Systems and methods for operational, systems or integrity management of natural gas pipeline infrastructures
First Claim
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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.
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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.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. An operational monitoring system for natural gas pipeline infrastructures, comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of operational monitoring in a natural gas utility pipeline infrastructure, the method comprising the steps of:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of collecting operational, damage, tampering, real-time or historical information regarding natural gas pipelines the method comprising the steps of:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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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. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
- providing natural gas distribution pipeline network;
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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.
- View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
Specification