Wireless-enabled tension meter

• US 9,576,475 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2014
• Issued: 02/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Southwire Company
• Original Assignee: Southwire Company
• Inventors: Bardin, Tim R., Garrish, Chad, Daniel, Allan Wayne, Tuggle, James Phillip, Temblador, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Noori, Max
• Application Number:
  US14/482,033
• Publication Number:
  US 20150068318A1
• Time in Patent Office: 895 Days
• Field of Search: 738/26, 738/28
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 5/047 Specific indicating or recording arrangements, e.g. for remote indication, for indicating overload or underload
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 5/107 for measuring a reaction force applied on an element disposed between two supports, e.g. on a plurality of rollers or gliders
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: H02G 1/08 through tubing or conduit, e.g. rod or draw wire for pushing or pulling inserting electrical cables into tubes using wallbores E21B17/206; for optical cables G02B6/4401
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/40 using a wireless architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A wireless-enabled tension meter is disclosed. The wireless-enabled tension meter can include a pulley arrangement through which a portion of a guiding member is routed for use during a pull of conductor through a conduit network. A tension force is exerted on the guiding member during the pull as the guiding member is pulled through the pulley arrangement. The wireless-enabled tension meter can also include a sensor for measuring the tension force, a wireless network interface, and a control module for performing operations. The operations performed by the control module can include capturing data corresponding to the tension force and causing the wireless network interface to send the data to a wireless communication device.

Claims

1. A wireless-enabled tension meter comprising:

a pulley arrangement through which a guiding member for use during a pull of a conductor through a conduit network is routed, wherein the guiding member is attached to the conductor, and wherein a tension force is exerted on the guiding member as the guiding member traverses the pulley arrangement;

a sensor for measuring the tension force, wherein the sensor comprises a load pin that functions as an axis for a pulley of the pulley arrangement, the load pin facilitates measurement of a radial force exerted on the pulley by the guiding member as the guiding member traverses the pulley arrangement, and the radial force is utilized to calculate the tension force;

a wireless network interface; and

a control module that performs operations comprising

capturing data corresponding to the tension force, and

causing the wireless network interface to send the data to a device.

2. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 1, further comprising a display;

and wherein the operations further comprise presenting the data on the display.

3. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 1, wherein the device comprises a wireless communication device.

4. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 1, wherein the device comprises a tension meter remote device.

5. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise causing the wireless network interface to broadcast a wireless signal that is detectable by the device.

6. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 5, wherein the wireless signal is a WI-FI signal utilized to create a peer-to-peer connection between the wireless network interface and the device.

7. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 5, wherein the wireless signal comprises a service set identification (“

SSID”

) unique to the wireless-enabled tension meter.

8. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 5, wherein the wireless signal comprises a short-range wireless signal.

9. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise causing the wireless network interface to connect to a wireless network;

and wherein causing the wireless network interface to send the data to the device comprises causing the wireless network interface to send the data to the device via the wireless network.

10. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

hosting a web application comprising a user interface through which commands can be provided to the wireless-enabled tension meter;

providing the web application to the device via the wireless network interface; and

receiving a command from the device via the wireless network interface, wherein the command is selected from the user interface presented on the device.

11. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 10, wherein the command comprises a request to measure the tension force.

12. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 11, wherein the command further comprises a request to measure a metric comprising at least one of the tension force, a length of the pull, a position of the conductor in the conduit network, or a speed of the pull.

13. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 1, wherein the data is utilized to calculate a sidewall pressure of the conductor.

14. A computer storage medium storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor of a wireless-enabled tension meter, cause the wireless-enabled tension meter to perform operations comprising:

capturing data from a sensor, the data corresponding to a tension force exerted by a puller system on a guiding member during a pull of a conductor through a conduit network; and

sending the data to a wireless communication device via a wireless network, wherein the data is utilized to calculate a sidewall pressure of the conductor.

15. The computer storage medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise hosting a web application that is accessible by the wireless communication device via the wireless network, the web application providing a user interface through which a user can control functions of the wireless-enabled tension meter.

16. The computer storage medium of claim 15, wherein the functions comprise requesting the wireless-enabled tension meter to capture the data.

17. The computer storage medium of claim 14, wherein the data further comprises at least one of a length of the pull, a position of the conductor in the conduit network, or a speed of the pull.

18. The computer storage medium of claim 15, wherein the functions further comprise manipulating the data.

19. The computer storage medium of claim 18, wherein the data further comprises at least one of a length of the pull, a position of the conductor in the conduit network, or a speed of the pull.

20. The computer storage medium of claim 14, wherein sending the data to the wireless communication device via the wireless network comprises sending the data to an application executing on the wireless communication device.

21. A wireless-enabled tension meter comprising:

a pulley arrangement through which a guiding member for use during a pull of a conductor through a conduit network is routed, wherein the guiding member is attached to the conductor, and wherein a tension force is exerted on the guiding member as the guiding member traverses the pulley arrangement;

a sensor for measuring the tension force;

a wireless network interface; and

a control module that performs operations comprising

capturing data corresponding to the tension force,

causing the wireless network interface to send the data to a device,

hosting a web application comprising a user interface through which commands can be provided to the wireless-enabled tension meter,

providing the web application to the device via the wireless network interface, and

receiving a command from the device via the wireless network interface, wherein the command is selected from the user interface presented on the device.

22. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 21, wherein the command comprises a request to measure a metric associated with the pull.

23. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 22, wherein the metric comprises a speed of the pull.

24. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 22, wherein the metric comprises a length of the pull.

25. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 21, wherein the command comprises a navigation command.

26. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 21, wherein the command comprises a data logging command.

27. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 26, wherein the data logging command comprises a log pull data command.

28. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 26, wherein the data logging command comprises an export log pull data command.

29. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 26, wherein the data logging command comprises a location tag command.

30. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 21, wherein the command comprises a visual representation command.

31. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 21, wherein the command comprises a setup command.

32. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 21, wherein the user interface further comprises a status output element.

33. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 21, wherein the user interface further comprises a pull data output element.

34. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 21, wherein the user interface further comprises a pull data visual representation.

35. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 21, wherein the data further comprises at least one of a length of the pull, a position of the conductor in the conduit network, or a speed of the pull.

36. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 35, wherein the operations further comprise manipulating the data in response to the command.

37. The wireless-enabled tension meter of claim 21, wherein the device comprises a wireless communication device or a tension meter remote device.