1. A system for controlling the flow of a substance comprising:
a valve coupled to an intake and an outtake for the substance;
a rotatable portion coupled to the valve that selectively places the valve into an open position that allows flow of the substance from the intake to the outtake or a closed position that blocks flow of the substance from the intake to the outtake;
at least one sensor located remotely from the valve that can detect the presence of the substance;
a control unit configured to receive signals from the sensor;
an actuator coupled to the control unit by at least a pair of wires that are coupled to each the actuator and the control unit according to a predetermined polarity allowing the control unit to determine if the valve is in an opened or closed position, wherein the actuator will selectively control the valve to an open position or a closed position in response to at least one signal from the control unit placed upon at least one wire of the pair of wires;
a motor operatively coupled to the actuator; and
a valve control mechanism within the control unit configured to respond to an instruction to place the valve in either the open position or the closed position and place the signal on the pair of wires to control the valve to the open position or the closed position as dictated by the instruction;
wherein upon reception from the sensor that the substance has been detected, the valve control mechanism will generate the instruction to place the valve into the closed position; wherein the control unit further comprises an error detection mechanism for determining if the pair of wires are attached incorrectly.
2. The leak detection system of claim 1 further comprising an activating mechanism on the control unit that selectively generates the instruction to place the valve in either the open position or the closed position and a timing mechanism to stop the actuator within a predetermined time period after generating the instruction.
3. The leak detection system of claim 1 further comprising an attachment mechanism that is fixedly attached to both the actuator and the valve, the attachment mechanism holding the actuator and the valve in an aligned configuration with respect to each other.
4. The leak detection system of claim 3 wherein the attachment mechanism is removable such that the rotatable exterior portion is exposed once the attachment mechanism is removed allowing for manual control of the rotatable exterior portion of the valve.
5. The leak detection system of claim 1 wherein the sensor is coupled to the control unit via a wireless interface.
6. The leak detection system of claim 5 wherein the control unit further comprises at least one wired input for the sensor, the wired input providing a bidirectional interface between the control unit and the sensor.
7. The leak detection system of claim 6, wherein the sensor is programmed by the control unit over the bidirectional interface to function only with the control unit via the wireless interface to the exclusion of any other control units.
8. The leak detection system of claim 5, wherein the sensor provides to the control unit via the wireless interface a status of the sensor to the control unit through wireless communication, wherein the status is for at least one of: wet or dry condition; normal functioning; or battery voltage status.
9. The leak detection system of claim 1, wherein the valve is a low torque valve.
10. The leak detection system of claim 9 wherein the actuator has a high gear ratio.
11. The leak detection system of claim 10 wherein the motor is operatively coupled to the actuator to provide a force required by the actuator to open and close the low torque valve and further wherein the motor is configured to provide the force required using power supplied solely from a set of 4 AA batteries.
12. The leak detection system of claim 1, further comprising a flow monitor interface on the control unit capable of accepting an input from a flow monitor and determining if a summarized use of the substance through a conduit exceeds at least one predetermined parameter.
13. A water leak detection system comprising:
at least one sensor that can detect the presence of a substance;
a wireless transmitter coupled to the sensor to transmit detection of the substance by the sensor;
a central control unit coupled to a receiver configured to receive signals from the wireless transmitter;
a low torque ball valve;
a valve actuator configured to control the low torque ball valve to an open position and a closed position in response to at least one signal from the control unit, the valve actuator being coupled to the control unit by at least a pair of wires that are coupled to each the valve actuator and the control unit according to polarity allowing the control unit to determine if the valve is ion an open or closed position, wherein the valve actuator will selectively control the valve to an open position or a closed position in response to at least one signal from the control unit placed upon at least one wire of the pair of wires; and
a leak response mechanism within the control unit that is configured to respond to the reception from the wireless transmitter that water has been detected by controlling the valve actuator to close the low torque ball valve; and
a motor coupled to valve actuator; wherein the control unit further comprises an error detection mechanism to provide an alert if the pair of wires are attached incorrectly.
14. The leak detection system of claim 13 further comprising an attachment mechanism that is fixedly attached to both the actuator and the valve, the attachment mechanism holding the actuator and the valve in an aligned configuration with respect to each other, wherein the attachment mechanism is removable such that the rotatable exterior portion is exposed once the attachment mechanism is removed allowing for manual control of the rotatable exterior portion of the valve.
15. The leak detection system of claim 13 further comprising an activating mechanism on the control unit that selectively generates the instruction to place the valve in either the open position or the closed position and a timing mechanism to stop the actuator within a predetermined time period after generating the instruction.
16. The leak detection system of claim 13, wherein the sensor provides to the control unit via the wireless interface a status of the sensor to the control unit through wireless communication, wherein the status is for at least one of: wet or dry condition; normal functioning; or battery voltage status.
17. The leak detection system of claim 13 wherein the motor is operatively coupled to the actuator to provide a force required by the actuator to open and close the low torque ball valve and further wherein the motor is configured to provide the force required using power supplied solely from a set of 4 AA batteries.
18. The leak detection system of claim 1, further comprising a flow monitor interface on the control unit capable of accepting an input from a flow monitor and determining if a summarized use of the substance through a conduit exceeds at least one predetermined parameter.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A storage system comprising:
a plurality of channel control units;
a plurality of disk control units;
shared memory;
cache memory;
a physical disk connected to said disk control units;
connecting parts that connect said plurality of channel control units, said plurality of disk control units, said shared memory, and said cache memory,
wherein memory resources within the storage system are managed by a system manager, and partitions of the memory resources are managed by partition managers assigned for every partition unit;
a management module that modifies the configuration of said memory resources in accordance with the setting contents set by said system manager or said partition managers;
a history data management module that creates history data which correlates the identifier of the partition unit in which the configuration of the memory resources has been modified, the setting contents, and the identification data of a partition manager, wherein said history data management module provides all history data stored in said history data storage unit to said system mangers, but provides to said partition manager only the history data that is made by the partition manager itself, from among the history data stored in said history data storage unit;
a history data storage unit that stores the history data,
wherein said management module modifies the configuration of said memory resources in accordance with the setting contents set by said partition managers managing partition units of the memory resources; and
a management terminal for modifying the configuration of said memory resources,
wherein the system manager accesses the management terminal via a first data processing unit,
wherein the partition managers access the management terminal via a second data processing unit,
wherein the management terminal comprises a first table and a second table,
wherein the first table correlates, with the system manager, a logical volume, cache memory capacity, and a port associated with a first group of memory resources in the storage system,
wherein the second table correlates, with a partition manager, a logical volume, cache memory capacity, and a port associated with a second group of memory resources in the storage system,
wherein a plurality of users may simultaneously log in to the management terminal, whereas only a user acquiring permission to modify configuration may modify the configuration of memory resources, and
wherein the system manager can refer to operation logs regarding configuration modifications made by all partition managers, whereas the partition manager can only refer to his or her own operation logs.
2. The storage system according to claim 1 wherein said history data management module detects an error log from among the history data stored in said history data storage unit, and notifies said system manager thereof.
3. The storage system according to claim 1 wherein, at the time when the amount of history data stored in said history data storage unit exceeds a threshold, said history data management module notifies said system manager thereof.
4. The storage system according to claim 1 wherein the history data stored in said history data storage unit is configured to be undeletable and unchangeable by the partition manager.
5. The storage system according to claim 1,
wherein said management module, said history data management module, and said history data storage unit are mounted in said management terminal.
6. The storage system according to claim 1 wherein said management module, said history data management module, and said history data storage unit are mounted in said shared memory.
7. A storage management method in which a system manager manages memory resources within a system, the system comprising a plurality of channel control units, a plurality of disk control units, shared memory, cache memory, a physical disk connected to said disk control units, and connecting parts that connect said plurality of channel control units, said plurality of disk control units, said shared memory, and said cache memory, wherein partition managers are assigned for every partition unit of said memory resource to manage said partition units, said method comprising the steps of:
modifying the configuration of said memory resource in accordance with the contents of the settings set by said system manager or said partition managers;
creating history data which correlates the identifier of said partition unit in which the configuration of the memory resources has been modified, said setting contents, and the identification data of a partition manager; and
providing all of the history data from the stored history data to said system manager, but providing to said partition manager only the history data that is made by the partition manager itself, from among the stored history data,
wherein said modifying the configuration of said memory resources can be set by said partition managers managing partition units of the memory resources;
modifying, by a management terminal, the configuration of said memory resources;
accessing, by the system manager, the management terminal via a first data processing unit; and
accessing, by the partition managers, the management terminal via a second data processing unit:
wherein the management terminal comprises a first table and a second table,
wherein the first table correlates, with the system manager, a logical volume, cache memory capacity, and a port associated with a first group of memory resources in the storage system,
wherein the second table correlates, with the partition manager, a logical volume, cache memory capacity, and a port associated with a second group of memory resources in the storage system,
wherein a plurality of users may simultaneously log in to the management terminal, whereas only a user acquiring permission to modify configuration may modify the configuration of memory resources, and
wherein the system manager can refer to operation logs regarding configuration modifications made by all partition managers, whereas the partition manager can only refer to his or her own operation logs.
8. The storage management method according to claim 7 wherein an error log is detected from among said history data, and said system manager is notified thereof.
9. The storage management method according to claim 7 wherein, at the time when the amount of said history data exceeds the threshold value, said system manager is notified thereof.
10. The storage management method according to claim 7 wherein the history data is configured to be undeletable and unchangeable by the partition manager.