MOBILE ENVIRONMENTAL DETECTOR

• US 20100004862A1
• Filed: 06/10/2009
• Published: 01/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Vaisala Oyj
• Original Assignee: Quixote Transportation Technologies, Inc. (Vaisala Oyj)
• Inventors: Fuller, Gary, Gentles, Thomas, Golberstein, Moshe
• Application Number:
  US12/482,162
• Publication Number:
  US 20100004862A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/3
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/06 giving a combined indication of weather conditions catathermometers for measuring "cooling value" related either to weather conditions or to comfort of other human environment G01W1/17; computers per se G06
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/17 Catathermometers for measuring "cooling value" related either to weather conditions or to comfort of other human environment

Abstract

A system determines temperatures and relative humidity from a mobile platform. The system includes a mobile sensor that measures relative humidity and a second mobile sensor that measures temperatures. A processor processes the sensor data to determine temperatures at which quantities of air retaining water vapor may be cooled to cause a condensation. The temperatures may be linked to position data that identifies position in many weather conditions.

Claims

1. A system that determines air temperatures and relative humidity in a mobile environment comprising:

a first mobile sensor that measures relative humidity;

a second mobile sensor that measures ambient air temperature; and

a processor that processes sensor data from the first sensor and the second sensor to determine a plurality of temperatures to which quantities of air with quantities of water vapor may be cooled to cause a condensation of the water vapor in the air quantities at a plurality of different locations.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising an interface that connects the processor to a user interface in proximity to the sensors.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a transceiver that transmits sensor information to a destination remote from the processor.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit the sensor data and location data of a vehicle when a weather measurement occurs.

5. The system of claim 2 where the graphical user interface generates indicators identifying weather conditions based upon measured or derived data elements.

6. The system of claim 1 where a plurality of relative dew points are determined from the measured relative humidity and the measured ambient air temperatures.

7. The system of claim 6 further comprising a transceiver configured to wirelessly transmit the plurality of dew points to a remote Internet site.

8. The system of claim 6 further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit the plurality of dew point to a remote server in real-time.

9. The system of claim 6 where the processor is programmed to issue a visual or auditory signal based on at least one of the plurality of dew points.

10. The system of claim 6 further comprising a transceiver programmed to transmit sensor data to a remote location as sensor data is processed by an in-vehicle processor.

11. A system that compares surface temperature and dew point in a mobile environment comprising:

a first mobile sensor that measures humidity;

a second mobile sensor that measures air temperature; and

an in-vehicle processor that processes sensor data from the first sensor and the second sensors to predict a likelihood of precipitation at a plurality locations that the first and second sensors move through.

12. The system of claim 11 further comprising a transmitter configured to transmit data to a local and a remote destination.

13. The system of claim 12 where processor is programmed to compare sensor data and the transmitter is configured to communicate a result of the comparison to a server.

14. The system of claim 11 where the transmitter couples a first vehicle and communicates with a mesh network that conveys the sensor data to a second vehicle.

15. The system of claim 11 where the transmitter couples a first vehicle and communicates with a stationary network that conveys the sensor data to a second vehicle.

16. The system of claim 11 where the transmitter couples a first vehicle and communicates with a stationary network.

17. The system of claim 11 where processor is programmed to compare sensor data and derive a plurality of dew points to determine conditions and locations susceptible to the formation of frost or dew.

18. The system of claim 17 further comprising a transmitter configured to transmit data to a remote Internet destination, where the data includes location information of a vehicle at or near the time that the comparisons are performed.

19. A system that compares air temperature and dew point in a mobile environment comprising:

a first mobile sensor that measures humidity;

a second mobile sensor that measures air temperature; and

a vehicle processor that compares sensor data to derive weather data and communicates results of the comparison to a remote destination through a wireless medium.

20. The system of claim 19 where the vehicle processor communicates with an in-vehicle transmitter that conveys the results to an in-vehicle display.

21. The system of claim 20 where the transmitter conveys the results to a remote server.

22. The system of claim 19 further comprising a transmitter configured to transmit the sensor data to a display and to a remote server based in part on the vehicle processor'"'"'s comparison of a dew point with a measured surface temperature.

23. The system of claim 19 where the first mobile sensor and the second mobile sensor are coupled to a vehicle and the transmitter conveys the results with location information to a remote location in real-time.

24. The system of claim 19 where the processor is further configured to compare an air temperature to a derived dew point to determine a likelihood of a formation of fog.

25. A method that determines dew point at multiple locations through a mobile platform comprising:

receiving surface temperature data generated from a first mobile sensor at a vehicle processor;

receiving relative humidity data generated from a second mobile sensor at the vehicle processor;

receiving ambient air temperature data from a third mobile sensor at the vehicle processor; and

deriving dew point data based at least in part on the data generated by each of the mobile sensors.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising comparing temperature data to dew point data and generating an alarm condition.

27. The method of claim 25 further comprising comparing dew point data to a freeze point and generating an alarm condition.

28. The method of claim 25 further comprising transmitting the sensor data and a status identifier to a remote Internet destination.

29. The method of claim 25 further comprising displaying the sensor data and dew point data.

30. The method of claim 25 further comprising generating a visual or an audible alarm in response to comparing the ambient air temperature data to the dew point data.

31. The method of claim 25 further comprising generating a visual or an audible alarm in response to comparing the freeze point to the dew point data.

32. A computer-readable storage medium retaining a set of instructions for execution by a processor comprising:

an aggregation routine configured to receive and aggregate sensor data from a plurality of temperature sensors and a relative humidity sensor; and

a processing routine configured to generate dew point data based at least in part on some of the aggregate sensor data.

33. The set of instructions of claim 32 where the processing routine is configured to transform the aggregate sensor data and dew point data into a visual representation.

34. The set of instructions of claim 32 where the processing routine is configured to analyze some of the aggregate sensor data, the dew point data, and a freeze point data.

35. The set of instructions of claim 32 where the processing routine is configured to generate audible or visual alarm conditions.