System and method for hazardous area classification

• US 8,706,456 B2
• Filed: 05/20/2010
• Issued: 04/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Baker Engineering & Risk Consultants, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Baker Engineering & Risk Consultants, Inc.
• Inventors: Mather, William, Harvey, Brian, Wigal, Karen, Moses, Roy, Hoeppner, Edward, Xiaoyun, Qin
• Primary Examiner(s): Thangavelu, Kandasamy
• Application Number:
  US12/784,301
• Publication Number:
  US 20100299110A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,433 Days
• Field of Search: 703/6, 703/2, 463/31, 705/10, 705/1, 705/29, 705/7.12, 705/7, 705/12, 340/572.8, 340/521, 340/539.13, 340/286.02, 340/540, 701/420, 235/375, 707/100, 702/19, 702/22
• US Class Current: 703/6
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 19/002 Avoiding undesirable reactions or side-effects, e.g. avoiding explosions, or improving the yield by suppressing side-reactions
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2219/00261 Predicting runaway of the chemical reaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/13 Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads

Abstract

A computer processor driven system and method capable of identifying and constructing representations of hazardous areas. The hazardous area classification system has one or more processors, and a computer readable medium containing instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of determining a position of a hazardous area for a predetermined location using a calculation based on a plurality of parameters, and generating a representation of the hazardous area.

Claims

1. A hazardous area classification system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium containing instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of;

inputting a plurality of predetermined parameters associated with a location;

analyzing the plurality of predetermined parameters as indicative of a potential hazard in the location;

determining a position of a hazardous area for the location using a calculation based on the analysis of the plurality of predetermined parameters; and

generating a representation of the hazardous area.

2. The hazardous area classification system of claim 1, wherein the predetermined parameters comprise:

a quantity of a material,

a temperature of the material, and

a pressure of the material.

3. The hazardous area classification system of claim 1, wherein the predetermined parameters comprise:

a size of a container containing a material, and

a rate of flow of the material within the container.

4. The hazardous area classification system of claim 1, wherein the predetermined parameters comprise a release point where a material is releasable from a container containing the material.

5. The hazardous area classification system of claim 1, wherein the predetermined parameters comprise a parameter of a building in which a container containing a material is housed.

6. The hazardous area classification system of claim 1, wherein the predetermined parameters comprise a location of an ignition source.

7. The hazardous area classification system of claim 1, wherein the predetermined parameters comprise at least one parameter of a road.

8. The hazardous area classification system of claim 7, wherein the at least one predetermined parameter of the road comprises:

a location of the road,

a size of the road, and

an amount of vehicular activity on the road.

9. The hazardous area classification system of claim 1, wherein the representation of the hazardous area is a 3-dimensional representation.

10. The hazardous area classification system of claim 1, wherein the representation includes hazardous area contours.

11. The hazardous area classification system of claim 1, wherein the representation includes a report which indicates electrical safety and ignition sources of the hazardous area.

12. The hazardous area classification system of claim 1, wherein the representation includes a report which indicates a risk level and location of electrical equipment within the hazardous area.

13. The hazardous area classification system of claim 1, wherein the representation includes a report which indentifies mislabeled or unvalidated electrical equipment in the hazardous area.

14. A method for hazardous area classification, comprising the steps of:

inputting a plurality of predetermined parameters related to a material in a location into one or more processors;

analyzing the plurality of predetermined parameters as indicative of a potential hazard in the location;

using the one or more processors to determine the position of a hazardous area in the location using a calculation based on the analysis of the plurality of predetermined parameters; and

using the one or more processors to generate a representation of the hazardous area.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the predetermined parameters comprise:

a quantity of a material,

a temperature of the material, and

a pressure of the material.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the predetermined parameters comprise:

a size of a container containing a material, and

a rate of flow of the material within the container.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the predetermined parameters comprise a release point of where a material is releasable from a container containing the material.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the predetermined parameters comprise a parameter of a building in which a container containing a material is housed.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the predetermined parameters comprise a location of an ignition source.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the predetermined parameters comprise a parameter of a road.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least one predetermined parameter of the road comprises:

a location of the road,

a size of the road, and

an amount of vehicular activity on the road.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the representation of the hazardous area is a 3-dimensional representation.

23. A method for hazardous area classification, comprising the steps of:

A) selecting a location for analysis;

B) identifying a material for analysis;

C) identifying a container for containing the material;

D) using one or more processors to calculate a stream data for the material based on the quantity, temperature, pressure and rate of flow of the material in the container;

E) identifying a release point in which the material is releasable from the container;

F) identifying a parameter of a building in which the material and container are housed;

G) selecting a region of the location for analysis;

H) identifying potential ignition sources within the region;

I) using the one or more processors to determine the position of a hazardous area in the region using a calculation based on the analysis of the information obtained in steps B) through H); and

J) using the one or more processors to generate a representation of the hazardous area in the region.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the representation of the hazardous area is a 3-dimensional representation.

25. A non-transitory computer readable medium, containing instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform the steps of:

determining a position of a hazardous area for a location using a calculation based on an analysis of a plurality of predetermined parameters as indicative of a potential hazard in the location; and

generating a representation of the hazardous area.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the predetermined parameters comprise:

a quantity of a material;

a temperature of the material; and

a pressure of the material.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the predetermined parameters comprise:

a size of a container containing a material, and

a rate of flow of the material within the container.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the predetermined parameters comprise a release point of where a material is releasable from a container containing the material.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the predetermined parameters comprise a parameter of a building in which a container containing a material is housed.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the predetermined parameters comprise a location of an ignition source.

31. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the predetermined parameters comprise a parameter of a road.

32. The computer readable medium of claim 31, wherein the predetermined parameters of the road comprise:

a location of the road,

a size of the road, and

an amount of vehicular activity on the road.

33. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the representation of the hazardous area is a 3-dimensional representation.

34. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the representation includes hazardous area contours.

35. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the representation includes a report which indicates electrical safety and ignition sources of the hazardous area.

36. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the representation includes a report which indicates defects in a risk level and location of electrical equipment within the hazardous area.

37. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the representation includes a report which identifies mislabeled or unvalidated electrical equipment in the hazardous area.