Device and system for monitoring valves
First Claim
1. A network system for monitoring ball valves within an industrial facility, which comprises:
- a. a plurality of add-on valve monitoring devices—
VMDs, each VMD is affixed externally to an existing ball valve, and comprises;
a sensor for sensing the angular position of the ball valve;
short range wireless communication unit for transmitting at least immediately upon sensing any change in said ball valve angular position a status message which includes the new angular position of the ball valve as sensed by said sensor and an identification of said VMD; and
mechanism for affixing the add-on VMD to the monitored ball valve in a manner which does not disturb the normal operation of the ball valve; and
b. one or more Valve Device Readers—
VDRs located a short range from one or more of said VMDs for receiving said status messages, and for forwarding the same to a server by Ethernet communication.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The invention relates to a network system for monitoring valves in a facility, which comprises: (a) a plurality of valve monitoring devices—VMDs, each monitoring device is affixed to a valve, and comprises: (a.1) a sensor for sensing the status of the valve; (a.2) short range wireless communication unit for transmitting the status as sensed by said sensor, and for transmitting the status as sensed, together with an identification of said device, to one or more Valve Device Readers—VDRs located within said short range; (a.3) mechanism for affixing the device to the monitored valve in a manner which does not disturb the normal operation of the valve; and (a.4) one or more VDRs for receiving the transmission of the valve status and VMD identification from said VMDs, and for forwarding the same to a server by Ethernet communication.
26 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A network system for monitoring ball valves within an industrial facility, which comprises:
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a. a plurality of add-on valve monitoring devices—
VMDs, each VMD is affixed externally to an existing ball valve, and comprises;a sensor for sensing the angular position of the ball valve; short range wireless communication unit for transmitting at least immediately upon sensing any change in said ball valve angular position a status message which includes the new angular position of the ball valve as sensed by said sensor and an identification of said VMD; and mechanism for affixing the add-on VMD to the monitored ball valve in a manner which does not disturb the normal operation of the ball valve; and b. one or more Valve Device Readers—
VDRs located a short range from one or more of said VMDs for receiving said status messages, and for forwarding the same to a server by Ethernet communication. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A network system for monitoring valves within an industrial facility, which comprises:
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a plurality of valve monitoring devices (VMD), each of said plurality of VMD'"'"'s affixed externally to an existing valve, and comprises; a sensor for sensing an angular position of the valve; a short range wireless communication unit for transmitting a status message, each status message includes the angular position of the valve as sensed by said sensor, together with an identification of said VMD, wherein said status message is transmitted at least immediately upon sensing a change in said valve angular position; and a mechanism for affixing at least one of the plurality of VMDs to the monitored valve in a manner which does not disturb the normal operation of the valve; and at least one Valve Device Readers (VDR) located within a short range of at least one of the plurality of VMDs for receiving from said VMDs said status message transmissions, and for forwarding the same to a server by Ethernet communication, wherein each of the plurality of VMD further comprises a very short range communication unit utilizing Low Frequency (LF) transceiver and protocol for receiving status and measurement information from one or more industrial process sensors that are disposed in a very close range to said VMD location, and for further including said received industrial process sensors status and measurement information in the VMD status message to the one or more VDRs. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. Add-on battery operated Valve Monitoring Device—
- VMD, which is affixed externally to an existing ball valve for monitoring the status of the ball valve within an industrial facility, which comprises;
a sensor for sensing the angular position of the ball valve; short range wireless communication unit for transmitting to one or more Valve Device Readers—
VDRs located within said short range a status message, each status message includes the angular position of the ball valve as sensed by said sensor, together with an identification of said VMD, wherein said status message is transmitted at least immediately upon sensing any change in said ball valve angular position; andmechanism for attaching the device to the monitored ball valve in a manner which does not disturb the normal operation of the ball valve.
- VMD, which is affixed externally to an existing ball valve for monitoring the status of the ball valve within an industrial facility, which comprises;
Specification