Buried object locator apparatus with safety lighting array

• US 9,207,350 B2
• Filed: 05/10/2012
• Issued: 12/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seektech Inc.
• Original Assignee: See SCAN Incorporated
• Inventors: Olsson, Mark S., Merewether, Ray, Aldridge, Sequoyah, Levin, Ryan B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patidar, Jay
• Application Number:
  US13/469,024
• Publication Number:
  US 20130127470A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,307 Days
• Field of Search: 324326-329
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/00 Electric or magnetic prospecting or detecting; Measuring magnetic field characteristics of the earth, e.g. declination, deviation
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/081 the magnetic field is produced by the objects or geological structures characterised by the method of magnetic field measurement G01R33/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/104 using several coupled or uncoupled coils G01V3/101 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/15 specially adapted for use during transport, e.g. by a person, vehicle or boat
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/165 operating with magnetic or electric fields produced or modified by the object or by the detecting device with electromagnetic waves G01V3/17

Abstract

Buried object locators including various antenna configurations and safety features are disclosed. In one embodiment a locator includes a body, one or more antenna nodes coupled to the body, and a safety light assembly disposed on or within the body. The locator may further include a surface light assembly and camera and/or one or more GPS and/or ISM antennas and receiver/sensor modules. The antenna nodes may be gradient and/or dodecahedral antenna nodes.

Claims

1. A device for locating buried or hidden objects, comprising:

a locator body including a mast;

one or more antenna nodes coupled to or on or within the body; and

a safety lighting assembly disposed on the mast for generating substantially planar output light in a plane parallel to the ground surface when the device is positioned in a vertical orientation.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the safety lighting assembly comprises a plurality of LED light units for generating fan-shaped substantially planar light beams.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the LED light units comprise a high power LED element, a reflector element, and an optic to form the fan-shaped beam pattern.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the body comprises an integral body.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more antenna nodes is a dodecahedral antenna node including twelve antenna coils.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein the dodecahedral antenna node comprises an upper half shell and a lower half shell, and wherein each of the upper half shell and lower half shell includes six of the antenna coils.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the six antenna coils are configured as five antenna coils equally distributed around a vertical axis and one centered antenna coil.

8. The device of claim 5, wherein at least one of the one or more antenna nodes comprises a gradient antenna node including a plurality of orthogonally arranged antenna coils and a pair of gradient antenna coils.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more antenna nodes comprises a gradient antenna node including a plurality of orthogonally arranged antenna coils and a pair of gradient antenna coils.

10. The device of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of GPS antennas coupled to or on or within the body.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the plurality of GPS antennas are disposed in an upper antenna node positioned above the one or more antenna nodes and below a head unit.

12. The device of claim 11, further comprising a plurality of GPS sensors coupled to the plurality of GPS antennas.

13. The device of claim 10, wherein the GPS antennas are patch antennas disposed on a printed circuit board.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the GPS antennas consist of three patch antennas.

15. The device of claim 10, further comprising one or more ISM antennas coupled to or on or within the body.

16. The device of claim 1, wherein the safety light assembly includes a processing element, wherein the processing element controls the light output from the plurality of LEDs in a predefined output light pulse pattern.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the predefined pattern consists of a pulse train of light outputs followed by an off period.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the pulse train consists of three output light pulses followed by the off period.

19. The device of claim 1, wherein light outputs of the safety light assembly are controlled by a processing element in a head unit so as to provide a predefined output light pulse pattern.

20. The device of claim 1, further including a camera and a surface light assembly coupled to or on or within the body.

21. A buried utility locator, comprising:

a locator body;

one or more antenna nodes coupled to or on or within the body;

electronics in the locator body for detecting a buried utility and displaying information associated with the buried utility on a visual display;

and a safety lighting assembly including a plurality of LED lighting elements distributed in an array around a mast element of the locator body to provide overlapping pulsed light output in a substantially planar orientation parallel to a ground surface when the locator is positioned in a vertical orientation.