Spa system with flow control feature

Abstract

A spa system comprising a tub, a circulation system and a controller is provided. The tub holds water and has an outlet port and an inlet port. The circulation system has a pump assembly, including a motor driving a pump, to circulate water from the outlet port to the inlet port. The speed of the motor can be set at different speeds by the controller in response to user inputs to adjust the flow rate of the water discharged into the tub through the inlet port. Alternatively, or in addition, the speed of the motor can be set at different speeds by the controller depending one whether a water heater positioned in fluid communication with the pump assembly is in a heating mode or in a non-heating mode. In some implementations, the motor used to drive the pump is a BLDC motor.

1 . A spa system comprising:
 a. a tub for holding water, said tub having at least one outlet port and at least one inlet port;   b. a circulation system having a pump assembly to circulate water from said outlet port to said inlet port, said pump assembly including a BLDC motor and a pump, said BLDC motor coupled to and driving said pump;   c. a controller coupled to said BLDC motor to control the speed of said BLDC motor in response to a user input, wherein the speed of said BLDC motor can be set to any speed within the speed range of said BLDC motor to adjust the flow rate of the water discharged from said pump to said tub through said inlet port.   
     
     
         2 . A spa system as defined in  claim 1 , said spa system further comprising a user interface control pad coupled to said controller, wherein a user indicates the desired BLDC motor speed by entering information on said interface control pad. 
     
     
         3 . A spa system as defined in  claim 1 , said spa system further comprising a user interface control pad coupled to said controller, wherein a user indicates a desired strength of water flow through said inlet port by entering information on said interface control pad. 
     
     
         4 . A spa system as defined in  claim 1 , wherein said controller further controls said BLDC motor to produce at least one jetting mode in response to the user input. 
     
     
         5 . A spa system as defined in  claim 4 , wherein the jetting mode is selected from the set consisting of a sinusoidal mode, a ramp mode and a saw-tooth mode. 
     
     
         6 . A spa system as defined in  claim 4 , wherein a characteristic of said jetting mode can be modified in response to an input from a user. 
     
     
         7 . A spa system as defined in  claim 1 , wherein said BLDC motor is a 6 HP motor with a speed range of zero rpm to 4000 rpm. 
     
     
         8 . A spa system as defined in  claim 1 , wherein said controller stores a speed of said BLDC motor on a computer readable storage medium in response to the user input. 
     
     
         9 . A spa system comprising:
 a. a tub for holding water, said tub having at least one outlet port and at least one inlet port;   b. a circulation system for circulating water from said at least one outlet port to said at least one inlet port, said circulation system having:
 i. a pump assembly including a motor and a pump, said motor being coupled to and driving said pump; 
 ii. a heater in fluid communication with said pump assembly to heat water circulating from said outlet port to said inlet port of said tub; 
 iii. wherein said motor operates at a first speed when said heater is activated to heat the water circulating, wherein said motor operates at a second speed different from said first speed when said heater is not activated to heat the water circulating. 
   
     
     
         10 . A spa system as defined in  claim 9 , wherein the second speed is slower than said first speed. 
     
     
         11 . A spa system as defined in  claim 9 , further comprising a controller coupled to said motor to cause said motor to operate at either one of the first speed or the second speed. 
     
     
         12 . A spa system as defined in  claim 11 , wherein said controller is further programmed for setting said first speed to any speed within the speed range of said first motor to adjust the flow rate of the water circulating from said outlet port to said inlet port of said tub. 
     
     
         13 . A spa system as defined in  claim 10 , wherein said first speed is selected to allow for heating the water circulating from said outlet port to said inlet port of said tub. 
     
     
         14 . A spa system as defined in  claim 10 , wherein said second speed is selected to allow for filtering the water circulating from said outlet port to said inlet port of said tub. 
     
     
         15 . A spa system as defined in  claim 9 , wherein said motor is a BLDC motor. 
     
     
         16 . A spa system as defined in  claim 9 , wherein said motor is an AC induction motor. 
     
     
         17 . A spa system as defined in  claim 9 , wherein said tub has at least two outlet ports and at least two inlet ports, said circulation system being for circulating water from said at least two outlet ports to said at least two inlet ports, said spa circulation system including a jetting pump assembly, wherein said jetting pump assembly includes a jetting pump coupled to a jetting motor, wherein said jetting motor is configured to be operated at a selected speed within the speed range of said jetting motor to adjust the flow rate of water discharged from said jetting pump assembly into said tub, the selected speed being set according to a user's preference.