Patent ID: 7317971

Claim:
A system for regulating fluid flow comprising: a liquid inlet conduit; a liquid outlet conduit; a first valve; a fluid control valve coupled between the liquid inlet conduit and the liquid outlet conduit to control the flow of liquid from the liquid inlet conduit to the liquid outlet conduit and coupled to the first valve; and a controller coupled to the first valve further comprising: a processor; a computer readable memory; a set of computer instructions stored on the computer readable memory, the computer instructions comprising instructions executable by the processor to: generate a flow control signal to the first valve to cause the fluid control valve to close from an initial position based on a first close rate parameter for a first segment of a close range; generate the flow control signal to the first valve to cause the fluid control valve to close based on a second close rate parameter for a second segment of the close range; and switch between generating the flow control signal based on the first close rate parameter to generating the flow control signal based on the second close rate parameter at a break point, wherein the flow control signal is generated to cause the fluid control valve to continuously close from the initial position to a fully closed position, wherein switching between generating the flow control signal based on the first close rate parameter to generating the flow control signal based on the second close rate parameter occurs at a specified valve position regardless of corresponding fluid velocity flow, and wherein the first close rate parameter is a first acceleration factor corresponding to a first rate of change in a close rate acceleration and the second close rate parameter corresponds to a second rate of change in the close rate acceleration.