Systems and methods for likelihood-based mapping of areas surveyed for gas leaks using mobile survey equipment

• US 9,599,529 B1
• Filed: 12/23/2013
• Issued: 03/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Picarro, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Picarro, Inc.
• Inventors: Steele, David, Tan, Sze M., Rella, Chris W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Yi, Roy Y
• Application Number:
  US14/139,388
• Time in Patent Office: 1,184 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 3/04 by detecting the presence of fluid at the leakage point
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 25/20 by investigating the development of heat, i.e. calorimetry, e.g. by measuring specific heat, by measuring thermal conductivity calorimeters per se G01K
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/0004 Gaseous mixtures, e.g. polluted air gaseous biological material G01N33/497; exhaust gas of internal combustion engines G01M15/102
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/0075 for multiple spatially distributed sensors, e.g. for environmental monitoring transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/02 Instruments for indicating weather conditions by measuring two or more variables, e.g. humidity, pressure, temperature, cloud cover or wind speed G01W1/10 takes precedence

Abstract

In some embodiments, vehicle-based natural gas leak detection methods are used to generate 2-D spatial distributions (heat maps) of gas emission source probabilities and surveyed area locations using measured gas concentrations and associated geospatial (e.g. GPS) locations, wind direction and wind speed, and atmospheric condition data. Bayesian updates are used to incorporate the results of one or more measurement runs into computed spatial distributions. Operating in gas-emission plume space rather than raw concentration data space allows reducing the computational complexity of updating gas emission source probability heat maps. Gas pipeline location data and other external data may be used to determine the heat map data.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoding instructions which, when executed by a computer system comprising at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

identify a prior 2-D surveyed area according to a first set of gas emission survey data resulting from a first mobile measurement run performed by a mobile measurement device along a first measurement path, the first set of gas emission survey data comprising a trajectory of the first measurement path and a first set of associated atmospheric condition data characterizing the first mobile measurement run; and

update the prior 2-D surveyed area to generate a posterior 2-D surveyed area according to a second set of gas emission survey data resulting from a second mobile measurement run, the second set of gas emission survey data comprising a second set of associated atmospheric condition data characterizing the second mobile measurement run, wherein updating the prior 2-D surveyed area comprises determining a posterior probability of missing detection of a potential gas source situated at a given location according to;

i. a prior probability of missing detection of the potential gas source situated at the given location after the first mobile measurement run, and ii. a probability of missing detection of the potential gas source situated at the given location during the second mobile measurement run.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to identify the posterior 2-D surveyed area according to an atmospheric transport model employing the second set of associated atmospheric condition data.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to generate display data for displaying a map of the posterior 2-D surveyed area to a user.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the map of the posterior 2-D surveyed area comprises representations of underground gas transmission pipelines.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first set of associated atmospheric condition data comprises a plurality of wind speed and wind direction values acquired along the first measurement path.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the second measurement run is performed along a second measurement path different from the first measurement path.

2. A computer system comprising at least one processor configured to:

identify a prior 2-D surveyed area according to a first set of gas emission survey data resulting from a first mobile measurement run performed by a mobile measurement device along a first measurement path, the first set of gas emission survey data comprising a trajectory of the first measurement path and a first set of associated atmospheric condition data characterizing the first mobile measurement run; and

update the prior 2-D surveyed area to generate a posterior 2-D surveyed area according to a second set of gas emission survey data resulting from a second mobile measurement run, the second set of gas emission survey data comprising a second set of associated atmospheric condition data characterizing the second mobile measurement run, wherein updating the prior 2-D surveyed area comprises determining a posterior probability of missing detection of a potential gas source situated at a given location according to;

i. a prior probability of missing detection of the potential gas source situated at the given location after the first mobile measurement run, and ii. a probability of missing detection of the potential gas source situated at the given location during the second mobile measurement run.

11. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to identify the posterior 2-D surveyed area according to an atmospheric transport model employing the second set of associated atmospheric condition data.

12. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to generate display data for displaying a map of the posterior 2-D surveyed area to a user.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the map of the posterior 2-D surveyed area comprises representations of underground gas transmission pipelines.

14. The system of claim 2, wherein the first set of associated atmospheric condition data comprises a plurality of wind speed and wind direction values acquired along the first measurement path.

15. The system of claim 2, wherein the second measurement run is performed along a second measurement path different from the first measurement path.

3. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoding instructions which, when executed by a computer system comprising at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

identify a prior 2-D surveyed area according to a first set of gas emission survey data resulting from a first mobile measurement run performed by a mobile measurement device along a first measurement path, the first set of gas emission survey data comprising a trajectory of the first measurement path and a first set of associated atmospheric condition data characterizing the first mobile measurement run, the prior 2-D surveyed area being an area having a boundary determined such that if a potential gas emission source were located in the prior 2-D surveyed area and had a rate of emission meeting a minimum emission rate condition, then an estimated prior probability of detection of the potential gas emission source according to gas concentration data acquired during first mobile measurement run would satisfy a probability condition; and

update the prior 2-D surveyed area to generate a posterior 2-D surveyed area according to a second set of gas emission survey data resulting from a second mobile measurement run, wherein updating the prior 2-D surveyed area comprises determining a posterior probability of missing detection of a potential gas source situated at a given location according to a product of;

i. a prior probability of missing detection of the potential gas source situated at the given location after the first mobile measurement run, and ii. a probability of missing detection of the potential gas source situated at the given location during the second mobile measurement run.

4. A computer system comprising at least one processor configured to:

identify a prior 2-D surveyed area according to a first set of gas emission survey data resulting from a first mobile measurement run performed by a mobile measurement device along a first measurement path, the first set of gas emission survey data comprising a trajectory of the first measurement path and a first set of associated atmospheric condition data characterizing the first mobile measurement run, the prior 2-D surveyed area being an area having a boundary determined such that if a potential gas emission source were located in the prior 2-D surveyed area and had a rate of emission meeting a minimum emission rate condition, then an estimated prior probability of detection of the potential gas emission source according to gas concentration data acquired during first mobile measurement run would satisfy a probability condition; and

update the prior 2-D surveyed area to generate a posterior 2-D surveyed area according to a second set of gas emission survey data resulting from a second mobile measurement run, wherein updating the prior 2-D surveyed area comprises determining a posterior probability of missing detection of a potential gas source situated at a given location according to a product of;

i. a prior probability of missing detection of the potential gas source situated at the given location after the first mobile measurement run, and ii. a probability of missing detection of the potential gas source situated at the given location during the second mobile measurement run.

5. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoding instructions which, when executed by a computer system comprising at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

receive a prior 2-D surveyed area; and

update the prior 2-D surveyed area to generate a posterior 2-D surveyed area according to a set of gas emission survey data resulting from a mobile measurement run performed by a mobile measurement device along a measurement path, the set of gas emission survey data reflecting a trajectory of the measurement path and a set of associated atmospheric condition data characterizing the mobile measurement run, wherein the posterior 2-D surveyed area is an area having a boundary such that if a potential gas emission source were located in the posterior 2-D surveyed area and had a rate of emission meeting a minimum emission rate condition, then an estimated posterior probability of detection of the potential gas emission source according to gas concentration data acquired during the mobile measurement run would satisfy a probability condition, and wherein updating the prior 2-D surveyed area comprises determining the posterior probability of missing detection of a potential gas source situated at a given location according to a product of;

i. a prior probability, defined by the prior 2-D surveyed area, of missing detection of the potential gas source situated at the given location and ii. a probability of missing detection of the potential gas source situated at the given location during the mobile measurement run.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to identify the posterior 2-D surveyed area according to an atmospheric transport model employing the second set of associated atmospheric condition data.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to generate display data for displaying a map of the posterior 2-D surveyed area to a user.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the map of the posterior 2-D surveyed area comprises representations of underground gas transmission pipelines.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the first set of associated atmospheric condition data comprises a plurality of wind speed and wind direction values acquired along the first measurement path.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the second measurement run is performed along a second measurement path different from the first measurement path.