A DEVICE, METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MONITORING A NETWORK OF FLUID-CARRYING CONDUITS

• US 20150308627A1
• Filed: 11/28/2013
• Published: 10/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IP2IPO Innovations Limited (IP Group plc)
• Original Assignee: Imperial Innovations Limited (Imperial College London)
• Inventors: Hoskins, John Asher, Stoianov, Ivan Iordanov
• Granted Patent: US 10,030,818 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: E03B 7/00 Water main or service pipe systems pipes or tubes in general F16L
• CPC Class Codes: F17D 5/02 Preventing, monitoring, or locating loss
• CPC Class Codes: F17D 5/06 using electric or acoustic means
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/004 Remote reading of utility meters to a fixed location
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 1/00 Measuring the volume flow or mass flow of fluid or fluent solid material wherein the fluid passes through a meter in a continuous flow measuring a proportion of the volume flow G01F5/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 90/20 Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector smart grids supporting the management or operation of end-user stationary applications in general, or like technologies with no associated climate change mitigation effect Y04S20/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/30 Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading

Abstract

A liquid-flow monitoring device (10) arranged to monitor the flow of liquid in a conduit. The device (10) comprises sampling means (20), processing means (30) and data storage means (40). The sampling means is arranged to receive data substantially continuously from a sensor (12) indicative of at least one variable sensed by the sensor (12) indicative of fluid flow in a conduit and to sample the data to produce a stream of sampled data. The processing means (30) is arranged to process the stream of sampled data to extract at least one sub-sampled stream therefrom, the sub-sampled stream comprising a plurality of data sets, each data set being a statistical subset of the stream of sampled data over a respective data-set period. The data storage means (40) is arranged to store the at least one sub-sampled stream.

Claims

1. A liquid-flow monitoring device arranged to monitor the flow of liquid in a conduit, the device comprising sampling means, processing means and data storage means, wherein:

the sampling means is arranged to receive data substantially continuously from a sensor indicative of at least one variable sensed by the sensor indicative of fluid flow in a conduit and to sample the data to produce a stream of sampled data;

the processing means is arranged to process the stream of sampled data to extract at least one sub-sampled stream therefrom, the sub-sampled stream comprising a plurality of data sets, each data set being a statistical subset of the stream of sampled data over a respective data-set period; and

the data storage means is arranged to store the at least one sub-sampled stream.

3. A device according to claim 1 or a method according to claim 2, wherein the statistical subset comprised in each data set of the subsampled stream comprises the maximum and/or minimum and/or mean and/or standard deviation and/or another statistical value of the data over the respective period of the data set.

4. A method according to any preceding claim and comprising the step of the processing means processing the stream of sampled data to extract summary information therefrom.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the device comprises communication means and the method comprises the step of the communications means periodically transmitting the summary information to a central location remote from the device.

6. A method according to claim 4 or claim 5 wherein the at least one sub-sampled stream comprises a more complete representation of the stream of sampled data over a particular period than is provided by the extracted summary information over that period.

7. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the statistical subset comprised in each data set of the subsampled stream comprises the maximum and/or minimum and/or mean and/or standard deviation and/or another statistical value of the data over the respective period of the data set.

8. A method according to any preceding claim and comprising the step of, upon receiving a request for a more complete representation of the stream of sampled data at or over a specified time, to transmit one or more of the data sets corresponding to the specified time.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein the request is received from a central location remote from the device or from an interrogating apparatus coupled locally with the device.

10. A method according to any preceding claim, where there is a plurality of subsampled streams, each comprising a plurality of data sets that comprise a statistical subset of the stream of sampled data, the data sets of each subsampled stream comprising a statistical subset over periods of different respective length.

11. A method according to claim 10 when dependent on claim 8, wherein the request for a more complete representation is a request for a respective portion from each of a plurality of the subsampled streams, and wherein the communication means, in response to this request, transmits the or each data set in each of these portions.

12. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the or each subsampled stream is stored in a circular buffer.

13. A method according to any of claim 4 to claim 12, wherein processing the stream of sampled data to extract summary information therefrom comprises processing the stream to identify transient events and/or non-transient events by summing the difference between successive data points in stream over a time period to give a cumulative sum, and comparing the sum against a probability of that sum being indicative of a transient event to determine whether or not a transient event has been identified.

14. A method according to claim 13, wherein the processing the stream of sampled data to identify transient and/or non-transient events comprises processing the stream over a rolling time period in the stream.

15. A method according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the sum is compared against a record of the probability of that sum being indicative of a transient, the record being a probability distribution function of probability of the sum occurring against the value of the sum.

16. A method occurring to claim 15, comprising generating the record during operation of the device by recording each sum and its frequency of occurrence.

17. A method according to any of claim 13 to claim 16, wherein the record comprises an indication of a threshold indicative of the probability value below which it is determined that the sum is indicative of a transient event and hence that a transient event has been identified, the method comprising comparing, by referencing the record, the probability of the calculated cumulative sum occurring against that threshold.

18. A method according to any of claim 13 to claim 16, wherein, in response to identifying a transient event, the device operating display means of the device to indicate this.

19. A method according to any of claim 13 to claim 17, wherein, in response to identifying a transient event, the communications means transmits a signal indicative of this to the or a central location.

20. A method according to any of claim 4 to claim 19, wherein processing the stream of data to extract the summary information therefrom may comprise determining summary statistical information from the stream of sampled data, the summary statistical information forming at least part of the extracted summary information;

optionally the summary statistical information comprising one or more maximum and/or minimum and/or mean and/or variance and/or standard deviation value of the portion of the stream.

21. A method according to claim 13, or any of claims 14 to 20 when dependent on claim 13, wherein, in response to identifying a transient event, the processing means generates a transient descriptor that indicates one or more characteristics of the identified transient event, a transient descriptor indicating, for example, the gradient of the transient, the direction of the gradient, the start and/or stop magnitudes of the transient or the dissipation gradient.

22. A method according to claim 21, wherein the or each transient descriptor is used by the processing means to generate an indication of the severity of the transient by comparing the value of the transient descriptor against an indication of the probability of that value of the transient descriptor occurring.

23. A method according to claim 22, wherein the value of the transient descriptor is compared with a probability distribution of measured values of the transient descriptor during use to ascertain the probability of that value.

24. A method according to claim 23, wherein the ascertained probability is compared with one or more thresholds to give the severity of the transient, optionally classifying the impact of the transient on the conduit as low impact, medium impact or high impact.

25. A method according to any of claim 22 to claim 24 wherein the ascertained severity of the transient is used to determine the frequency of transmission of the extracted summary information from the communication means.

26. A method according to any preceding claim wherein the device has plural channels of sensed data and the method comprises the device receiving respective data substantially continuously from each of a plurality of sensors indicative of a respective variable sensed by each sensor;

the sampling means sampling the data to produce a respective stream of sampled data for each of the variables sensed, the method such that each stream is handled in parallel in substantially the same way.

27. A device according to claim 1 or claim 3 and arranged to carry out a method according to any preceding claim.

34. Central control and processing means arranged to receive information from each of a plurality of devices according to any preceding claim in response to a request from the central control and processing means.

37. Central control and processing means according to claim 34 and further comprising communication means are arranged to receive, from the plurality of remote devices, respective extracted information indicative of a transient fluid-flow event in a respective length of conduit with which the remote device is associated, the extracted information comprising a substantially precise time stamp associated with the transient event.

38. A liquid-flow monitoring system for monitoring the flow of liquid in a plurality of conduits making up a network, the system comprising a plurality of the devices according to any preceding claim and central control and processing means according to any of claim 34, 36 or 37.

2. A method of monitoring the flow of liquid in a conduit, the method comprising the steps of a liquid-flow monitoring device:

receiving data substantially continuously from a sensor, the data indicative of fluid flow in a conduit, and operating sampling means of the device to sample the data to produce a stream of sampled data;

processing, using processing means of the device, the stream of sampled data to extract at least one sub-sampled stream therefrom, the sub-sampled stream comprising a plurality of data sets, each data set being a statistical subset of the stream of sampled data over a respective data-set period; and

storing, using storage means of the device, the at least one sub-sampled stream.

28. A device according to claim 28, wherein the device is be modular, components of the device being house in respective housings that can be locally, and optionally releasably, coupled together for operation.

29. A device according to claim 28, wherein the storage means and optionally the communication means, if any, is housed in a memory module that comprises a display readable by a user to indicate the operation of the device.

30. A device according to claim 28, wherein the storage means is housed in a memory module and is arranged for local communication with interrogation apparatus, such as a portable computer, and optionally is arranged to operate as a server during such communication.

31. A device according to any of claim 28 to claim 30, wherein one or more module is pressurized to contain air above atmospheric pressure such that the module tends to float in water and to resist ingression.

32. A device according to claim 31, wherein the or each pressurized module may comprise an air pressure sensor arranged to provide data to the processing means, wherein, upon detecting a drop in air pressure below a specified threshold, the processing means is arranged to identify that the module in question should be examined and generate a signal indicative of this.

33. A device according to claim 32, wherein the battery module comprises an ID chip to uniquely identify the battery, the ID chip being readable by the processing means when the battery module is connected for operation.

35. A method of analyzing fluid flow in a network of conduits comprising receiving at a central control and processing means information from each of a plurality of devices arranged to measure fluid flow in a conduit of the network, the information from each device indicative of a transient event and comprising a substantially accurate time stamp of the occurrence of that event.

36. Central control and processing means for identifying the approximate location of the causes of transient events in a network of conduits through which fluid flows, the central control control and processing means comprising processing means arranged to determine based on information from each of a plurality of devices arranged to measure a parameter indicative of fluid flow in a conduit, and knowledge of the geographical position of each device, the approximate location of the cause of the transient event.