Electricity: battery or capacitor charging or discharging – Battery or cell discharging – With charging
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-28
2001-02-13
Wong, Peter S. (Department: 2838)
Electricity: battery or capacitor charging or discharging
Battery or cell discharging
With charging
C361S079000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06188200
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates to a power supply system for a pump. More particularly, the instant invention relates to a power supply system for powering a sump pump using either available utility-supplied power or stored power from a battery.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Backup battery power supply systems are known for use with basement sump pumps. One such backup battery power supply is included with the “Basement Sentry Series” line of backup sump pump systems sold by Zoeller Pump Co. This line of backup sump pump systems utilizes a dedicated 12-volt auxiliary pump to supplement the main pump in the event that it cannot operate due to a loss of power or other malfunction. The 12-volt auxiliary pump is powered by a backup battery power supply that provides the required current at 12 volts.
FIG. 1
depicts a schematic diagram of this type of system. As seen in
FIG. 1
, main sump pump
1
is a 110-120 volt pump that receives power from AC receptacle
3
. Backup sump pump
5
is a 12 volt pump that receives 12 volt DC power from controller
7
a
and battery
7
b
. Transformer
9
, which receives AC power from AC receptacle
11
, provides DC power to controller
7
a
to charge battery
7
b.
Other similar 12 volt auxiliary pump systems are sold by Simer, Flotec, and Basement Watchdog Special.
A deficiency of all of these 12 volt systems is that due to the relatively low voltage supplied to the sump pump from the battery, a relatively high current is required in order to apply a substantial amount of power to the pump. The transmission of a high current through a medium such as a battery cable is inherently inefficient. Thus, these 12 volt systems do not optimize the use of the stored battery energy in terms of gallons of water that can be pumped in a given time and/or total length of time of pump operation.
Another backup sump pump system is the Sumpro system. While this system utilizes a power inverter to provide 115 volt alternating current to a sump pump from a battery, it is believed that the inverter uses a transformer configuration, which is relatively inefficient. Additionally, the Sumpro system uses a metal enclosure, which is prone to rust in the damp environment in which sump pumps are used. Further, such a metal enclosure may present a potential safety hazard in the event of an internal wiring malfunction resulting in the enclosure being raised to a high voltage state.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an efficient power supply system for powering a high-voltage pump using either available utility-supplied power or stored power from a battery.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an efficient MOSFET power supply system utilizing a transformerless inverter circuit for maximum energy efficiency.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an efficient power supply system utilizing an enclosure that eliminates rust and maximizes safety to the user.
According to one aspect of the present invention a system for selectively providing alternating current power to a pump from an electric utility connection and from a battery is provided, including a receiving element for receiving power from the electric utility connection, a charging circuit connected to the battery and the receiving element for charging the battery with power from the electric utility connection and for maintaining the battery in a fully charged state, and an inverter circuit connected to the battery for outputting alternating current at an inverter output.
The inverter circuit is a transformerless circuit including a number of power MOSFET transistors and a conversion relay is connected to the inverter output and the electric utility connection for supplying power to the pump from either the inverter circuit or the electric utility connection to a main output.
These and other advantages will become apparent from the detailed description accompanying the claims and attached drawing figures.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4672520 (1987-06-01), Ueda et al.
patent: 4673826 (1987-06-01), Masson
patent: 4709318 (1987-11-01), Gephart et al.
patent: 5076763 (1991-12-01), Anastos et al.
patent: 5234319 (1993-08-01), Wilder
patent: 5616968 (1997-04-01), Fujii et al.
Alternate Energy Concepts, Inc.
Cooper & Dunham LLP
Tibbits Pia
Wong Peter S.
LandOfFree
Power supply system for sump pump does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Power supply system for sump pump, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Power supply system for sump pump will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2560708