Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9874466B2/en
Timestamp: 2020-04-09 21:53:03
Document Index: 214798438

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 111', '§ 371', '§ 119', 'Application No. 61', 'Application No. 12759881', 'Application No. 228440']

US9874466B2 - Methods and apparatus for ultrasonic fluid flow measurement and fluid flow data analysis - Google Patents
Methods and apparatus for ultrasonic fluid flow measurement and fluid flow data analysis Download PDF
US9874466B2
US9874466B2 US14/715,226 US201514715226A US9874466B2 US 9874466 B2 US9874466 B2 US 9874466B2 US 201514715226 A US201514715226 A US 201514715226A US 9874466 B2 US9874466 B2 US 9874466B2
US14/715,226
US20150330818A1 (en
2013-11-21 Priority to US201314005169A priority
2015-05-18 Application filed by Reliance Worldwide Corp filed Critical Reliance Worldwide Corp
2015-05-18 Priority to US14/715,226 priority patent/US9874466B2/en
2015-06-10 Assigned to SONETER, INC. reassignment SONETER, INC. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: LEADERS, JEFFREY L., DUGGER, JEFFERY
2015-11-19 Publication of US20150330818A1 publication Critical patent/US20150330818A1/en
2018-01-23 Publication of US9874466B2 publication Critical patent/US9874466B2/en
This application is a U.S. Divisional Application under 35 U.S.C. § 111 of U.S. National Stage Application Ser. No. 14/005,169, entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Fluid Flow Measurement” filed on Nov. 22, 2013, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/US2012/029481, filed on Mar. 16, 2012, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119 of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/454,344, entitled “Water Manifold with Integrated Flow Sensor” and filed Mar. 18, 2011. The entire contents of the foregoing applications are hereby-incorporated herein by reference.
FIGS. 1A-1D show a non-invasive fluid flow meter 100 that clamps around a pipe 10, which defines a lumen containing flowing fluid (e.g., water, gas, oil, or sewage). The fluid flow meter 100 includes a cylindrical housing 104 made of plastic or any other suitable material with a hinge 102 that extends along the long axis of the housing 104. The hinge 102 allows the housing 104 to open (FIG. 1A) and close (FIG. 1B-1D) like a clamshell. One or more tabs 106 extending from one edge of the housing 104 may engage one or more locking interfaces 108 (e.g., formed of catches, hooks, ridges, or slots) on another side or edge of the housing 104 to lock the housing 104 in a closed position.
The processing system 200 includes a processor 202 (e.g., an Atmel Atmega128 microcontroller) that is coupled to a user interface 212 (e.g., a touchpad, one or more buttons, or one or more switches), a universal serial bus (USB) 214, a wireless communications interface 216 (e.g., a Zigbee interface), and a memory 220. The user interface 212 may be coupled to or include the display 120 shown in FIG. 1D. The processor 202 generates ultrasonic transmit pulses 111 and processes digital representations of the received pulses 113. The processor 202 is coupled to the transducers 110 a and 110 b via a pair of amplifiers 204 a and 204 b (collectively, amplifiers 204), respectively, that amplify the transmit pulses 111. Each transducer 110 a, 110 b is coupled to another amplifier 206 via a respective switch 210 a, 210 b (collectively, switches 210); the switches 210 connect to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 208. The processing system 200 may also include one or more filters (not shown) coupled to the amplifier's input or the ADC's input. Together, the amplifier 206, the ADC 208, and the filters form a front end that amplifies, filters, and digitizes the transducer output (measurement signal) and provides the resulting digital signal to the processor 202, which may analyze the digital signal, and display the estimated flow rate or flow velocity on the display 120 (FIG. 1D).
In some examples, the transducer test in step 726 may include measurements of the time delay associated with a no-flow state. The processing system 200 may use this residual time delay measurement as a reference point when estimating the fluid velocity. It may also use this measurement to estimate the pipe size; for a pulse propagating in a V-shaped path, the pipe diameter is approximately D=vτ/(2 tan θ), where v is the pulse velocity, r is the time delay, and θ is the angle between the pipe's longitudinal axis and the pulse's propagation path. In some cases, the calibration program or the processing system 200 may compare the estimated pipe diameter against a pipe diameter specified in building plans or a job order. If the estimated pipe diameter does not match the expected pipe diameter, the computing device or the fluid flow meter 100 may issue a warning or query, such as “Please check the pipe. The measured pipe diameter is 1.0 inches, but the expected pipe diameter is 0.75 inches. This may not be the correct installation location.” A discrepancy between the estimated and expected pipe diameters could also indicate build-up or debris inside the pipe 10. (In some cases, the fluid flow meter 100 may be configured to monitor the pipe 10 for gradual or sudden changes in the pipe's inner diameter and to report these changes via its wireless communications interface 216.)
In some cases, the server 800, fluid flow meter 100, or smart manifold may be preloaded with amounts (dollars) the consumer anticipates will be used each month and notified of amount used for budgeting. For example, the “My Bills” dashboard 856 may display the budgeted amount and the balance remaining Amounts may be carried over to the next month, just as minutes are carried over in prepaid cell phones. The dashboard 856 also enables the user to add or subtract credits (dollars) to his or her balance. Prepaid amounts can also be deposited with the water company or property owner and used for payment of consumer usage.
Each flow sensor may also be or include an ultrasonic transit-time flow meter that includes two (thin-film or disk) piezoelectric transducers as shown in FIG. 9: a transmit transducer (TX) 910 a that transmits a high-frequency burst, or pulse, into the outlet port and a receive transducer (RX) 910 b that detects a reflected version of the pulse after some time delay. (FIG. 4A is a plot of example transmitted and received pulses.) Pulses can be transmitted upstream, downstream, or upstream and downstream in alternating fashion. Transmitting upstream results in an increasing delay relative to no-flow for increasing flow rates; transmitting downstream results in an increasing advance relative to no-flow for increasing flow rates. A processor operably coupled to the flow sensors determines the return-time of the reflected pulse by either measuring the time that reflected pulse crosses a pre-determined threshold or by computing a correlation of the reflected pulse with a pre-determined limit and finding the temporal location of the maximum of the resulting correlation waveform. The relationship between flow rate and time-delay-of-arrival is linear at the flow rates of interest (e.g., within a range of about 0 gallons per minute and about 1 gallon per minute, about ¼ gallon per minute, about ½ gallon per minute, about ¼ gallon per minute, etc.).
1. A method of monitoring fluid usage in a dwelling, the method comprising:
generating, by each of a plurality of non-invasive ultrasonic fluid flow sensors installed on a corresponding outlet port among a plurality of outlet ports of a fluid manifold device, a respective measurement signal indicative of a fluid flow parameter of a fluid flowing through corresponding outlet port, the fluid flow parameter including a velocity or a flow rate of the fluid flowing through the corresponding outlet port, the fluid manifold device including a plurality of fluid flow meters installed thereon, the plurality of fluid flow meters including the plurality of non-invasive ultrasonic fluid flow sensors, at least one processor communicatively coupled to the plurality of non-invasive ultrasonic fluid flow sensors, and a wireless communication interface communicatively coupled to the at least one processor;
determining, by the at least one processor, for each outlet port of the plurality of outlet ports, a respective estimate of the fluid flow parameter of the fluid flowing through that outlet port based on the measurement signal generated by the ultrasonic fluid flow sensor installed on that outlet port;
transmitting, by the wireless communication interface via one or more communications networks to a server, for each outlet port of the plurality of outlet ports, data indicative of at least one of the estimate of the fluid flow parameter and the measurement signal associated with that outlet port;
determining, by the server, fluid usage information for each outlet port of the plurality of outlet ports based on the data indicative of at least one of the estimate of the fluid flow parameter and the measurement signal associated with that outlet port;
transmitting, by the server via the one or more communications networks to a client device, data indicative of the fluid usage information for each outlet port of the plurality of outlet ports, the fluid usage information including real-time fluid usage information; and
displaying, by a client software application executing on the client device, the fluid usage information for at least one of the plurality of outlet ports on a display of the client device.
determining, by a billing engine of the server, billing information or real-time fluid usage charges based on the fluid usage information for each outlet port; and
providing, by the billing engine of the server, the billing information or the real-time fluid usage charges to the client software application for display on the client device.
detecting, by the server, at least one of a fluid leak, a pipe freeze, and a malfunction based on at least one measurement signal associated with at least one respective outlet port; and
transmitting, by the server, an alert indicative of the fluid leak, the pipe freeze, or the malfunction to the client software application for display on the client device.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the fluid usage information for each outlet port further includes at least one of estimated fluid flow velocities, estimated fluid flow rates, fluid usage per outlet port, historic fluid usage information, statistics of fluid usage, a number of fluid flow events, and durations of flow fluid events.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the fluid usage information includes comparisons of fluid usage among a plurality of dwellings.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting data indicative of at least one of the estimate of the fluid flow parameter and the measurement signal to the server includes transmitting the data indicative of at least one of the estimate of the fluid flow parameter and the measurement signal to a wireless hub via the wireless communication interface, the wireless hub communicatively coupled to the server via the one or more communication networks.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein each outlet port of the manifold is associated with a respective fixture or a respective room in the dwelling.
8. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting, by the server, firmware updates to the plurality of the fluid flow meters via the one or more communications network.
9. A system for monitoring fluid usage in a dwelling, the system comprising:
at least one fluid flow metering system including:
a fluid manifold device including at least one inlet port and a plurality of outlet ports, each outlet port for connecting to a respective pipe;
a plurality of fluid flow meters installed on the fluid manifold device for measuring fluid flow at the plurality of outlet ports of the fluid manifold device, the plurality of fluid flow meters including:
a plurality of non-invasive ultrasonic fluid flow sensors, each non-invasive ultrasonic fluid flow sensor installed on a corresponding outlet port among a plurality of outlet ports of the fluid manifold device and including at least a pair of transducers to exchange ultrasonic signals through a fluid flowing through the corresponding outlet port and to generate a measurement signal indicative of a fluid flow parameter of the fluid flowing through the corresponding outlet port, the fluid flow parameter including a velocity or a flow rate of the fluid flowing through the corresponding outlet port;
at least one processor, communicatively coupled to the ultrasonic fluid flow sensors associated with the plurality of outlet ports, to determine for each outlet port of the plurality of outlet ports a respective estimate of the fluid flow parameter of the fluid flowing through that outlet port based on the measurement signal generated by the ultrasonic fluid flow sensor installed on that outlet port; and
a wireless communications interface, communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, to transmit, for each outlet port of the plurality of outlet ports, data indicative of at least one of the fluid flow parameter estimate and the measurement signal associated with that outlet port to one or more remote devices via one or more communications network;
a server to receive, from the fluid flow metering system via the one or more communication networks, for each outlet port of the plurality of outlet ports, the data indicative of the at least one of the estimate of the fluid flow parameter and the measurement signal associated with that outlet port, the server including:
an analytics engine to determine fluid usage information for each outlet port of the plurality of outlet ports based on the data indicative of the at least one of the estimate of the fluid flow parameter and the measurement signal for that outlet port, the fluid usage information including real-time fluid usage information; and
a client software application, executable on a client device, configured to receive data indicative of fluid usage information for each of the plurality of outlet ports from the server via the one or more communication networks, and display the data indicative of fluid usage information for at least one of the plurality of outlet ports on a display of the client device.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the server further comprises a billing engine to determine billing information or real-time fluid usage charges based on the fluid usage information for each outlet port, and provide the billing information or the real-time fluid usage charges to the client software application for display on the client device.
11. The system of claim 9, wherein the fluid flow metering system or the analytics engine is configured to detect at least one of a fluid leak, a pipe freeze, and a malfunction based on at least one measurement signal associated with at least one respective outlet port, and
wherein the server is configured to send an alert indicative of the fluid leak, the pipe freeze, or the malfunction to the client software application for display on the client device.
12. The system of claim 9 wherein the fluid usage information for each outlet port includes at least one of estimated fluid flow velocities, estimated fluid flow rates, fluid usage per outlet port, a number of fluid flow events, and durations of flow fluid events.
13. The system of claim 9, wherein the client software application is configured to provide a dashboard for displaying the fluid usage information.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the dashboard enables a fluid user or a fluid provider to access real-time fluid usage data, historic fluid usage data, and statistics of fluid usage data.
15. The system of claim 13 comprising a plurality of fluid flow metering systems associated with a plurality of dwellings, wherein the dashboard enables a fluid user or a fluid provider to access comparisons of fluid usage among the plurality of dwellings.
16. The system of claim 9, wherein each ultrasonic fluid flow sensor includes:
(iii) a front end to generate the measurement signal from the reflected, scattered, or transmitted copy of the ultrasonic signal.
17. The system of claim 9, wherein each outlet port is associated with a respective fixture or a respective room in the dwelling.
18. The system of claim 9, wherein at least one port of the inlet port and the plurality of outlet ports of the fluid manifold device includes a gate valve for stopping fluid flow through that port.
19. The system of claim 9, wherein the server transmits firmware updates to the plurality of the fluid flow meters via the one or more communications network.
20. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine, for each outlet port, the respective estimate of the fluid flow parameter by computing cross-correlation values between the generated measurement signal associated with that outlet port and a plurality of templates corresponding to separate possible fluid velocities of the fluid flowing through that port, each template is filtered to match a distortion associated with the generated measurement signal associated with that outlet port.
US14/715,226 2011-03-18 2015-05-18 Methods and apparatus for ultrasonic fluid flow measurement and fluid flow data analysis Active US9874466B2 (en)
US201314005169A true 2013-11-21 2013-11-21
US14/715,226 US9874466B2 (en) 2011-03-18 2015-05-18 Methods and apparatus for ultrasonic fluid flow measurement and fluid flow data analysis
US15/091,130 US9410833B1 (en) 2011-03-18 2016-04-05 Methods and apparatus for fluid flow measurement
US14/005,169 Division US20140069207A1 (en) 2011-03-18 2012-03-16 Methods and apparatus for fluid flow measurement
PCT/US2012/029481 Division WO2012129101A1 (en) 2011-03-18 2012-03-16 Methods and apparatus for fluid flow measurement
US201314005169A Division 2013-11-21 2013-11-21
US15/091,130 Division US9410833B1 (en) 2011-03-18 2016-04-05 Methods and apparatus for fluid flow measurement
US20150330818A1 US20150330818A1 (en) 2015-11-19
US9874466B2 true US9874466B2 (en) 2018-01-23
US20170219400A1 (en) * 2014-07-23 2017-08-03 Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Incorporated Flow rate measurement device and flow rate measurement method
US20190128713A1 (en) * 2017-10-27 2019-05-02 METER Group, Inc. USA Sonic Anemometer
US9002665B2 (en) * 2013-05-15 2015-04-07 Texas Instruments Incorporated Multi-channel flow sensing
EP3136061A4 (en) 2014-05-28 2017-12-06 National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Ultrasonic flowmeter
EP3270111B1 (en) * 2014-07-18 2019-02-13 Apator Miitors ApS A method and a system for test and calibration of wireless consumption meters
WO2016025859A2 (en) * 2014-08-14 2016-02-18 Soneter, Inc. Devices and system for channeling and automatic monitoring of fluid flow in fluid distribution systems
EP3234513B8 (en) 2014-12-17 2020-03-11 Reliance Worldwide Corporation Fluid flow meter, method of identifying a pipe type, and computer-readable medium
EP3076138B1 (en) * 2015-04-02 2020-03-18 Itron Global SARL A meter and method for detection of a meter having been tampered with
KR20180008656A (en) 2015-05-19 2018-01-24 알피니티, 엘엘씨 Fluid monitoring assembly with flow sensor
US20170254685A1 (en) * 2016-03-02 2017-09-07 Intelligent Water Management, Inc. Non-intrusive flow sensing
CA3057060A1 (en) * 2017-03-07 2018-09-13 Asco, L.P. A device and method for anticipating failure in a solenoid valve for a manifold assembly
WO2020048576A1 (en) * 2018-09-07 2020-03-12 Coloplast A/S Liquid-volume measuring device
JPS57128852A (en) 1981-02-04 1982-08-10 Toshiba Corp Measuring method for velocity of flow in fluid transport pipe
WO1990000724A1 (en) 1988-07-12 1990-01-25 Welsh Water Authority Water metering system
GB2229834A (en) 1989-03-29 1990-10-03 Wessex Electronics Consultants Consumption meters and meter reading apparatus
EP0736751A2 (en) 1995-04-06 1996-10-09 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Apparatus for the measurement of consumption
JPH109914A (en) 1996-04-22 1998-01-16 Izumi Giken:Kk Ultrasonic flowmeter
WO1999031612A2 (en) 1997-12-17 1999-06-24 Avista Advantage, Inc. Computerized management and tracking of utility consumption
WO2000003206A1 (en) 1998-07-10 2000-01-20 Faure Herman Multichord ultrasonic flowmeter
WO2002057721A2 (en) 2001-01-16 2002-07-25 University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill Non-invasive time of light flow measurement in a capillary
WO2002060120A1 (en) 2001-01-23 2002-08-01 Konrad Breu Method and apparatus for enabling a supplier to verify the validity of consumption information
JP2002296290A (en) 2001-03-30 2002-10-09 Surpass Kogyo Kk Method and instrument for measuring flow velocity, and method and instrument for flow measurement
WO2003006924A1 (en) 2001-07-10 2003-01-23 Horst Ziegler Method for collecting meter reading information and a collection system for consumer data
EP1306823A2 (en) 2001-10-23 2003-05-02 Agilent Technologies, Inc. Apparatus and method for reading of utility meters
JP2005321222A (en) 2004-05-06 2005-11-17 Yokogawa Electric Corp Fluid monitoring system
JP2007071695A (en) 2005-09-07 2007-03-22 Aichi Tokei Denki Co Ltd Electromagnetic flowmeter
JP2008507693A (en) 2004-07-21 2008-03-13 ホリバ インストルメンツ インクＨｏｒｉｂａ Ｉｎｓｔｒｕｍｅｎｔｓ，Ｉｎｃ． Acoustic flow meter calibration method
JP2008232990A (en) 2007-03-23 2008-10-02 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd Gas appliance monitoring device
JP2008232991A (en) 2007-03-23 2008-10-02 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd Gas appliance monitoring device
JP2008298560A (en) 2007-05-31 2008-12-11 Ricoh Elemex Corp Ultrasonic flow meter and flow rate measurement method
EP2012093A2 (en) 2007-07-04 2009-01-07 SWM Services GmbH System and method for remote access of consumption information
US20090017771A1 (en) 2007-07-09 2009-01-15 Stephanie Jane Lackey Resource optimized live to virtual communications
JP2009008406A (en) 2007-06-26 2009-01-15 Aichi Tokei Denki Co Ltd Ultrasonic flow meter and ultrasonic transducer unit
WO2009044126A2 (en) 2007-10-01 2009-04-09 Npower Limited System and method for monitoring utility consumption
JP2009085972A (en) 2009-01-28 2009-04-23 Panasonic Corp Ultrasonic flow meter
EP2131162A1 (en) 2007-03-23 2009-12-09 Panasonic Corporation Gas appliance monitoring apparatus
WO2010091648A1 (en) 2009-02-10 2010-08-19 Univerzita Karlova V Praze Ultrasonic probe for liquid temperature measurement
Extended European Search Report dated Aug. 7, 2014 in European Patent Application No. 12759881.1.
International Report on Patentability on PCT/US2012/029481 dated 710/03/2013.
Japanese Notification of Reasons for Refusal on 2013-558215 dated Aug. 16, 2016.
Notice of Allowance on U.S. Appl. No. 14/005,169 dated Dec. 15, 2015.
Notice of Allowance on U.S. Appl. No. 15/091,130 dated Jul. 13, 2016.
Notice of Allowance on U.S. Appl. No. 15/091,130 dated May 3, 2016.
Office Action for Israel Application No. 228440 dated Jul. 19, 2017.
Office Action on U.S. Appl. No. 14/005,169 dated Apr. 27, 2015.
Wannamaker et al., A Theory of Nonsubtractive Dither, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, vol. 48, No. 2, Feb. 2000. *
US10151610B2 (en) * 2014-07-23 2018-12-11 Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Incorporated Flow rate measurement device and flow rate measurement method
US10330509B2 (en) * 2014-10-20 2019-06-25 Flexim Flexible Industriemesstechnik Gmbh Method and arrangement for an ultrasound clamp-on flow measurement and circuit arrangement for control of an ultrasound clamp-on flow measurement
US10229579B2 (en) 2019-03-12 System for detecting flow characteristics and activating automatic flow shutoff
CN103620363B (en) 2017-05-10 Leak detection by means of a stochastic mass balance
CN102466501B (en) 2017-03-01 System and method for sharing public resource use in multiple-unit in building
JP2018536874A (en) 2018-12-13 Water leak detection using pressure sensing
US20170152648A1 (en) 2017-06-01 Methods and apparatus for fluid flow monitoring and leak detection
US6860286B2 (en) 2005-03-01 Water supply system for multiple dwelling units
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:DUGGER, JEFFERY;LEADERS, JEFFREY L.;SIGNING DATES FROM 20150205 TO 20150310;REEL/FRAME:035881/0017