Systems and methods for operational, systems or integrity management of natural gas pipeline infrastructures

• US 20070261505A1
• Filed: 05/12/2006
• Published: 11/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Patrick Nunally
• Original Assignee: Patrick Nunally
• Inventors: Nunally, Patrick
• Granted Patent: US 8,076,928 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/865.900
• CPC Class Codes: F17D 5/00 Protection or supervision of installations arrangements for protecting foundations E02D31/00; protecting pipes from damage or internal or external wear F16L57/00, against corrosion and scale F16L58/00; investigation of the fluid-tightness of structures G01M3/00

Abstract

The present invention generally relates to communications. More particularly, the invention concerns methods and systems for operational, systems or integrity management of pipeline infrastructures. This invention operates by broadcasting wireless signals through gas distribution networks and analyzing the traversed signals to assess said operational, systems or integrity of said natural gas pipelines.

Claims

1. An operational monitoring system for natural gas pipeline infrastructures, comprising:

a transmitter located at a first location arranged to transmit a wireless signal through natural gas contained within a pipeline infrastructure; and

a receiver located at a second location structured to receive the wireless signal transmitted through said natural gas contained within said pipeline infrastructure; and

means to analyze said received wireless signal indications of operational changes in said natural gas pipeline infrastructure.

2. The operational monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the means to analyze said received wireless signal includes a microprocessor or a Digital Signal Processor.

3. The operational monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the wireless signal comprises a pulse of electromagnetic energy having a duration that can range between about 0.05 nanoseconds to about 100 nanoseconds.

4. The operational monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the wireless transmission power can range between about 100 power decibels to about −

90 power decibels, as measured at a single frequency.

5. The operational monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the wireless transmitter comprises a modulator that is structured to transmit a plurality of wireless signals.

6. The operational monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the wireless receiver comprises a detector structured to receive no less than one wireless signal.

7. The operational monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the wireless transmitter and receiver are substantially co-located such that wireless transmissions reflected by the pipeline infrastructure are received.

8. The operational monitoring system of claim 1, wherein a pipe employed in the said natural gas pipeline network is selected from the group consisting of:

steel, plastic, iron, copper or a gas containment material.

9. The operational monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the natural gas pipeline network is interconnected at no less than one location to a network selected from a group consisting of:

power line, optical, coaxial, wireless, a community access television network, a hybrid fiber coax system network, a public switched telephone network, a wide area network, a local area network, a metropolitan area network, a TCP/IP network, a dial-up network, a switched network, a dedicated network, a nonswitched network, a public network and a private network.

10. A method of operational monitoring in a natural gas utility pipeline infrastructure, the method comprising the steps of:

providing the natural gas utility pipeline infrastructure;

transmitting a wireless signal through the contents of the natural gas utility pipeline infrastructure;

receiving of said wireless signal which has traversed said contents of said natural gas utility pipeline infrastructure; and

analysis of said traversed signal for indications of operational significance.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the natural gas utility distribution infrastructure is selected from the group consisting of:

a local gas utility, a regional gas utility, a private gas distribution infrastructure, and a public gas distribution infrastructure.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein at least one point of wireless signal transmission and least one point of wireless signal reception are arranged as selected from the group consisting of:

point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, multipoint-to-point, multipoint-to-multipoint and radar.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the wireless signal comprises one or any combination of a pulse of electromagnetic energy having a duration that can range between about 0.05 nanoseconds to about 100 nanoseconds.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the wireless signal a transmission power that can range between about 100 power decibels to about −

90 power decibels, as measured at a single frequency.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the wireless signal transmission represents information selected from a group consisting of:

test patterns, data sets, network traffic, telephony data, high-speed data, digital video data, digital television data, Internet communication data, audio data, predetermined indexes and spectral characterization patterns.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the wireless signal is transmitted simultaneously with natural gas utility service.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the operational monitoring utilizes differences between the transmitted and received wireless signals to determine indications of operational significance.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the wireless signal and a natural gas utility distribution use a substantially common pathway for electromagnetic radiation spectrum and natural gas conveyance.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein wireless signals are transmitted in a frequency band that can range from between about 10 MHz to about 80 GHz.

20. The method of claim 10, wherein multiple wireless signals utilize separate portions of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum.

21. A method of collecting operational, damage, tampering, real-time or historical information regarding natural gas pipelines the method comprising the steps of:

providing natural gas utility distribution pipeline infrastructure;

broadcasting at least one wireless signal within the gas resident in the said natural gas utility distribution pipeline infrastructure;

receiving at least a portion of said wireless signal broadcasted through said gas resident in the said distribution system; and

subsequent analysis of data or signal errors in the received wireless signals to determine indications of operational, damage, tampering, trend and/or temporal significance.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said wireless signal comprises a modulated data transmission.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein said subsequent analysis of data or signal errors in the received wireless signal is performed in part by a microprocessor or digital signal processor.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein said subsequent analysis of the received wireless signal is performed at a central location.

25. A method of natural gas distribution pipeline integrity monitoring, the method comprising the steps of:

providing natural gas distribution pipeline network;

propagation of electromagnetic energy through the gas contained within the pipeline;

detection of electromagnetic energy which has propagated through the gas contained within the pipeline; and

analysis of the detected electromagnetic energy for variations representative of changes in the integrity of the distribution pipeline.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the electromagnetic energy comprise a radio signal.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the electromagnetic energy comprises at least one pulse of electromagnetic energy having a duration that can range between about 0.1 nanoseconds to about 100 nanoseconds.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the electromagnetic energy comprises a modulated carrier frequency.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the electromagnetic energy is used to transmit data selected from a group consisting of:

telephony data, high-speed data, digital video data, digital television data, Internet communication data, audio data, test data, test patterns and test waveforms.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the electromagnetic energy is transmitted in a frequency band that can range from between about 10 MHz to about 80 GHz.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein the electromagnetic energy is divided by coding such that multiple data signal may use substantially the same electromagnetic radiation spectrum.

32. A information system structured to transceive wireless signals through a natural gas pipeline, the system comprising:

a transmitter positioned to emit electromagnetic energy within a natural gas pipeline, a receiver positioned to detect electromagnetic energy within said natural gas pipeline and electronic means to acquire, digitize, transform, analyze, signal process, filter, interpret, classify, store and/or transmit data derived from said detected electromagnetic energy to assess the spatiotemporal constancy of said natural gas pipeline.

33. The information system of claim 32, wherein the electromagnetic energy comprises a radio signal.

34. The information system of claim 33, wherein the electromagnetic energy comprises a pulse of electromagnetic energy having a duration that can range between about 0.05 nanoseconds to about 100 nanoseconds.

35. The information system of claim 33, wherein the electromagnetic energy is a modulated carrier that is structured to transmit a plurality of data signals.

36. The information system of claim 33, wherein the electromagnetic energy receiver detects signals representative of data modulated at a fixed pulse rate frequency.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein the electromagnetic energy receiver detects signals representative of data modulated at a variable pulse rate frequency.