Variable depth automated dynamic water profiler
First Claim
1. A method for dynamically monitoring at least one parameter of interest in a liquid environment using a hydrological probe which is attached to a cable mounted on a spool of a winching system, comprising:
- controllably unwinding a quantity of cable to lower a hydrological probe into a liquid environment at a series of increasing incremental distances away from the surface of the liquid;
obtaining first data measurements for at least one selected parameter of interest in the liquid environment at the selected distances;
subsequently controllably unwinding a quantity of cable to lower a hydrological probe into the liquid environment at the series of increasing incremental distances away from the surface of the liquid;
obtaining second data measurements for the at least one selected parameter of interest in the liquid environment at the selected distances after the first data measurements are obtained; and
monitoring the liquid environment to generate a time-dependent liquid profile of the at least one parameter of interest based on the first and second data measurements.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A winch-based system is used to raise and lower a hydrological probe into a water column to automatically dynamically obtain measurement data of a water column at incremental depths over selected time intervals. The winch-based system can be powered by a relatively low-power power source to cause the electric motor to controllably operate to wind and unwind the cable at a desired rate in a manner which can pause the upward and downward movement of the probe at incremental measurement depths. The disclosure also describes related systems. Additionally, a method for enhancing the life of a hydroglogical probe by storing the probe at an immersed subsurface depth is also described.
-
Citations
84 Claims
-
1. A method for dynamically monitoring at least one parameter of interest in a liquid environment using a hydrological probe which is attached to a cable mounted on a spool of a winching system, comprising:
-
controllably unwinding a quantity of cable to lower a hydrological probe into a liquid environment at a series of increasing incremental distances away from the surface of the liquid;
obtaining first data measurements for at least one selected parameter of interest in the liquid environment at the selected distances;
subsequently controllably unwinding a quantity of cable to lower a hydrological probe into the liquid environment at the series of increasing incremental distances away from the surface of the liquid;
obtaining second data measurements for the at least one selected parameter of interest in the liquid environment at the selected distances after the first data measurements are obtained; and
monitoring the liquid environment to generate a time-dependent liquid profile of the at least one parameter of interest based on the first and second data measurements. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
-
-
29. A method for dynamically monitoring at least one parameter of interest in a liquid environment using a hydrological probe which is attached to cable configured to be wrapped around a spool of a winching system comprising:
-
controllably winding a quantity of cable from the winching system to raise a hydrological probe in a liquid environment at a series of increasing incremental distances above the bottom of the liquid;
obtaining first data measurements for at least one selected parameter of interest in the liquid environment at the selected distances;
repeating said winding step and then obtaining second data measurements for the at least one selected parameter of interest in the liquid environment at the selected distances after the first data measurements are obtained; and
monitoring the liquid environment to define a time-dependent liquid profile of the at least one parameter of interest based on the first and second data measurements. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
-
-
62. A method for enhancing the life of a hydrological probe, comprising:
-
positioning a hydrological probe in a body of water;
measuring at least one parameter of interest of the water at a plurality of depths of the body of water over time with the hydrological probe; and
storing the probe such that it is held immersed in the body of water at a subsurface depth after the measuring step. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
-
-
68. A kit for an automated water profiler system, comprising:
-
a winching system having a drum with a length of multi conductor cable, the mutli-conductor cable adapted to engage with a hydrological mutli-sensor probe;
a low voltage power source configured to be in electrical communication with said winching system when in position during operation;
an electric motor configured to be operably associated with the power source and the winching system during operation; and
means for selectively powering the motor at desired intervals to activate the winching system so as to automatically obtain a series of data measurements from the probe at a plurality of depths in a water column during operation. - View Dependent Claims (69, 70, 71)
-
-
72. An automated water profiler system, comprising:
-
a controller;
a winching system having a drum with a length of multi conductor cable, the multi-conductor cable adapted to engage with a hydrological multi-sensor probe;
a power source configured to be in electrical communication with said winching system;
an electric motor configured to be operably associated with the power source and the winching system; and
means for selectively powering the motor at desired intervals to activate the winching system so as to automatically obtain a series of data measurements from the probe at a plurality of depths in a water column, wherein said system is configured to controllably wind and unwind the cable at desired time intervals and to cause the probe to be held submerged during periods of inactivity. - View Dependent Claims (73, 74, 75, 76)
-
-
77. An automated water profiler system for monitoring a body of liquid, comprising:
-
a winching system having a drum wound with a length of cable, the cable adapted to engage with a hydrological multi-sensor probe;
a power source configured to be in electrical communication with said winching system;
an electric motor configured to be operably associated with the power source and the winching system;
a controller in communication with a relay circuit for selectively controllably powering the motor at desired intervals to activate the winching system so as to automatically obtain a series of data measurements from the probe at a plurality of depths in a liquid column, wherein said system is configured to controllably wind and unwind the cable at desired time intervals to obtain time-dependent data of at least one selected liquid parameter; and
a wireless communication means operably associated with said controller for receiving commands from a remote monitoring site and dynamically transmitting data measurements thereto in substantially real-time. - View Dependent Claims (78, 79, 80, 81, 82)
-
-
83. A network of automated water profiler system for monitoring a body of water, comprising:
a plurality of distributed automated water profilers, each comprising;
a winching system having a drum wound with a length of cable, the cable adapted to engage with a hydrological multi-sensor probe;
a power source configured to be in electrical communication with said winching system;
an electric motor configured to be operably associated with the power source and the winching system;
a controller in communication with a relay circuit for selectively controllably powering the motor at desired intervals to activate the winching system so as to automatically obtain a series of data measurements from the probe at a plurality of depths in a liquid column, wherein said system is configured to controllably wind and unwind the cable at desired time intervals to obtain time-dependent data of at least one selected liquid parameter; and
a wireless communication means operably associated with said controller for receiving commands and dynamically transmitting data measurements thereto in substantially real-time; and
at least one remote data acquisition site configured to generate and transmit commands to, and receive data from, each of the automated water profilers, wherein the remote data acquisition site comprises a controller that evaluates the data from each of the distributed automated water profilers and generates trend analysis data of selected hydrological parameters over time. - View Dependent Claims (84)
Specification