Non-intrusive sensor system
First Claim
1. A measurement system for use in analyzing an operation of process equipment within a process, comprising:
- a plurality of sensors, including at least one non-intrusive sensor disposed external to a component within the process containing a material, wherein each of the plurality of sensors measures a different physical process phenomenon within the process associated with the material in the component to produce a sensor measurement indicative of the respective physical process phenomenon; and
a logic module communicatively coupled to each of the plurality of sensors to receive the sensor measurements, the logic module including a logic engine and a model that relates measurements of the values of each of the different physical process phenomenon to a further physical process phenomenon, wherein the logic module operates on a computer processor device to determine a value of the further physical process phenomenon using the model and the sensor measurements.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A non-intrusive sensor system includes an array of sensors disposed in a process to measure various input process phenomena and a logic unit that analyses the sensor measurements using an empirical model to produce an estimate of a further process phenomenon not measured directly by any of the array of sensors. The sensors within the array of sensors may be non-intrusive sensors that measure input process phenomena in an intrusive or non-intrusive manner but are non-intrusive with respect to the output process phenomenon as none of these sensors comes into direct contact with the process fluid or process element exhibiting the output process phenomenon. The sensors within the array of sensors can be any type of sensors that produce a measurement of a particular process phenomenon at the same or at different locations within a process.
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Citations
58 Claims
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1. A measurement system for use in analyzing an operation of process equipment within a process, comprising:
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a plurality of sensors, including at least one non-intrusive sensor disposed external to a component within the process containing a material, wherein each of the plurality of sensors measures a different physical process phenomenon within the process associated with the material in the component to produce a sensor measurement indicative of the respective physical process phenomenon; and a logic module communicatively coupled to each of the plurality of sensors to receive the sensor measurements, the logic module including a logic engine and a model that relates measurements of the values of each of the different physical process phenomenon to a further physical process phenomenon, wherein the logic module operates on a computer processor device to determine a value of the further physical process phenomenon using the model and the sensor measurements. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method of determining a physical process parameter, comprising:
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measuring a plurality of different physical process phenomenon within a process to produce a measurement value indicative of each of the physical process phenomenon, wherein at least one measurement value is produced by a non-intrusive sensor disposed external to a component within the process containing a material associated with the measurement value; communicating each of the measurement values to a logic module via a communication link; processing, using a computer device, the measurement values with a model that relates each of the different physical process phenomenon to a further physical process phenomenon to determine a value of the further physical process phenomenon using the model and the sensor measurements; and communicating the value of the further physical phenomenon as the physical process parameter to a host device. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A process measurement system for use in a process, comprising:
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a plurality of non-intrusive sensors to be disposed within the process, wherein each of the plurality of non-intrusive sensors measures a different physical process phenomenon within the process to produce a sensor measurement indicative a physical process phenomenon; and a logic module disposed in a process device that is communicatively coupled to each of the plurality of non-intrusive sensors to receive the sensor measurements, the logic module including a logic engine and a model that relates measurements of the values of each of the different physical process phenomenon to a further physical process phenomenon, wherein the logic module operates on a computer processor device to determine a value of the further physical process phenomenon using the model and the sensor measurements; a host device communicatively coupled to the logic module; a first communication network disposed between one or more of the plurality of non-intrusive sensors and the logic module; and a second communication network disposed between the logic module device and the host device. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
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Specification