A CONTROLARRANGEMENT TO GOVERN WATER FLOWTHROUGH A PUMP

This invention relates to a control arrangement for a pump to govern the flow of water therethrough from a water source to one or more outlets, such as a tap, faucet or shower head, the pump, water source and outlets being integrated into a piped circuit. Heretofore, in such piped circuits for marine or recreational vehicle installations, the pump is controlled by a pressure switch arrangement, normally positioned in a head of the pump. This control arrangement has inherent problems, particularly where high back pressures caused by restrictive sized outlets provided in the piped circuit are experienced. These pressures cause the pump, in use, to pulsate and the through flow rate will be affected unless the control arrangement is custom designed for each pump. Custom designing of the control arrangement for a pump in a piped circuit is economically unacceptable for general use. To try to overcome this problem, a 'hall effect' system is utilised to sense when the back pressure approaches a cut-off point (called the Variable Speed Drive). This system effectively reduces the performance of the pump on which it is used at back pressures. An object of the present invention is to obviate or mitigate the inherent problems stated above.

Accordingly, the present invention is a control arrangement for a pump comprising a dual switch control of a pressure switch provided inside a pump head together with a high current sense, the pressure switch being adapted to turn the pump on when an outlet is opened with consequential pressure drop causing that state to be latched enabling the back pressure to rise to any level and the pump to turn off when the outlet is closed and the current sense activates.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Fig. 1 shows a schematic circuit diagram of a control arrangement according to the present invention; and

Fig. 2 shows a comparison flow chart between the existing arrangement and the new arrangement.

Referring to the drawings, a control arrangement for a pump comprises a dual switch control of a pressure switch 10 provided inside a pump head (not shown) together with a high current sense 12. The pressure switch 10 is adapted to turn the pump 14 on when an outlet, i.e. a tap, is opened with consequential pressure drop causing that state to be latched electronically through a microcontroller, enabling the back pressure to rise to any level and the pump 14 to turn off when the outlet is closed and the current sense 12 activates. An electric battery 16 powers the arrangement. A bypass valve 18 is provided between the pump inlet 20 and pump outlet 22.

In use, the arrangement is installed as above-described and the effect obtained is a non-pulsating flow.

Variations and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention described above and as claimed hereinafter.