Device, system and method for the location and identification of as-built plants of pipes, conduits, cables or hidden objects

• US 7,969,295 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2008
• Issued: 06/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Alexandre De Oliveira Dal Forno, Claiton Pereira Colvero, Vinicius Rangel Duarte Carneiro
• Original Assignee: Alexandre De Oliveira Dal Forno, Claiton Pereira Colvero, Vinicius Rangel Duarte Carneiro
• Inventors: Dal Forno, Alexandre De Oliveira, Colvero, Claiton Pereira, Carneiro, Vinicius Rangel Duarte
• Primary Examiner(s): Crosland; Donnie L
• Application Number:
  US12/046,882
• Publication Number:
  US 20080252449A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,203 Days
• Field of Search: 340/505, 340/572.1, 340/572.7, 340/572.8
• US Class Current: 340/505
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/04 Permanent marks; Boundary markers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/74 Systems using reradiation of radio waves, e.g. secondary radar systems; Analogous systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 15/00 Tags attached to, or associated with, an object, in order to enable detection of the object record carriers for use with machines having a detectable tag or marker G06K19/00

Abstract

A device 20 for location and identification of pipes, conduits, cables or buried or hidden objects 8 is described without the need of any invasive and/or destructive work, said device comprising at least one transponder 1 utilizing RFID or like technology for identification without any physical contact or line-of-sight, said transponder 1 being attached in a support 7 shaped as a mesh, tape, wire, cable, cordage or alternatively in a device 32/33 such as a bar, tappet, line, stud, mushroom, pipe, marker or the like, device 20 resulting from the combination of 1 and 7 or of 1 and 32/33. A system for location and identification of said objects 8 comprises said device 20 and further a reading and/or writing unit 3 of the information on said pipe, conduit, cable or buried or hidden object 8, at least an antenna 2 besides said pipe, conduit, cable or buried or hidden object 8. Also described is the method for installing device 20, the method for location and identification of a pipe, conduit, cable or buried or hidden object 8, as well as the method for mapping and execution of as-built plants of pipes, conduits, cable or buried or hidden objects 8 without the need of any invasive and/or destructive work.

Claims

1. A device 20 for location and identification of new or pre-existing hidden objects 8 buried in soil 9 covered by surface 10, wherein said device comprises:

a transponder 1; and

a support 32, 33,

wherein said transponder 1 is i) attached to the lower end of support 32, 33 with the aid of weld 30; and

ii) provided with hook-shaped burrs 31, whereby the location and the identification of said hidden objects 8 is performed without the need of any excavation of said surface 10 or said soil 9.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the support 32, 33 is shaped as a bar, a tappet, a line, a stud, a mushroom, a pipe or a marker.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein after installation, marker 33 is configured to stand as a visual warning on surface 10.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein during the installation of said device 20, the weld 30 is configured to be broken so as to physically separate said transponder 1 and said support 32, 33.

5. The device according to claim 4, wherein following the separation of said support 32, 33 and said transponder 1, with removal of said support 32, 33, said transponder is kept operating in its location without any displacement with the aid of burrs 31.