Method of and apparatus for detecting leakage into the bilge of a sea vessel
First Claim
1. In a vessel having a bilge pump for pumping bilge water overboard and means responsive to bilge water level for operating said bilge pump, a method of detecting excessive leakage of water into the bilge, comprising the steps of monitoring on time of the bilge pump;
- numerically accumulating the on time of said bilge pump over a period of time; and
correlating the accumulated on time of the pump for the period of time with an expected accumulated on time for normal bilge water leakage for said period of time to identify excessive bilge water leakage and, in response to said correlating step, providing an indication of excessive or non-excessive bilge water leakage.
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Abstract
In a sea vessel having a bilge pump energized in response to bilge water level, an operating parameter of the bilge pump, such as on-time or water output, is monitored and compared with a normal or expected reference value of the parameter to indirectly detect leakage into the bilge. The reference value may be manually set by the operator or may be automatically set in response to circuitry for obtaining the running average of the parameter previously monitored. In one embodiment, an alarm is triggered if the reference is exceeded by the monitored parameter indicative of excessive leakage. In a second embodiment, the monitored parameter is compared with two references. A first alarm at the vessel is triggered if the monitored bilge pump parameter is above the first reference indicating slightly excessive leakage into the bilge whereas a second alarm, which may be remote, is triggered if the monitored parameter is above the second, higher reference indicating grossly excessive leakage.
49 Citations
23 Claims
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1. In a vessel having a bilge pump for pumping bilge water overboard and means responsive to bilge water level for operating said bilge pump, a method of detecting excessive leakage of water into the bilge, comprising the steps of monitoring on time of the bilge pump;
- numerically accumulating the on time of said bilge pump over a period of time; and
correlating the accumulated on time of the pump for the period of time with an expected accumulated on time for normal bilge water leakage for said period of time to identify excessive bilge water leakage and, in response to said correlating step, providing an indication of excessive or non-excessive bilge water leakage. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 22, 23)
- numerically accumulating the on time of said bilge pump over a period of time; and
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2. An apparatus for detecting excessive leakage into a vessel having a bilge pump for pumping bilge water overboard in response to bilge water level, comprising means for monitoring operation of said bilge pump, means for numerically accumulating an operating parameter of said bilge pump and means for comparing the accumulated parameter over a period of time with a reference value of said accumulated parameter, wherein said operating parameter is an on time of said bilge pump, including timer means for measuring said on time of said bilge pump, wherein said reference value is an average value of said operating parameter previously monitored, including means for obtaining a running average of said operating value and means responsive to said averaging means for setting the reference value supplied to said comparing means.
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3. An apparatus for detecting excessive leakage into a vessel having a bilge pump for pumping bilge water overboard in response to bilge water level, comprising means for monitoring operation of said bilge pump, means for numerically accumulating an operating parameter of said bilge pump and means for comparing the accumulated parameter over a period of time with a reference value of said accumulated parameter, wherein said operating parameter is an on time of said bilge pump, including timer means for measuring said on time of said bilge pump, wherein said bilge pump includes means for selectively controlling said pump in a bilge water level responsive mode and in a manual mode, said parameter accumulating means being operative in both said water level responsive mode and said manual mode of said bilge pump.
- 10. An apparatus for detecting excessive leakage into a vessel having a bilge pump for pumping bilge water overboard in response to bilge water level, comprising means for monitoring on time of said bilge pump, means for numerically accumulating the on time of said bilge pump and means for comparing the accumulated on time over a period of time with a reference value of said accumulated on time, including timer means for measuring said on time of said bilge pump, means for displaying said numerical value of said bilge pump on time and alarm means energized in response to said monitored and reference accumulated on times.
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20. In a vessel having a bilge pump for pumping bilge water overboard and means responsive to bilge water level for operating said bilge pump, a method of detecting excessive leakage of water into the bilge, comprising the steps of monitoring an amount of water pumped by said bilge pump;
- numerically accumulating a value of the amount of pumped water for a period of time; and
correlating a value of the accumulated pumped bilge water for the period of time with an expected value corresponding to normal bilge water leakage to identify excessive leakage and, in response to said correlating step, providing an indication of excessive or non-excessive bilge water leakage.
- numerically accumulating a value of the amount of pumped water for a period of time; and
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21. An apparatus for detecting excessive leakage into a vessel having a bilge pump for pumping bilge water overboard in response to bilge water level, comprising flow meter means for monitoring an amount of water pumped by said bilge pump, means for numerically accumulating the pumped bilge water amount for a time period and means for comparing a value of the accumulated pumped bilge water amount with a reference value of said accumulated pumped bilge water amount for the time period;
- and alarm means energized in response to accumulated and reference values of said accumulated pumped bilge water amount.
Specification