Patent ID: 9534979
Date: 2017-01-03
CPC Classifications: G01M

Claim:
1. A method for estimating a wave velocity of a negative pressure wave in a fluid transportation pipeline, wherein the negative pressure wave is generated due to a normal operation on the fluid transportation pipeline, the method comprising: receiving, at a processor unit, a plurality of pressure signals from a plurality of sensors, wherein the transportation pipeline includes a plurality of sensor segments, each of which is disposed between corresponding two adjacent sensors of the plurality of sensors; determining, by said processor unit, a location of a wave source of the negative pressure wave; determining, by said processor unit, at least one non-wave source sensor segment of the plurality of sensor segments based on the determined location of the wave source, wherein the at least one non-wave source sensor segment is a sensor segment where the wave source is not located; determining, by said processor unit, a wave source sensor segment of the plurality of sensor segments based on the determined location of the wave source, wherein the one wave source sensor segment is a sensor segment where the wave source is located; determining, by said processor unit, time differences produced by the negative pressure wave reaching the adjacent sensors, based on the plurality of pressure signals; and estimating, by the processor unit, the wave velocities of the negative pressure wave in the at least one non-wave source sensor segment and the wave source sensor segment, based on the determined time differences, wherein determining time differences produced by the negative pressure wave reaching the adjacent sensors comprises: performing a parallel alignment and denoising process on the plurality of pressure signals; and determining differences between start times of the aligned pressure signals of the adjacent sensors.