SYSTEM TO EVALUATE AIRBORNE HAZARDS

• US 20130282284A1
• Filed: 04/20/2012
• Published: 10/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United States Department Of Health And Human Services (Government of the United States of America)
• Original Assignee: United States Department Of Health And Human Services (Government of the United States of America)
• Inventors: Vaucher, Gail, Brice, Robert O., Luces, Saba A., O'Brien, Sean G.
• Granted Patent: US 9,911,303 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/3
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/14 Toxic gas alarms G08B21/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 31/00 Predictive alarm systems characterised by extrapolation or other computation using updated historic data

Abstract

A system to evaluate airborne hazards having at least one sensor module which detects atmospheric conditions and generates output signals representative of those atmospheric conditions. A model module receives the output from the sensor and generates a model output signal representative of a calculated wind flow and plume footprint, when applicable, over an area of interest. A display module receives the model output signal and visually displays the calculated wind flow and its effect on a plume if present in near real-time. The final system output is provided to authorized end users in near real-time.

Claims

1. A system to evaluate airborne hazards comprising:

at least one sensor module at a sensor location which detects at least one atmospheric condition and generates a sensor module output signal representative of said at least one atmospheric condition at said sensor location,

a model module which receives the sensor module output signal and periodically generates a model output signal representative of a calculated wind flow over an area of interest, and

a display module which receives said model output signal and visually displays the calculated wind flow over the area of interest.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said calculated wind flow includes a plume.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said atmospheric condition comprises wind direction.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said atmospheric condition comprises wind speed.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said atmospheric condition comprises humidity.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said atmospheric condition comprises temperature.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one sensor module comprises a plurality of spaced apart sensor modules.

8. The system of claim 1 and comprising a quality control module that periodically receives and plots measured meteorological data within the area of interest and an archive module that receives logged meteorological data and stores those data in time-stamped archive files for later analysis by the quality control module or other means.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein said model module automatically periodically receives data from said at least one sensor module on a substantially continuous basis.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein said display module depicts wind direction by displaying at least one arrow corresponding to the wind direction and in which the length of the arrow corresponds to wind speed.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein said display module enables user selected portions of interest to be enlarged and displayed by the display module.

12. A method to evaluate airborne hazards comprising the steps of:

detecting at least one atmospheric condition from a sensor module at at least one location and generating a sensor module output signal representative of said at least one atmospheric condition,

receiving the sensor module output signal by a model module and periodically generating a model output signal representative of a calculated wind flow over an area of interest, and

displaying said calculated wind flow over the area of interest on a display module.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said calculated wind flow includes a plume.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein said atmospheric condition comprises wind direction.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein said atmospheric condition comprises wind speed.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein said atmospheric condition comprises humidity.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein said atmospheric condition comprises temperature.

18. The method of claim 12 and comprising the step of periodically saving the calculated wind flow to storage.

19. The method of claim 12 wherein the entire process is completed in near real-time.