a predicted time to tank failure, and output an alert corresponding to the predicted time to tank failure.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A storage-type water heater comprising:
a tank configured to contain a fluid; a powered anode at least partially disposed in the fluid; and an electronic processor configured to
receive a current measurement of the powered anode,
determine whether the current measurement exceeds a maximum threshold,
record, when the current measurement exceeds the maximum threshold, a plurality of tank potential measurements over a duration of time,
determine, based on the recorded tank potential measurements, a predicted time to tank failure, and
output an alert corresponding to the predicted time to tank failure.

2 . The water heater of claim 1 , wherein the electronic processor is further configured to determine the predicted time to tank failure based on at least one characteristic of the water heater.

3 . The water heater of claim 2 , wherein the at least one characteristic affects a rate of degradation of the metal, the lining, or both.

4 . The water heater of claim 3 , wherein the at least one characteristic includes at least one selected from the group consisting of a tank temperature setpoint, a differential temperature setpoint, an incoming water temperature, and a duty cycle of the water heater.

5 . The water heater of claim 2 , wherein the electronic processor is further configured to determine the predicted time to tank failure based on a calculation of when a trendline of the plurality of tank potential measurements is projected to fall below a tank potential threshold.

6 . The water heater of claim 5 , wherein the tank potential threshold is determined based on at least one selected from the group consisting of a duty cycle of the water heater, a tank temperature setpoint, a slope of the trendline, and a conductivity of water in the water storage tank.

7 . The water heater of claim 5 , wherein the tank potential threshold is adjusted based on at least one selected from a group consisting of a duty cycle, a total dissolved solids level, a tank temperature setpoint, a slope of the trendline, and a conductivity of water in the storage tank.

8 . The water heater of claim 1 , wherein the predicted time to tank failure is less than one year.

9 . The water heater of claim 1 , wherein the electronic processor determines the predicted time to tank failure based on a trendline of the recorded tank potential measurements.

10 . A storage-type water heater comprising:
a tank configured to contain a fluid; a powered anode at least partially disposed in the fluid; and an electronic processor configured to
receive a current measurement of the powered anode,
determine whether the current measurement exceeds a maximum threshold,
determine, based on the maximum threshold and an adjustment factor, a predicted time to tank failure, and
output an alert corresponding to the predicted time to tank failure.

11 . The water heater of claim 10 , wherein the electronic processor is further configured to determine the adjustment factor based on at least one characteristic of the water heater.

12 . The water heater of claim 11 , wherein the at least one characteristic affects a rate of degradation of the metal, the lining, or both.

13 . The water heater of claim 12 , wherein the at least one characteristic includes at least one selected from the group consisting of a tank temperature setpoint, a differential temperature setpoint, an incoming water temperature, and a duty cycle of the water heater.

14 . The water heater of claim 11 , wherein the electronic processor is further configured to adjust the adjustment factor based on at least one selected from a group consisting of a duty cycle, a total dissolved solids level, a tank temperature setpoint, a slope of a trendline of a plurality of tank potential measurements, and a conductivity of water in the storage tank.

15 . The water heater of claim 10 , wherein the predicted time to tank failure is less than one year.

Assignees

• Smith Corp A O

Inventors

• Knoeppel Ray Oliver
• Walker Nate
• Wang Yaojun

Classifications

• G01N17/02

  Electrochemical measuring systems for weathering, corrosion or corrosion-protection measurement · CPC title

• C23F13/22

  Monitoring arrangements therefor · CPC title

• F24H9/2021

  Storage heaters · CPC title

• F24H1/203 Primary

  with electrodes · CPC title

• F24H9/0047 Primary

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic