Infrastructure monitoring system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9934670-B2
Application number	US-201514928725-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 30, 2015
Priority date	Oct 27, 2008
Publication date	Apr 3, 2018
Grant date	Apr 3, 2018

Abstract

An infrastructure monitoring system includes: a first monitoring device configured to detect and monitor a first condition of a first aspect of the infrastructure and transmit a data signal including data relating to the first condition; a second monitoring device configured to detect and monitor a second condition of a second aspect of the infrastructure and transmit a data signal including data relating to the second condition; a third monitoring device configured to detect and monitor a third condition of a third aspect of the infrastructure and transmit a data signal including data relating to the third condition; and an operations center communicatively coupled to each monitoring device, the operations center configured to receive the data signal from each monitoring device and determine whether the data included in the data signal received from any one of the monitoring devices indicates a problem within the infrastructure.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An infrastructure monitoring system comprising:
a first monitoring device configured to
detect and monitor at least a first condition of a first aspect of an infrastructure, and
transmit a data signal including data relating to the first condition and a first time stamp;

a second monitoring device configured to
detect and monitor the first condition of the first aspect,
detect and monitor a second condition of a second aspect of the infrastructure, and
transmit a data signal including data relating to the second condition and data relating to the first condition comprising a second time stamp;

a third monitoring device configured to
detect and monitor at least a third condition of a third aspect of the infrastructure, and
transmit a data signal including data relating to the third condition; and

an operations center communicatively coupled to each monitoring device, the operations center configured to
receive the data signal from each monitoring device,
determine whether the data included in the data signal received from any one of the monitoring devices indicates a problem of at least one of contamination and corrosion within the infrastructure,
subsequent to the determination of the indication of the problem of corrosion, determine a level of severity of the corrosion and whether the corrosion is severe enough to warrant fixing based on the level of severity of the corrosion, and
subsequent to the determination of the indication of the problem of contamination, determine an amount of the contamination, an approximate location of the contamination, a direction of contamination movement, and a speed of the contamination movement, wherein the direction and the speed of the contamination movement are based on the first time stamp from the first monitoring device and the second time stamp from the second monitoring device;

wherein the first aspect, the second aspect, and the third aspect define corrosion, contamination, and another different aspect of the infrastructure.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein each monitoring device is wirelessly communicatively coupled to the operations center.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein each monitoring device comprises
at least one sensor sensing at least one condition of the first, second, and third conditions within the infrastructure,
a data storage device storing data sensed by the at least one sensor,
a first communications device adapted to transmit and receive data, and
a first processor communicatively coupled to the at least one sensor, the data storage device, and the first communications device.

4. The system of claim 3 , the infrastructure monitoring system further comprising a control device communicatively coupled to the operations center, the control device comprising
a second communications device adapted to receive and transmit data,
at least one output port, and
a second processor communicatively coupled to the second communications device and the at least one output port.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein an additional condition is related to a leakage aspect of the infrastructure, and another additional condition is related to a pressure aspect of the infrastructure.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein each monitoring device monitors at least one additional condition.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the infrastructure monitoring system disseminates information about the infrastructure from the infrastructure monitoring system including disseminating an indicia of the problem within the infrastructure.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations center monitors a plurality of infrastructures concurrently.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations center comprises multiple operations centers, and wherein each operation center is located at a different location within the system.

10. A method of disseminating information, the method comprising:
detecting, by a first monitoring device, a first condition of a first aspect of an infrastructure and transmitting a data signal to an operations center, the data signal including data relating to the first condition and a first time stamp;
detecting, by a second monitoring device, the first condition of the first aspect and a second condition of a second aspect of the infrastructure, and transmitting a data signal to the operations center, the data signal including data relating to the second condition and data relating to the first condition, and the data signal comprising a second time stamp;
detecting, by a third monitoring device, a third condition of a third aspect of the infrastructure and transmitting a data signal to the operations center, the data signal including data relating to the third condition;
determining, by the operations center, whether the data included in the data signal received from any of the monitoring devices indicates a problem of contamination within the infrastructure;
subsequent to the determination of the indication of the problem of contamination, determining, by the operations center, an amount of the contamination, an approximate location of the contamination, a direction of contamination movement, and a speed of the contamination movement, wherein the direction and the speed of the contamination movement are based on the first time stamp from the first monitoring device and the second time stamp from the second monitoring device;
determining, by the operations center, whether the data included within the data signal received from any of the monitoring devices indicates a problem of corrosion within the infrastructure; and
subsequent to determination of the indication of the problem of corrosion, determining by the operations center an amount of corrosion determined to be the problem within the infrastructure and a level of severity of the corrosion;
wherein the first aspect, the second aspect, and the third aspect define different aspects of the infrastructure.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein each monitoring device comprises:
at least one sensor sensing at least one of the first, second, and third conditions within the infrastructure,
a data storage device storing data sensed by the at least one sensor,
a first communications device adapted to transmit and receive data, and
a first processor communicatively coupled to the at least one sensor, the data storage device, and the first communications device.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second monitoring device monitors the first condition.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising determining, by the operations center, whether a change in data between data as detected by the first monitoring device relating to the first condition from data as detected by the second monitoring device relating to the first condition indicates a second problem within the infrastructure.

14. An infrastructure monitoring system comprising:
a first monitoring device at a first location, the first monitoring device configured to
detect and monitor a condition of an aspect of an infrastructure, and
transmit a data signal including data relating to the condition and a first time stamp;

a second monitoring device at a second location, the second monitoring device configured to
detect and monitor the condition of the aspect of the infrastructure, and
transmit a data signal including data relating to the condition and a second time stamp; and

an operations center communicatively coupled to each monitoring device, the operations center configured to
receive the data from the first and second monitoring devices,
determine whether the data from the first monitori

Assignees

• Mueller Int Llc

Inventors

• Hyland Gregory E
• Keefe Robert Paul
• Zakas Marietta Edmonds
• Barker Iii Clayton Robert

Classifications

• G01N33/0075

  for multiple spatially distributed sensors, e.g. for environmental monitoring · CPC title

• H04M11/04

  with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems · CPC title

• E03B7/003

  Arrangement for testing of watertightness of water supply conduits · CPC title

• G01N21/94

  Investigating contamination, e.g. dust (G01N21/85 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G08B25/08

  using communication transmission lines {(G08B13/19658, G08B21/0286, G08B25/016 take precedence)} · CPC title