DETECTING LEAKS IN A FLUID DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

• US 20140121999A1
• Filed: 10/25/2013
• Published: 05/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mueller International LLC (Mueller Water Products Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Mueller International LLC (Mueller Water Products Incorporated)
• Inventors: Bracken, Marc, Yusuf, Shabbir
• Granted Patent: US 9,939,344 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/51
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 3/243 for pipes

Abstract

Technologies for detecting leaks in a fluid distribution system are described herein. Historical leak detection information is received from a sensor in the fluid distribution system and collected in a database. A baseline is determined from the historical leak information. Current leak detection information is then received from the sensor and the probability of a leak in the fluid distribution system is determined based on a difference between the current leak detection information and the baseline.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method comprising the steps of:

receiving, at a processor, historical leak detection information from a first sensor in a fluid distribution system;

collecting, by the processor, the historical leak detection information in a database;

determining, by the processor, a baseline from the historical leak information;

receiving, at the processor, current leak detection information from the first sensor; and

determining, by the processor, a probability of a leak in the fluid distribution system based on a difference between the current leak detection information and the baseline.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the leak detection information comprises acoustic signal information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the leak detection information comprises time stamp information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the current leak information is received from a first node in a mesh network communicatively connected to the processor through one or more intermediate nodes.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first sensor comprises one from the group consisting of a piezoelectric sensor, an acoustic transducer, a hydrophone, a pressure sensor, and an accelerometer.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing an alarm to an operator system based on the probability of the leak.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving historical leak detection information from a plurality of sensors in the fluid distribution system.

8. A system for detecting a leak in a fluid distribution system, the system comprising:

a plurality of leak detectors in the fluid distribution system, each leak detector comprising one or more sensors, a processing device, and a first communication device, the processing device configured to receive signal data from the one or more sensors, process the signal data, and send the processed signal data via the communication device to a host; and

the host comprising a processor, a database, and a communication module, the processor configured to receive via the communication module the processed signal data from the plurality of leak detectors, store the processed signal data in the database, determine a baseline from the stored signal data for each of the plurality of leak detectors, receive later signal data from one of the plurality of leak detectors that is different from the baseline determined for that leak detector, and determine that a leak has occurred in the fluid distribution system based on the difference between the later signal data and the baseline determined for that leak detector.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processing device is configured to send the processed signal data to the host on a periodic basis.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the processing device is configured to send the processed signal data to the host in response to receiving a request from the host.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the processing device is configured to, upon receiving signal data from a first sensor of the one or more sensors indicative of a leak in the fluid distribution system, activate a second sensor of the one or more sensors to collect additional signal data to be sent to the host.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the second sensor is configured to collect data regarding one or more of a size of the leak and a location of the leak.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the leak detector comprises an acoustic sensor, a pressure sensor, and a temperature sensor, wherein each of the sensors may be activated by the processing device independently.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein processing the signal data comprises time stamping the signal data.

15. The system of claim 14, where the processing device is further configured to exchange timing information with other of the plurality of leak detectors to synchronize time stamping of signal data between the plurality of leak detectors.

16. An apparatus comprising:

one or more sensors;

a communication device; and

a processing device operatively coupled to the one or more sensors and the communication device and configured to

receive an acoustic waveform from the one or more sensors,

compare the acoustic waveform to a predetermined threshold to determine if the predetermined threshold has been exceeded,

upon determining that the predetermined threshold has been exceeded, remove a section of the acoustic waveform that exceeds the threshold and rejoin the waveform, and

upon rejoining the acoustic waveform, transmit data regarding the acoustic waveform to a host via the communication device, the host configured to detect a leak in a fluid distribution system based on the data regarding the acoustic waveform.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, where the predetermined threshold comprises a value of difference in the acoustic waveform and a normal waveform without a presence of external noises.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processing device is further configured to:

detect a discontinuity in the acoustic waveform at a position of the removed section; and

upon detecting the discontinuity, perform a wave smoothing operation to smooth the discontinuity in the acoustic waveform.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the apparatus is coupled to a distribution main of the fluid distribution system.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the fluid distribution system comprises a water distribution system and the apparatus is coupled to a hydrant of the water distribution system.