Multi-pump system with system check

Abstract

Design solutions to mitigate the following four fatal flaws in the conventional pump system design; namely, (1) surprised pump-failure in single pump design that can result in costly water damage; (2) the threat of fatal high voltage electrocution accident in flooding situation; (3) grid power outage and no energy supply to support the needed pumping power that result in water damage; (4) stinky smell from the sitting foil water in the well after a period of low seeping rate with or without activated pumping. The principles described in the content disclosure, the proposed designs can completely mitigate the above four fatal design issues.

1 . A liquid pump system comprising:
 a plurality of liquid pumps that are powered by an electric power source to pump a liquid;   a liquid level sensor subsystem configured to turn on each of the plurality of liquid pumps one at a time as a liquid level rises, and configured to turn off each of the plurality of liquid pumps as the liquid level lowers; and   a system check device that performs scheduled checks of at least the plurality of pumps to verify proper operation of the plurality of pumps, and that causes communications to be transmitted to one or more recipients at least in the case that a scheduled check detects improper operation of a subset of the plurality of liquid pumps.   
     
     
         2 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a communication device that transmits messages to the one or more recipients when caused to transmit by the system check device.   
     
     
         3 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 1 , the liquid being water. 
     
     
         4 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 1 , a number of the plurality of pumps being one more than that required to have a pumping rate equal to or exceeding an anticipated maximum seeping rate. 
     
     
         5 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a set of fresh liquid in-let valves and a liquid in-let regulator to control the amount of in-let liquid taken in during a scheduled check of the plurality of pumps, the set of fresh liquid inlet valves comprising at least two in-let valves connected in series such that the in-let regulator can shut-off the in-let liquid flow even when one valve is in malfunction.   
     
     
         6 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 1 , the electric power source comprising an electrical power grid. 
     
     
         7 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 1 , the electric power source comprising an auxiliary power including gasoline or diesel generator. 
     
     
         8 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 1 , the electric power source comprising a low voltage power source. 
     
     
         9 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 1 , the electric power source comprising an AC/DC converter to convert AC power into low voltage DC power to power the pump system. 
     
     
         10 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 9 , the electric power source further comprising an energy reservoir to store the converted DC energy. 
     
     
         11 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 10 , the energy reservoir comprising at least one battery. 
     
     
         12 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 1 , at least one pump of the plurality of pumps comprising a brushless DC motor. 
     
     
         13 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 1 , at least two of the plurality of pumps being located at about the same horizontal level in a pump well. 
     
     
         14 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 1 , none of the plurality of pumps being located at different horizontal level in a pump well. 
     
     
         15 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 1 , at least one pump of the plurality of pumps being located at different horizontal level in a pump well. 
     
     
         16 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 1 , at least one the plurality of pumps being located on or above the ground with respect to a pump well. 
     
     
         17 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 1 , all the pumps are located at or above the ground with respect to a pump well. 
     
     
         18 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 1 , all of a plurality of liquid level sensors of the liquid level sensor subsystem being located inside of a pump well. 
     
     
         19 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 1 , at least one liquid level sensor of a plurality of liquid level sensors of the liquid level sensor subsystem being located outside of the well. 
     
     
         20 . The liquid pump system in accordance with  claim 1 , all signals communication from liquid pump system passing through electric cables.