Wirelessly Networked Fluid Monitoring Method, System and Apparatus
First Claim
1. A fluid monitoring system, comprising:
- a housing positioned in-ground above a buried fluid conduit, the housing having a lockable access hatch to allow access to an internal volume of the housing from surface level;
at least one sensor accessible through the internal volume and arranged to sense at least one condition of fluid in the fluid conduit; and
a wireless telemetry unit supported in the housing and coupled to receive output signals from the at least one sensor in relation to the at least one condition.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Some embodiments relate to a fluid monitoring system, comprising: a housing positioned in-ground above a buried fluid conduit, the housing having a lockable access hatch to allow access to an internal volume of the housing from surface level; at least one sensor accessible through the internal volume and arranged to sense at least one condition of fluid in the fluid conduit; and a wireless telemetry unit supported in the housing and coupled to receive output signals from the at least one sensor in relation to the at least one condition. Some embodiments relate to methods usable by such systems. Some embodiments relate to fluid supply/drainage zone monitoring systems and methods employing multiple in-ground installations.
-
Citations
41 Claims
-
1. A fluid monitoring system, comprising:
-
a housing positioned in-ground above a buried fluid conduit, the housing having a lockable access hatch to allow access to an internal volume of the housing from surface level; at least one sensor accessible through the internal volume and arranged to sense at least one condition of fluid in the fluid conduit; and a wireless telemetry unit supported in the housing and coupled to receive output signals from the at least one sensor in relation to the at least one condition. - 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, 26, 27, 28, 29)
-
-
25. A fluid monitoring system, comprising:
-
a plurality of sensors positioned to sense conditions of at least one buried fluid conduit; a plurality of wireless telemetry units, each telemetry unit positioned within an in-ground housing proximate at least one of the plurality of sensors and coupled thereto to receive output signals corresponding to sensed conditions; and a server to communicate with the wireless telemetry units via a wireless network, to receive data representative of the sensed conditions.
-
-
30. A fluid monitoring method, comprising:
-
providing a wireless telemetry unit in-ground above a buried fluid conduit, the wireless telemetry unit coupled to receive output signals from at least one sensor arranged to sense at least one condition of fluid in the fluid conduit, the at least one sensor relying on power from the wireless telemetry unit; selectively providing power from the wireless telemetry unit to the at least one sensor; receiving at the wireless telemetry unit output signals from the at least one sensor indicative of at least one fluid condition in the fluid conduit; and discontinuing power from the wireless telemetry unit to the at least one sensor after the receiving. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
-
-
38. A fluid monitoring method, comprising:
-
receiving at a server messages from a plurality of wireless telemetry units communicatively coupled to a plurality of sensors, at least one sensor coupled to each wireless telemetry unit being positioned to sense a condition of at least one buried fluid conduit, the messages comprising data indicative of one or more of the sensed conditions; and processing the message data to infer trends and/or determine an event of interest in relation to the at least one buried fluid conduit. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40)
-
-
41-44. -44. (canceled)
Specification