CA2982992A1

CA2982992A1 - Residential flood safe system

Info

Publication number: CA2982992A1
Application number: CA2982992A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Kirk Horsfield
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2017-10-16
Filing date: 2017-10-16
Publication date: 2019-01-14

Abstract

The invention provides the residential household owner/occupant a safeguard against major household flooding from leaking, broken, cracked or loose plumbing on water systems. It works by automatically stopping the flow of household water to the household fixtures, when the preset maximum continuous flow time period has been exceeded. Residential household occupants depend on their water systems not to break, fatigue, freeze or deteriorate to the point that a leak or flood situation arises, and normally have no protection system to protect against these types of failures causing flooding. Some causes of household flooding would be eliminated. Examples are the following: leaky faucet/garden hose or toilet flapper, broken pipe, showering too long, a washing machine or dishwasher hose fails, frozen pipe burst, or a tap left on accidentally. Many households unfortunately do suffer water flood damage, causing major insurance claims and hardships of renovations and sometimes living elsewhere while the repairs are completed. With this new residential FloodSafe system, prolonged water use (any household water flow) is detected and stopped at a predetermined time input. Valuable water is saved and disastrous floods are minimized. The Floodsafe System has a flow sensor that signals the digital timer to start. The flow sensor is initially tuned and setup to be activated by a minimal water flow set-point. Once the timer has started and maintains uninterrupted flow for a pre-set flow time (set previously by the household occupant) the water flow to the house is automatically terminated via a solenoid valve. This invention prevents wasted water and more importantly, prevents a flood in the household; then the inherent problem can be rectified by the home owner. The owner can press the reset button on the said FloodSafe System to restart the water usage monitoring for the next potential water issue.

Description

Background of the Invention:
This FloodSafe water shut off system is unique to the industry by detecting a continuous flow of water via a thermal dispersion sensor, for a preset time period that is deemed "longer time than normal usage", then the water supply is automatically stopped to the household-stopping a flood situation. The water flow rate could be a small leak or a full flow rate: all water flows will start the timer. Once the pre-determined continuous flow time elapsed has been satisfied, the water flow is terminated to the household. The owner can then fix the issue, without any (or minimal) fluid damage to the house.
Other patents of similar means of stopping a household water flood are listed below.
None of the below systems combine the detection of low volume flow rates via a thermal dispersion flow switch or spring supported piston type, and have the device electrically controlled via a multi-functional digital timer with a 115 volt output which electrically closes an electric solenoid valve.
Patent#CA 1275395-fluid timer Patent#CA 2228517- flood control device Patent#CA 2918952- smart fluid shut off Page I 3

Claims

Claims:
A FloodSafe System which is comprised of:

1. A household which has a 1/2-3/4-1" diameter fluid inlet and outlet plumbing,

2. To install the flood safe system, the household plumbing piping is cut nearest to the inlet but after any filters or after water softening systems. A 12" section of piping is removed and the flood safe components are installed via couplings on the plumbing. The said FloodSafe System includes two devices on the water piping and one electrical control box to be wall mounted and plugged into a 115 Volt outlet. See FloodSafe drawing (#FS-01). On the household piping, one fluid flow detector/sensor (option of two types) and a water shutoff valve are installed with 3"
of pipe between them and 3" of piping on each outer side to connect to existing plumbing via two piping couplings. View picture FSP-01 to visualize the real life FloodSafe installed on a household water system.

3. A flow sensor in claim 2 being a thermal dispersion flow sensor or a sensor being a spring actuated flow sensor, for use in detecting water flow in the plumbing. Either type is used to start the electronic timer/controller to measure the pre-set time period of water flow. The sensor is electronically connected to the timer with the black wire first through a diode, then to the B1 terminal, and the brown wire to terminal 25 (supply power) on the timer. Both these connections are 24 Volts DC. The timer unit counts downward from the preset time. The pre-set time is chosen by the owner based on known normal usage. The thermal dispersion type water sensor is to be used when the household is equipped with filtered well water or municipally treated water. The thermal dispersion flow detector in claim 3 works by sensing the flow rates from .04 to 3 fps, by having two sensitive temperature probes, one which is heated and one not heated. The water flow reduces the temperature of the heated probe, which decreases the temperature differential between the two probes, sending an electrical signal to the timer controller.

4. The detector/sensor in claim 2 being a spring supported water sensor works by an angular spring piston against the flow of water which becomes lifted by the fluid flow, actuating the inductive sensor sending a 24 V DC signal to the timer controller. This fluid sensor device also acts as a built- in check valve not allowing flow in the opposite direction.
This fluid sensor is to be used on systems with no water filtration or softening on the house plumbing. The sensor is electronically connected to the timer with the black wire first through a diode then to the B1 and 28 terminals, and the brown wire to A1 and 25 terminals on the timer. Both these connections are 24 Volts DC.

5. A 115 Volt AC shut-off valve, electrically connected to the timer/controller for stopping the fluid flow when the timer reaches its continuous flow pre-set time period.

6. The fluid shutoff valve in claim 5 reacts immediately (within one second) via a two-way, semi-direct lift valve with a normally open operating position. There are two built in relays (r1 and r2). When the timer hits its limit flow time, a 24 VDC signal triggers r1 and r2 to close. The shutoff valve coil is then energized from L(load) and N(Neutral) with 115 VAC
from the timer via terminals 15 and 18, and the power supply to close the valve. Conversely, the coil is de-energized (by the reset button manually depressed) the r1 relay will release its 'hold' and the valve will open due to no current being sent.

7. As in claim 6, when the water flow has been continuously detected via a 24 Volt DC signal from the by either said flow detector in claims 3 and 4, to a pre-set time period in the time controller, the controller sends a 115 VAC electrical power signal to the shutoff valve to close. No fluid flow situation has them been created. The water flow and water problem has been stopped.

8. At this point, the owner can fix the water issue, and then reset the said flood safe system via depressing the reset switch on the control box. The valve will open and the timer will automatically reset.

9. Any moment when there is no flow detected, the timer will stop its countdown. The time will reset to the pre-set time, once the next water usage situation starts.
Therefore, for example, if a toilet is flushed, the timer will start when the toilet tank is being refilled (say 3 minutes) but once the water flow stops, the timer also stops. Once the occupant, for example, washes his/her hands at the sink, the timer restarts at the full pre-set time once again. A
suggested pre-set control time for a residential house is recommended to be between 10-30 minutes.

10. There is a by-pass mode to allow fluid to flow without said FloodSafe protection. This is accomplished via the slide out fuse or unplugging the unit from 115 VAC.
Explaining details of the constituents of the FloodSafe system:

11. The timer controller stated within claim 3 is a DIN rail mounted multi-functional digital timer with universal voltage from 24-265 volts, wide time range from .1 seconds to 999 hours, digital display for pre-set time, and manually operated setup and adjust keys. The pre-set time is shown on the screen, a flashing arrow is shown when flow is detected, and the countdown display shows the time remaining before shut-down commences. By pressing the buttons on the timer, any pre-set time period can be easily set on the timer by the household occupant. Upon each flow situation, the timer shows restarting at the pre-set time setting and shows each second, minute and hour of the countdown. Once flow commences again, the timer starts countdown starting at the full preset time.

12. The thermal dispersion flow sensor in claim 3 is plumbed in line with the beginning of the house fluid flow. It is accurate to 5% of flow rate at constant temperature, works with fluid temperature from 0-60 °C, works with voltage input of 12-36 volts, has two states of normally open and normally closed, and has a reaction time of 10 seconds after probe is initially warmed up. Once warmed up the reaction time is 1 second. This unit can be set up via trial and error to detect low flow volumes.

13. The spring supported fluid sensor in claim 4 is plumbed in line with the beginning of the fluid house flow. It can be plumbed directly before or after the valve. This sensor is to be set up to detect very low volumes of fluid (as low as .8GPM as in a small house leak), but has the ability to detect up to 6.6 GPM. There are flow graduation marks on the side for rough set points. Fine tune set up of the flow trigger is accomplished via trial and error by turning the top knurled knob clockwise until the desired low flow rate is detected and light turns on.
When the green indicator light is on, fluid flow is detected and noted by the owner, when the green light is out, there is no flow. When the piston is pushed upward by the fluid flow, the pistons position is detected via an inductive sensor and a binary output is sent out to the timer controller (terminals 81, 28 and 25). The timer is activated and starts the preset countdown.

14. The solenoid shut off valve as in claim 5 is plumbed in line with the sensor after the filtering system and fluid softening units and before any house faucets or hot water tanks. It can handle a voltage from 100-120V, has a working temperature range of 0-129°C, reaction time of under 1 second, and working pressure range of 0-90 PSI. Valve is NO (normally open) and closes its gate valve to seat in its internal saddle via an energized coil, stopping the flow of water.
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15. The FloodSafe system in claim 2 is reset by manually depressing the reset button. This subsequently de-energizes the r1 relay, stopping the flow of electricity to the solenoid valve coil whereby the valve's built-in spring pushes the valve back to the normally open (NO) position.

16. The Floodsafe system is equipped with a 2 Ampere circuit fuse to protect the timer/control and components from high voltage/amperage. This fuse can be changed or checked by depressing the top clip and pivoting the internal fuse holder from its outer stationary sheath. The fuse can then be changed or checked.