Patent ID: 7901190

Claim:
A method of controlling a pumping system of the type having a reservoir holding a supply of a liquid available to an inlet of a pump, an outlet of the pump providing pressurised liquid via a non-return valve to an accumulator and to one or more users of the liquid, an outlet pressure transducer providing a signal indicating a pressure on an outlet side of the pump, and a controller for controlling the operation of the pump as a function of the signal of the outlet pressure transducer, the method characterised by: storing a high pressure level in a memory of the controller indicating an outlet liquid pressure in which the pump should be stopped, and storing a low pressure level in the memory of the controller indicating an outlet liquid pressure in which the pump should be started; storing in the memory an indication of a trigger flow rate exceeding a nominal flow rate of liquid used by the user; sampling the signals produced by the outlet pressure transducer and processing the sampled signals by the controller to produce an indication of the flow rate of the liquid used by the user; and comparing the processed flow rate with the trigger flow rate and if the processed flow rate exceeds the trigger flow rate, turning on the pump even if the liquid pressure at the pump outlet is higher than the stored low pressure level.