Shutoff system for pool or spa

• US 7,417,834 B2
• Filed: 04/22/2005
• Issued: 08/26/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Balboa Water Group LLC (Helios Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Balboa Instruments Incorporated (Helios Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cline, David J., Corrington, Richard A., Daystrom, Stefan
• Primary Examiner(s): Sherry; Michael J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Danny
• Application Number:
  US11/112,524
• Publication Number:
  US 20060238931A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,222 Days
• Field of Search: 361/42, 361/43, 361/44, 700/282, 700/300, 219/481, 219/485, 219/489, 219/497
• US Class Current: 361/42
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 2201/0176 By stopping operation
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 33/00 Bathing devices for special therapeutic or hygienic purposes A61H35/00 takes precedence; sprays acting on a body or body part not immersed in water A61H9/00; means for washing bed-ridden persons A61G7/0005; for sub aquatic intestinal cleaning A61M9/00; isolation chambers A61M21/0094; electric or magnetic baths, applying ionised fluids A61N1/44 ; heater for bath tubs F24H1/54
• CPC Class Codes: A61H 33/005 Electrical circuits therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H02H 3/33 using summation current transformers H02H3/347 takes precedence

Abstract

A control system for a bathing installation which has one or more electrically powered devices. A line voltage service is connected through a GFCI to power the electrically powered devices, the GFCI adapted to interrupt the service upon detection of a ground fault. A trip circuit may induce a ground fault and trip the GFCI in response to a trip signal, thereby disabling application of electrical power to the electrically powered devices. An electronic circuit is responsive to a fault condition for generating the trip signal.

Claims

1. A control system for a bathing installation which includes one or more electrically powered devices associated with operation of the bathing installation, a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI), and a line voltage service connected through the GFCI to the bathing installation to power said one or more electrically powered devices, the GFCI adapted to interrupt the service from connection to the bathing installation upon detection of a ground fault, the control system comprising:

an electronic controller system operatively connected to the one or more electrically powered devices through respective switch devices for controlling the operation of said one or more devices, said switch devices separate and distinct from the GFCI;

a trip circuit for inducing a ground fault and tripping the GFCI in response to a trip signal, thereby disabling application of electrical power to the bathing installation, including the one or more electrically powered devices and the electronic controller system;

an electronic circuit responsive to a non-ground fault condition for generating said trip signal, said non-ground fault condition exclusive of a single high water temperature sensor value or a manually-activated switch.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said non-ground fault condition is a blockage in a water flow path.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising a sensor responsive to a vacuum in said water flow path for generating a blockage signal for indicating said non-ground fault condition.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the non-ground fault condition is a high water temperature condition existing for a period of time which is greater than one hour.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the non-ground fault condition is a high water temperature condition in combination with a temperature creep condition.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said non-ground fault condition is a switch failure preventing a water pump from being turning off.

7. A control system for a pool or spa installation, comprising:

one or more electrically powered devices associated with operation of the spa or pool installation;

an electronic controller system operatively connected to the one or more electrically powered devices through one or more respective switch devices for controlling the operation of said one or more devices;

a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI), said GFCI separate and distinct from said one or more respective switch devices;

a line voltage service connected through the GFCI to the spa or pool installation to power said one or more electrically powered devices and electronic control system, the GFCI adapted to interrupt the service in a ground fault condition;

a water temperature sensor for sensing a water temperature of the spa or pool;

a trip circuit controlled by the electronic controller system for tripping the GFCI in response to a trip signal, thereby disabling application of electrical power to the spa installation and said electronic control system and said one or more electrically powered devices;

the electronic controller system responsive to said water temperature sensor to generate said trip signal under at least one condition;

the electronic controller system further adapted to determine whether the GFCI trip circuit tripped the GFCI in response to said trip signal and take a responsive action if said trip circuit failed to disable power to the electrically powered devices.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said responsive action is to issue a control signal to said one or more respective switch devices to turn off said one or more devices if said trip circuit failed to disable power to the electrically powered devices.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein said trip circuit selectively induces a ground fault.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein said at least one condition includes a first condition that said water temperature equals or exceeds a first GFCI threshold temperature.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising a high-limit circuit responsive to said temperature sensor to open a heater control switch in the event said water temperature equals or exceeds a second threshold temperature which is lower than said first GFCI threshold temperature.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the electronic control system is responsive to said water temperature sensor to command said one or more electrically powered devices to shut down in the event said water temperature equals or exceeds a third threshold temperature which is lower than said second threshold temperature.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or more electrically powered devices includes a water pump for passing water through a recirculating flow path between the spa or pool and a water heater.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the heater is one of the one or more electrically powered devices.

15. The system of claim 7, wherein the electronic controller is adapted to automatically test for the presence of a properly functioning GFCI after installation by issuing a trip command to the trip circuit.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the electronic controller is adapted to generate an error message if the system does not immediately shut down from tripping the GFCI, and prevents operation of the electrically controlled devices.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the electronic controller is further adapted to operate the electrically powered devices in a normal operating mode if the system shuts down as expected, and after the GFCI has been reset.

18. The system of claim 7, wherein said trip circuit is a solid state circuit free of moving parts.

19. The system of claim 7, wherein said trip circuit includes a switch element.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein said switch element comprises a relay device.

21. The system of claim 7, wherein said trip circuit comprises a triac device.

22. The system of claim 7, wherein said at least one condition comprises a plurality of conditions, each of which must exist before said electronic controller system issues said trip signal.

23. The system of claim 7, wherein said at least one condition includes a first condition that said sensed water temperature has exceeded a predetermined threshold temperature for at least a predetermined time interval, and has risen by at least a predetermined value since commencement of said time interval.

24. The system of claim 7, wherein said at least one condition includes a first condition that said sensed water temperature has risen by at least a predetermined value during a preceding time interval, and is greater than a predetermined threshold temperature.

25. A control system for a pool or spa, comprising:

one or more electrically powered devices associated with operation of the spa or pool;

an electronic controller system operatively connected to the one or more electrically powered devices for controlling the operation of said one or more devices;

a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI);

a line voltage service connected through the GFCI to power said one or more electrically powered devices, the GFCI adapted to interrupt the service in a ground fault condition;

a water temperature sensor for sensing a water temperature of the spa or pool;

a trip circuit controlled by the electronic controller system for tripping the GFCI in response to a trip signal, thereby disabling application of electrical power to the one or more electrically powered devices;

the electronic controller system responsive to said water temperature sensor to generate said trip signal under at least one condition;

the electronic controller system further adapted to determine whether the GFCI trip circuit tripped the GFCI in response to said trip signal and take a responsive action if said trip circuit failed to disable power to the electrically powered devices; and

wherein said at least one condition includes a first condition that said sensed water temperature has risen by at least a predetermined value during a preceding time interval commencing when said sensed water temperature equals or exceeds a first predetermined temperature, and said sensed water temperature equals or exceeds a second predetermined temperature which is greater than said first predetermined temperature.

26. A control system for a pool or spa, comprising:

one or more electrically powered devices associated with operation of the spa or pool;

an electronic controller system operatively connected to the one or more electrically powered devices for controlling the operation of said one or more devices;

a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI);

a line voltage service connected through the GFCI to power said one or more electrically powered devices, the GFCI adapted to interrupt the service upon detection of a ground fault;

a water temperature sensor for sensing a water temperature of the spa or pool;

a trip circuit controlled by the electronic controller system for tripping the GFCI in response to a trip signal, thereby disabling application of electrical power to the one or more electrically powered devices;

the electronic controller system responsive to said water temperature sensor to generate said trip signal under a plurality of conditions, wherein a first condition of said plurality of conditions is that said sensed water temperature has risen by at least a predetermined temperature value during a preceding time interval started when a sensed water temperature equals or exceeds a first predetermined temperature threshold, and is greater than a second predetermined threshold temperature.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said first predetermined threshold temperature is 110°

F., said second predetermined threshold temperature is 116°

F., said time interval is 5 hours, and said predetermined temperature value is 3 degrees.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein a second condition of said plurality of conditions is that said sensed water temperature has risen by at least a second predetermined value during a second preceding time interval started when said sensed water temperature equals or exceeds said first predetermined temperature threshold, and said sensed water temperature is greater than a third predetermined threshold temperature.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein said first predetermined second predetermined value is 3 degrees, said second preceding time interval is 10 hours, and said third predetermined threshold temperature is 120°

F.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein another condition of said plurality of conditions is that said sensed water temperature has risen by at least a third predetermined value during a third preceding time interval commencing when said sensed water temperature equals or exceeds said first predetermined temperature threshold, and said sensed water temperature equals or exceeds a fourth predetermined temperature threshold which is greater than said first predetermined temperature threshold and second predetermined temperature threshold.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein said third predetermined value is 2°

F., said third time interval is 24 hours, and said fourth predetermine temperature threshold is 120°

F.

32. The system of claim 26, wherein said trip circuit selectively induces a ground fault.

33. The system of claim 26, wherein the one or more electrically powered devices includes a water pump for passing water through a recirculating flow path between the spa or pool and a water heater.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the heater is one of the one or more electrically powered devices.

35. The system of claim 26, wherein the electronic controller is adapted to automatically test for the presence of a properly functioning GFCI after installation by issuing a trip command to the trip circuit.

36. The system of claim 32, wherein the electronic controller is adapted to generate an error message if the system does not immediately shut down from tripping the GFCI, and to prevent operation of the electrically controlled devices.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the electronic controller is further adapted to operate the electrically powered devices in a normal operating mode if the system shuts down as expected, and after the GFCI has been reset.

38. The system of claim 26, wherein said trip circuit is a solid state circuit free of moving parts.

39. A method for controlling a spa or pool system which includes one or more electrically powered devices associated with operation of the spa or pool, an electronic controller system operatively connected to the one or more electrically powered devices by one or more electrical switch devices for controlling the operation of the one or more devices, the controller system including a nonvolatile memory, a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) which is independent from said one or more electrical switch devices, and a line voltage service connected through the GFCI to power the spa or pool system including the electronic controller system and the one or more electrically powered devices, the GFCI adapted to interrupt the service upon detection of a ground fault, and a GFCI trip circuit responsive to a trip signal to trip the GFCI and disconnect power to the spa or pool system including the electronic controller system and the one or more electrically powered devices, the method comprising:

powering up the electronic control system;

retrieving an algorithm state stored in the nonvolatile memory;

if the algorithm state indicates that the electronic control system has been powered up for the first time in a user'"'"'s pool or spa system, scheduling a test of the GFCI trip circuit to occur at a later time;

allowing the spa or pool system to operate normally until said later time, including processing user inputs from a control panel and processing temperatures sensed by a temperature sensor system;

at said later time, generating a trip signal to trip the GFCI to disconnect power to the spa or pool installation.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

programming the electronic control system to select the later time as one of a plurality of possible times.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein said plurality of possible times includes N days, where N is an integer.

42. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

manually entering a test command to the electronic controller system to initiate said trip signal to test operation of the GFCI trip circuit;

waiting a time interval after said test command has been manually entered;

generating said trip command upon elapsement of said time interval to trip the GFCI;

if said GFCI has not tripped within a predetermined time interval upon generating said trip command, declare a failure condition.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein said declaring a failure condition includes putting the electronic control system in a failure mode which prevents normal operation of the spa or pool system.

44. The method of claim 42, further comprising:

clearing said failure condition.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein said clearing said failure condition comprises:

entering a test mode of the electronic control system.

46. A method for monitoring and controlling operation of a spa installation including a spa vessel for holding water, a line voltage electrical supply, an electronic controller, a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) through which the line voltage electrical supply is connected to the spa installation, a water heater system and a pump for recirculating water through the water heater system and the spa vessel, comprising:

sensing a water temperature;

in the event the water temperature equals or exceeds a threshold temperature, entering a mode to monitor upward temperature creep of said sensed water temperature over time, and, once the temperature rises by a predetermined increment value over a predetermined time interval, inducing a fault signal in response to the sensing to trip the GFCI to interrupt power to the spa installation including the electronic controller, water heater and pump;

exiting said mode if the sensed water temperature falls below a predetermined temperature value which is lower than said threshold temperature.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein said inducing a fault signal comprises:

issuing a signal by the electronic controller to a GFCI trip circuit to induce the ground fault.

48. The method of claim 47, further comprising:

setting a nonvolatile trip state in the electronic controller when the signal is issued by the electronic controller to induce the ground fault;

subsequently checking for the trip state, and if the trip state is still set, indicating that the GFCI has not tripped, issuing a command to turn off the water heater system and the pump.

49. The method of claim 48, further comprising:

clearing the trip state in response to an action of the user.

50. A control system for a pool or spa installation, comprising:

one or more electrically powered devices associated with operation of the spa or pool;

an electronic controller system operatively connected to the one or more electrically powered devices through respective switch devices for controlling the operation of said one or more electrically powered devices, said switch devices independent of the GFCI;

a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI);

a line voltage service connected through the GFCI to power the pool or spa installation including said electronic controller system and said one or more electrically powered devices, the GFCI adapted to detect ground faults and interrupt the service to the pool or spa installation upon detection of a ground fault;

a water temperature sensor for sensing a water temperature of the spa or pool;

a trip circuit responsive to the water temperature sensor for tripping the GFCI for when said water temperature equals or exceeds a GFCI threshold temperature, thereby disabling application of electrical power to the pool or spa installation including said electronic controller system and said one or more electrically powered devices;

the electronic controller system responsive to said water temperature sensor to check whether the trip circuit tripped the GFCI and issue a control signal said respective switch devices to turn off said one or more devices if said trip circuit failed to trip the GFCI and disable power to the electrically powered devices.

51. A spa system, comprising:

a tub for holding water;

a water heater;

a recirculating water flow path for recirculating water between the tub and the water heater;

one or more electrically powered devices associated with operation of the spa or pool, said devices including the water heater and a water pump for recirculating water through the flow path;

an electronic controller system operatively connected to the one or more electrically powered devices through one or more respective switch devices for controlling the operation of said one or more devices;

a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) coupled to a line voltage service which provides power to the spa system including the one or more electrically powered devices and the electronic controller system, the GFCI adapted to detect ground faults and interrupt the line voltage service to the spa system upon detection of a ground fault, the GFCI independent of said one or more respective switch devices;

a water temperature sensor for sensing a water temperature of the spa or pool;

a trip circuit controlled by the electronic controller system for tripping the GFCI in response to a trip signal, thereby disabling application of electrical power to the spa system including the electronic controller system and the one or more electrically powered devices;

the electronic controller system responsive to said water temperature sensor to generate said trip signal under at least one condition;

the electronic controller system further adapted to determine whether the trip circuit tripped the GFCI and disable application of electrical power to the spa system in response to said trip signal and take a responsive action if said trip circuit failed to disable power to the electrically powered devices.

52. The system of claim 51, wherein the spa system is a portable spa system.

53. A method for monitoring and controlling operation of a spa installation including a spa vessel for holding water, a line voltage electrical supply, an electronic controller, a ground fault interrupt circuit (GFCI) connecting the line voltage electrical supply to the spa installation, a water heater system and a pump for recirculating water through the water heater system and the spa vessel, comprising:

sensing a water temperature;

in the event the water temperature equals or exceeds a threshold temperature, entering a mode to monitor upward temperature creep of said sensed water temperature over time, and, once the temperature rises by a predetermined increment value over a predetermined time interval, inducing a ground fault to trip the GFCI to interrupt power to the spa system including the electronic controller, water heater and pump;

exiting said mode if the sensed water temperature falls below a predetermined temperature value which is lower than said threshold temperature.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein said inducing a ground fault comprises:

issuing a signal by the electronic controller to a GFCI trip circuit to induce the ground fault.

55. The method of claim 54, further comprising:

setting a flag in the electronic controller when the signal is issued by the electronic controller to induce the ground fault;

subsequently checking for a flag set state, and if the flag is still set, indicating that the GFCI has not tripped, issuing a command to turn off the water heater system and the pump.

56. The method of claim 55, further comprising:

clearing the flag in response to an action of the user.

57. A method for monitoring and controlling operation of a spa installation including a spa vessel for holding water, a line voltage electrical supply, an electronic controller, a ground fault interrupt circuit (GFCI) connecting the line voltage electrical supply to the spa installation, a water heater system, a pump for recirculating water through a recirculating water flow path, and respective first and second switch devices controlled by the electronic controller for controlling operation of the pump and water heater system, the respective first and second switch devices separate and distinct from the GFCI, comprising:

sensing a stoppage or restricted flow condition in the water flow path;

taking a first action to address the stoppage or restricted flow condition;

inducing a fault signal in response to the sensing to trip the GFCI to interrupt power to the spa installation including the electronic controller, water heater and pump in the event said first action does not clear the condition.

58. A spa system, comprising:

a tub for holding water;

a water heater;

a recirculating water flow path for recirculating water between the tub and the water heater;

one or more electrically powered devices associated with operation of the spa or pool, said devices including the water heater and a water pump for recirculating water through the flow path;

an electronic controller system operatively connected to the one or more electrically powered devices through one or more respective switch devices for controlling the operation of said one or more devices;

a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) connecting a line voltage electrical supply to the spa installation, the GFCI adapted to interrupt the line voltage service to the spa installation including the electronic controller system and said one or more electrically powered devices upon detection of a ground fault, the GFCI separate and distinct from said one or more respective switch devices;

a water temperature sensor for sensing a water temperature of the spa;

a trip circuit controlled by the electronic controller system for tripping the GFCI in response to a trip signal, thereby disabling application of electrical power to the spa installation including said one or more electrically powered devices;

the electronic controller system responsive to said water temperature sensor and adapted to monitor the water temperature overtime, to process a rise in the water temperature in an algorithm performed by a microprocessor, and to decide whether the rise is more likely to have been caused by a malfunction in the pump switch, resulting in continuous pump operation, than by another cause of a rise in temperature.

59. The system of claim 58, wherein:

the controller system is adapted to trip the GFCI to interrupt the line voltage service if the electronic controller system determines that a pump switch malfunction has occurred.

60. The system of claim 59, further comprising a GFCI trip circuit responsive to a command issued by the controller system to establish a ground fault condition.