Monitoring system for concrete pilings and method of installation

• US 7,637,166 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2005
• Issued: 12/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smart Infrastructure LLC
• Original Assignee: Smart Structures, Inc.
• Inventors: Hecht, Kurt, Hecht, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Caputo; Lisa M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Davis; Octavia
• Application Number:
  US11/188,492
• Publication Number:
  US 20060021447A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,618 Days
• Field of Search: 738/03
• US Class Current: 73/803
• CPC Class Codes: E02D 13/06 for observation while placing
• CPC Class Codes: E02D 33/00 Testing foundations or foundation structures testing methods and apparatus, see the relevant subclasses of class G01; testing structures or apparatus as regards function, in general, G01M; testing or determining chemical or physical properties, in general G01N
• CPC Class Codes: E02D 5/22 Piles sheet piles, i.e. elements shaped to mutually lock or mate E02D5/02; pile shoes E02D5/72; foundations on piles E02D27/12, E02D27/20
• CPC Class Codes: E02D 5/34 Concrete or concrete-like piles cast in position ; Apparatus for making same E02D5/50 takes precedence; moulds E02D5/665; placing, removing moulds E02D7/00 - E02D11/00; placing the concrete E02D15/04
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2001/021 Correlating sampling sites with geographical information, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/00881 network configurations
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2203/0664 using witness specimens
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/383 Concrete or cement
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/00871 Communications between instruments or with remote terminals

Abstract

A system for tracking and monitoring data related to the manufacture, installation and/or life cycle of concrete structures, such as pilings, as well as related system components and methods for tracking, storing and accessing such data is provided. The system utilizes one or more embeddable antenna assemblies as well as sensor packages that are installed in the concrete structure form before casting. The antenna(s) provide wireless communication of the data from the structure. On board memory is also provided to store structure related data with the structure. A system for tracking a pile during driving is also provided.

Claims

1. A method of forming a piling with wireless monitoring capabilities, comprising

placing strands in a piling form;

inserting a sensor package between the strands to position sensors of the sensor package in a piling core area;

placing an antenna so that the antenna is embedded flush with one side of the piling near a top of the piling;

placing at least one radio transmitter associated with the antenna so that it will be positioned within the piling;

securing the sensor package in position using a spring loaded support assembly that is generally vertically inserted into the piling form and resiliently engages at least two opposing ones of the strands via an outwardly directed spring force

connecting the sensor package to the antenna via the radio using wires or cable; and

casting concrete in the piling form to embed the sensor package and the antenna.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing the spring loaded support assembly having upper and lower rigid U-shaped frames that are connected to one another, at least one strand engaging member being located on each of the frames for engaging the piling strands; and

a carrier sled for receiving the sensors connected to at least one of the U-shaped frames.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

the carrier sled comprising a mounting plate for the sensors; and

attaching the sensors to the mounting plate.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein at least one of the strand engaging members is formed from a spring material for resiliently engaging the piling strands.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensors comprise a strain gauge and an accelerometer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor package comprises first and second sensor packages, the method further comprising:

positioning a first sensor package in a location near a tip of the piling being formed;

positioning the second sensor package near a top of the piling being formed, both sensor packages being connected to the antenna;

positioning a tube between the first sensor package and the antenna at the top of the piling;

providing an excess wire or cable reservoir chamber at a tip end of the tube; and

providing excess of the wire or cable in the reservoir that can be drawn up from the reservoir.

7. A method of monitoring pilings, comprising:

inserting a sensor package between strands or reinforcements in a piling form to position sensors in a core area of a piling;

holding the sensor package in place generally centered in a core of the piling using a spring loaded support assembly that is generally vertically inserted into the piling form and engages at least two opposing strands with a spring force of the spring loaded support assembly;

casting the piling;

driving the piling and obtaining data from the sensor package during driving; and

at least one of monitoring the data obtained from the sensor package during driving and monitoring and using the data during the driving to adjust driving parameters for the piling.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

retrofitting the piling with a networked monitoring node that is connected to the sensor package;

retaining unique addressing information of a given piling, by logically linking

a sensor package address ID; and

connecting the node to an external gateway for data transmission for long term monitoring.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

storing pile data in a memory located in the piling.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

for a piling having the top cut off after driving, pulling excess wire or cable from a wire reservoir in proximity to a tip wire or cable reservoir in order to connect a tip sensor package to the networked monitoring node.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

providing a GPS at the piling;

obtaining a location for the piling; and

obtaining or determining soil properties for the location using the GPS.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

providing a temperature sensor with the sensor package; and

monitoring a curing of the piling using temperature data from the sensor package.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

providing a non-volatile, re-writable memory in the piling; and

storing and updating non-dynamic drive related data in the non-volatile, re-writable memory.

14. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

using absolute internal strain information from the data obtained from the sensor package located inside the piling core to maximize driving efficiency.

15. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

tracking a number of blows through data transmitted from the sensor package including at least one of an accelerometer and a strain gauge in a piling;

tracking a height of the piling above a reference height using a laser lidar, which tracks a reference marker on a top of the piling or through differential barometric pressure between altimeters located at the top of the piling and the reference height.

16. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

placing an antenna so that the antenna is embedded flush with one side of the piling near a top of the piling;

placing at least one radio transmitter associated with the antenna so that it will be positioned within the piling; and

connecting the sensor package to the radio transmitter.