System and method for monitoring and controlling a fire suppression system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11577109-B2
Application number	US-202017097456-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 13, 2020
Priority date	Jan 23, 2018
Publication date	Feb 14, 2023
Grant date	Feb 14, 2023

Abstract

A system to mitigate false trips of a valve that supplies water to a piping system in a fire suppression system includes at least one edge device, a control circuit, and at least one user device. The at least one edge device monitors a parameter corresponding to at least one of a corrosion, a presence of water, a differential pressure across the valve, and a temperature in the piping system of the fire suppression system. The control circuit includes one or more processors and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the control circuit to receive an indication of the parameter monitored by the at least one edge device, predict whether a valve tripping event is expected to occur based on the received indication, and in response to predicting that the valve tripping event is expected to occur, provide the prediction that the valve tripping event can occur for remedial action. The at least one user device presents display data regarding the prediction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a monitoring device to monitor a parameter corresponding to at least one of a corrosion, a presence of water, a differential pressure across a valve of a fire suppression system, and a temperature in a pipe of the fire suppression system;
one or more processors to:
receive an indication of the parameter monitored by the device;
determine that a valve tripping event is to occur based on the received indication; and
in response to the determination that the valve tripping event is to occur, generate an alert indicating that the valve tripping event is to occur; and

a user device to present display data regarding the alert.

2. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
a communication network to exchange information between the monitoring device and the user device.

3. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
the one or more processors are incorporated into the monitoring device.

4. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
the one or more processors are disposed remotely from the monitoring device, and the monitoring device transmits the indication of the parameter to the one or more processors using a communication network.

5. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
the monitoring device includes a corrosion monitoring device to measure an electrical characteristic of a coupon disposed in the pipe, the coupon corrodes at a rate correlated to at least one of a rate of corrosion and a level of corrosion of a wall of the pipe; and
the one or more processors generate the alert to cause the fire suppression system to be in an off-line mode based on the at least one of the rate of corrosion and the level of corrosion of the wall.

6. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
the monitoring device includes a low point monitoring device to measure a continuity between a probe and predetermined point on the piping system to determine a presence of water at a low point in the piping system of the fire suppression system; and
the alert indicates instructions to drain the water from the low point based on the presence of water at the low point.

7. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
the monitoring device includes a differential pressure monitoring device to measure water pressure at the input of the valve and air pressure at the outlet of the valve to determine a ratio between the water pressure and the air pressure; and
the alert indicates instructions to adjust at least one of the water pressure, the air pressure, and a setting affecting an air pressure alarm for the valve tripping event based on the ratio.

8. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
the monitoring device includes a temperature monitoring device to measure a temperature of at least one of water in the piping system and an ambient temperature to determine whether water in the piping system can freeze; and
the alert indicates instructions to drain the water from the piping system based on the determination that the water in the piping system can freeze.

9. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
the one or more processors cause a control circuit to automatically perform a remedial action in response to determining that the valve tripping event is expected to occur.

10. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
a communication network to exchange information between the monitoring device and the user device, the communication network includes a first network and a second network; and
a gateway to communicate with the monitoring device using the first network and communicates with the user device using the second network.

11. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
a communication network to exchange information between the monitoring device and the user device, the communication network includes a first network that is a wireless network and a second network that is at least one of a cellular network and an internet protocol (IP)-based network.

12. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
the user device is one of a mobile device and a stationary electronic device.

13. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
the user device presents the display data using at least one of a web browser-based dashboard display and an app-based dashboard display.

14. A method, comprising:
monitoring a parameter corresponding to at least one of a corrosion, a presence of water, a differential pressure across a valve, and a temperature in a pipe;
determining that a valve tripping event will occur based on the parameter; and
in response to determining that the valve tripping event will occur, providing an alert for remedial action and transmitting data corresponding to the alert for display on a user device using a communication network.

15. The method of claim 14 , comprising:
monitoring the parameter by measuring an electrical characteristic of a coupon disposed in the pipe, the coupon configured to corrode at a rate that can be correlated to at least one of a rate of corrosion and a level of corrosion of a wall of the pipe, and
executing the remedial action by placing the fire suppression system in an off-line mode based on the at least one of the rate of corrosion and the level of corrosion of the wall.

16. The method of claim 14 , comprising:
monitoring the parameter by measuring a continuity between a probe and a point on the pipe to determine a presence of water at a low point in the pipe; and
executing the remedial action by draining the water from the low point of the pipe based on determining the presence of water at the low point.

17. The method of claim 14 , comprising:
monitoring the parameter by measuring water pressure at an input of the valve and air pressure at an outlet of the valve to determine a ratio between the water pressure and the air pressure; and
executing the remedial action by adjusting at least one of the water pressure, the air pressure and a setting affecting an air pressure alarm for the valve tripping event based on the determined ratio.

18. The method of claim 14 , comprising:
monitoring the parameter by measuring a temperature of at least one of water in the piping system and an ambient temperature to determine whether water in the pipe can freeze; and
executing the remedial action by draining the water from the piping system based on determining that the water in the pipe can freeze.

19. The method of claim 14 , comprising:
transmitting the data corresponding to the alert by transferring the information to a gateway using a wireless network of the communication network and transferring the information from the gateway to the at least one user device using at least one of a cellular network and an IP-based network of the communication network.

20. The method of claim 14 , comprising:
presenting the alert using at least one of a web browser-based dashboard display and an app-based dashboard display.

Assignees

• Tyco Fire Products Lp

Inventors

• Goyette Chad A
• Magnone Zachary L
• Denunzio Cassandra Lyn
• Cogswell Jeremy Tyler

Classifications

• A62C3/004

  for freezing warehouses and storages · CPC title

• A62C35/62 Primary

  dry, i.e. empty of extinguishing material when not in use · CPC title

• G05B19/042

  using digital processors (G05B19/05 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A62C35/68

  Details, e.g. of pipes or valve systems (valves in general F16K) · CPC title

• G05B2219/2625

  Sprinkler, irrigation, watering · CPC title