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Method and apparatus for water level determination

  • US 6,545,286 B1
  • Filed: 11/03/1999
  • Issued: 04/08/2003
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/03/1999
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A system for determining the level of a body of water, whether free flowing or stationary, said system comprising:

  • a rotatable reflective element including an inclined reflective surface;

    a light source for directing a light beam along a first path onto said reflective surface so that the beam is reflected from said surface and redirected along a further path;

    a motor for rotating said reflective element so that the redirected beam is scanned and so that, during scanning thereof, the redirected beam is directed onto the surface of the body of water such that at least a portion of the redirected beam is reflected from the surface as a reflected beam;

    an optical detector array, physically unconnected to and located at a determined distance from said reflective element on the opposite side of the body of water from said reflective element, in a common horizontal plane with said reflective element, for receiving the reflected beam and for producing an output in response thereto; and

    controller means for receiving said output of said optical detector array, for determining, based on said output, a determined scan angle of said reflected beam with respect to true vertical, at which the reflected beam is received by said optical detector array, and for calculating, based on said determined scan angle and the determined distance between the reflective element and the optical detector array, the distance from the common horizontal plane to the water surface so as to determine the water level, said controller means including a controller for receiving said output and for producing a corresponding control signal, and a counter controlled by said controller for, responsive to receiving said control signal, producing a scan angle count related to said scan angle.

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