Patent ID: 7313497

Claim:
A method of monitoring for acceptable operation of a valve, said method comprising: employing means to establish whether upstream pressure of the valve differs from the downstream pressure by a required pressure differential and forwarding a pressure differential reading to a processor, whereby if the upstream pressure differs from the downstream pressure by the required pressure differential, the valve is deemed to be operating acceptably and further monitoring is terminated, whereby if the upstream pressure differs from the downstream pressure by an amount other than the required differential, the processor initiates further monitoring, the further monitoring comprising sensing fluid flow relative to required flow parameters and forwarding a flow reading to a processor, whereby if sensed flow is acceptable relative to the required flow parameters, the valve is deemed to be operating acceptably, whereby if sensed flow is unacceptable relative to the required flow parameters, the valve is deemed to be operating unacceptably and the processor initiates a valve failure signal.