Abstract:
A system and method for measurement of flow parameters in a sewer pipe that may be partially or completely filled. Flow parameters may include flow velocity, flow volume, depth of flow and surcharge pressure. Measurements are taken from a sensor head installed on the inside of the pipe at the top of the pipe approximately the larger of at least 1 foot or 1 pipe diameter upstream of a pipe opening. Flow velocity may be measured by two different technologies. The technology employed depends on whether or not the pipe is full. If the pipe is not full then flow velocity may be measured, for example, using a wide beam, ultrasonic, diagonally downward looking Doppler signal that interacts with the surface of the flow. If the pipe is full, then flow velocity may be measured using, for example, an average velocity Doppler sensor, a peak velocity Doppler sensor or an ultrasonic velocity profiler.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is an application claiming the benefit under 35 USC 119(e) of prior U.S. Provisional Application 61/222,997, titled “Open Channel Meter for Measuring Velocity”, filed Jul. 3, 2009 by Petroff, and U.S. Provisional Application 61,319,847, titled “Open Channel Meter for Measuring Velocity”, filed Mar. 31, 2010 by Petroff et al., both of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention pertains generally to the field of measurement of water flowing in partially and completely full pipes using a sensor that is not in contact with the flow, more particularly, to the class of devices that utilize ultrasonic energy to determine the channel velocity. 
     2. Background of the Invention 
     There are many cases where it is important to measure the rate of flow in a pipe. For example, one may need to know the flow rate to determine a billing rate between two communities, to assess the rate at which rain or ground water is entering the sewage system, to design a system expansion, or to control the rate at which a holding tank is filled or emptied. In measuring such flows there are periods when the conduit may be empty of fluid, partially full or completely full. The flow may be free flowing (propelled only by the force of gravity). It may be constrained by an obstruction or other such downstream constraint. It may be flowing downstream due to an upstream pressure head, or it maybe be flowing upstream (in a reverse direction) owing to a downstream pressure head. 
     There is a class of flow meters that rely on primary devices. These systems require either a) the construction of flumes, weirs or other structures in the manhole or b) the installation and proper alignment of these structures in the manhole. While this is a reasonable approach to consider for sewage treatment plants where existing piping systems and structures can be designed and built around the needs of the primary device, it is typically impractical, expensive or simply not possible to properly install such structures in the sewer collection system where the monitoring point in question is deep underground. 
     Another class of meters utilizes an underwater velocity sensor and depth sensor installed in a pipe. The depth sensor can be installed above the flow or in the flow with the velocity sensor. Examples of this class include Petroff U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,374, Petroff U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,508, Nabity et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,686, Petroff U.S. Pat. No. 7,672,797. Also Marsh U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,246 and Cushing U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,650. 
     A third class of devices uses a downward looking velocity sensor and a downward looking ultrasonic depth sensor to measure flow in the manhole (Marsh U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,684,250 and 5,811,688) or as it enters the manhole or over a flume (Bailey U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,880). The primary advantage of this approach being that it minimizes entry into confined space. 
     Accordingly, there is a need for a flow meter that measures depth and velocity with improved accuracy. All of the above referenced patent documents are incorporated herein by reference. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a system and method for measurement of flow parameters in a sewer pipe that may be partially or completely filled. Flow parameters may include flow velocity, flow volume, depth of flow and surcharge pressure. Measurements are taken from a sensor head installed on the inside of the pipe at the top of the pipe approximately the larger of at least 1 foot or 1 pipe diameter upstream of a pipe opening. Flow velocity may be measured by two different technologies. The technology employed depends on whether or not the pipe is full. If the pipe is not full then flow velocity may be measured, for example, using a wide beam, ultrasonic, diagonally downward looking, Doppler signal that interacts with the surface of the flow. If the pipe is full, then flow velocity may be measured using, for example, an average velocity Doppler sensor, a peak velocity Doppler sensor or an ultrasonic velocity profiler. The system is configured with a compact sensor head installed within the upstream interior of an influent pipe, upstream of the pipe entrance into the manhole, and thus well upstream of any hydraulic drawdown phenomenon. The system includes a separate electronics package remotely located out of the flow volume. The downward looking air ultrasound sensor determines a peak surface flow velocity based on the distribution of measured velocities. 
     The depth of flow can be measured with any of a variety of technologies including, for example, a pressure sensor mounted in the flow, a mechanical float, a downward looking ultrasonic ranger installed at the top of the pipe, and upward looking ultrasonic sensor installed in the flow, a capacitance meter, etc. The depth and velocity sensors are typically installed in the influent pipe using a ring and crank assembly. With the knowledge of the pipe geometry, the depth of flow can be converted into a cross-sectional areas. Multiplying this area by the velocity yields a measure of the flow rate. 
     In one embodiment, the system measures the velocity of water using a diagonally downward looking Doppler velocity sensor. The sensor is installed by entering the sewer manhole and installing the sensor at the top of the inside the influent pipe such that it is pointed upstream in the direction of the flow. The pipe should be inspected to ensure that the pipe has a continuous uniform cross section, is straight for at least ten, preferably twenty pipe diameters, and is free of cracks or fissures as would cause unexpected flow disturbance. The location of the measurement is beneficial in that this point represents the point most likely to have stable hydraulics. Monitoring velocity at the discharge point into the manhole, in the manhole itself, in the discharge point from the manhole or in the discharge pipe is worse than ill advised as these points do not have stable hydraulics. In accordance with this invention, the sensor transmits and receives ultrasonic reflections from the surface of the water such that at least some of the returned energy reflects from the surface of the water and thereby experiences a Doppler shift. An analog to digital converter then converts the received signal into a stream of digital information. A microprocessor filters and then spectrally processes the data, typically by a Fourier process, and generates a frequency domain data set. An algorithm then searches through the spectrum of the Doppler energy content for the peak Doppler shift. This peak Doppler shift being representative of the peak surface velocity. The average velocity is then obtained by multiplying the peak Doppler shift by a factor, for example, 0.90. The factor is used to relate the flow as determined according to the ultrasonic observation procedure to the total flow in the pipe as represented by an average velocity. The factor may be selected depending on pipe size, shape, slope, roughness, depth of flow, and the flow rate itself. 
     The present invention is particularly well adapted for measuring flows in small pipes, typically less than or equal to 24 inches in diameter. Small pipes are pipes that are small relative to the man hole access chamber potentially causing a change in flow grade or flow geometry as the flow transitions from the influent pipe to the man hole and back again to the exit pipe. The sensor assembly is adapted to measure steady state flow in the pipe, without disturbing the flow, and is preferably positioned upstream from the opening of the pipe, away from flow disturbances caused by the pipe opening into the man hole space. 
     As a further benefit, the small size of the sensor head and the separate remotely located electronics package further allow the sensor to be mounted inside small pipes with minimal effect on the flow. 
     These and further benefits and features of the present invention are herein described in detail with reference to exemplary embodiments in accordance with the invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
       The present invention is described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements. Additionally, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawing in which the reference number first appears. 
         FIG. 1  is an exemplary drawing of a typical installation of a flow measuring device in accordance with the present invention. 
         FIG. 2A  and  FIG. 2B  are exemplary drawings illustrating the sensor head and ring and crank assembly in position in the influent pipe. 
         FIG. 3  is an exemplary profile drawing of a typical sensor showing the sensor installation point, the sensor field of view and the water flow profile. 
         FIG. 4  is an exemplary drawing illustrating the benefits of an improved sensor location. 
         FIG. 5  is an exemplary block diagram of the electronics. 
         FIG. 6  is an exemplary flow chart that describes the signal processing. 
         FIG. 7  is an exemplary graph of a typical captured velocity spectrum showing the key signal features. 
         FIG. 8  is an exemplary block diagram of the system and includes the sensors, data logger and communications interface. 
         FIG. 9  is an exemplary functional flow diagram of one embodiment using a depth measurement to determine the velocity source. 
         FIG. 10  is an exemplary functional flow diagram of one embodiment using a measurement quality estimate to determine the velocity source. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is particularly well adapted for measuring flows in small pipes, typically less than or equal to 24 inches in diameter. Small pipes are pipes that are small relative to the man hole access chamber potentially causing a change in flow grade or flow geometry as the flow transitions from the influent pipe to the man hole and back again to the exit pipe. The sensor assembly is adapted to measure steady state flow in the pipe, without disturbing the flow, and is preferably positioned upstream from the opening of the pipe, away from flow disturbances caused by the pipe opening into the man hole space. 
     Fast shallow flows potentially present challenges for accurate measurement. Fast flows around a sensor produce a Bernoulli effect that causes pressure/level sensors to read incorrectly. Fast flows over the sensor cause hydraulic jumps. These jumps increase the depth directly over the sensor (where depth is measured), but not in front of the sensor (where the velocity is measured). Computing the flow rate based on a depth at one flow regime and a velocity at a different flow regime will result in an inaccurate measurement. Furthermore, independent of the velocity of the flow, any sensor in the flow is subject to fouling and general wear and tear. 
     In one embodiment, the present invention utilizes an air acoustic ultrasonic velocity sensor mounted at the top of the pipe for sensing velocity when the pipe is partially filled and, in combination, uses an underwater acoustic ultrasonic velocity sensor when the pipe is full or nearly full, In one embodiment, the depth of fill is determined and the appropriate sensor is then activated to measure flow. The depth of fill may be determined by a pressure sensor or by a vertically directed ultrasound distance measurement device. In an alternative embodiment, the air ultrasound and water ultrasound devices may be operated simultaneously or alternately, providing substantially concurrent velocity readings. The velocity readings may be evaluated for signal or measurement quality, for example, for signal to noise and for measurement to measurement variance to determine which source is the most reliable. The output of the most reliable source is then reported as the measured velocity. In a further alternative, all measurements of all sensors are recorded and reported for later analysis. A data processing center may do the final analysis to combine or select sensors to determine the flow rate. 
       FIG. 1  is an exemplary drawing of a typical installation of a flow measuring device in accordance with the present invention.  FIG. 1  illustrates a typical manhole  100  with the sensor  102 , 105  installed. The manhole comprises a wall forming an access chamber on top of a base. Water flows from the influent pipe  101  through the manhole access chamber and out through the effluent pipe  106 . The floor of the access chamber has a trough or channel  107  formed below the floor (also termed “bench”) The trough, also referred to as an “invert”  107  typically matches the pipe width and often the depth, but is open at the top to allow access to the pipe. The slope of the flow through the manhole is typically greater than the slope of the pipe, thus creating a discontinuity in flow as water passes through the manhole. 
     Turning, now, specifically to  FIG. 1 , a transmitting and receiving ultrasonic sensor  105  is mounted on an expandable scissors jack mounting ring  104  and is installed in the influent pipe  101  of manhole  100 . The scissors jack mounting, as described in Petroff U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,061, is ideal for installation in smaller diameter pipes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,061, titled “Sewer Line Analyzer Probe,” issued Sep. 26, 1978 to Petroff is hereby incorporated herein by reference. In the arrangement of  FIG. 1 , the sensor is preferably positioned at the top of the pipe approximately 1 foot or 1 pipe diameter upstream of the manhole such that it is “looking” up stream. In larger diameter pipes, the ring may not be practical. In such cases, the sensor could be mounted on a simple band of aluminum and fastened to the wall using anchor bolts. While the sensor could be installed either in the influent pipe  101  or the effluent pipe  106  or even in the manhole invert  107 , the hydraulic flow conditions in the influent pipe are almost always far superior and lend themselves to more accurate flow readings. Sensor  105  is connected through cable  103  to a water proof signal processor/data logger  102  that contains the signal processing, data logging, communications electronics, power supplies and batteries. 
       FIG. 2A  and  FIG. 2B  illustrate an exemplary sensor head  203  mounted on an exemplary ring/crank assembly  202  installed in pipe  201 . Sensor head  203  contains ultrasonic range sensors  205  for measuring distance to the surface of the water  207 , surface velocity ultrasonic transmit and receive sensor pair  204  for measuring water surface velocity, pressure sensor  210  for measuring static pressure when the pipe is full or under pressure, ultrasonic velocity sensors  206  for measuring velocity when the pipe is full. It should be noted that ultrasonic velocity sensors  206  can be of many different types including but not limited to average velocity Doppler, peak velocity Doppler or velocity profiler. An exemplary velocity profiler is disclosed in Application 61/319,847, titled: “Open Channel Meter for Measuring Velocity”, filed Mar. 31, 2010 by Petroff et al., which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     It is possible to add an optional sensor  208  to the ring. Such a sensor could redundantly measure water pressure with pressure sensor  209 , depth with ultrasonic ranging sensor  210  and velocity with sensor  211 . 
     In one embodiment, the underwater velocity sensor is sensor  206  at the top of the pipe, potentially in the same sensor head  203  as the air ultrasonic sensor  204 . Alternatively, or in combination with sensor  206 , the underwater sensor may be sensor  211  positioned at the bottom of the pipe. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an exemplary installed location of sensor head  301  in the influent pipe  306  of manhole  305  as well as the field of view of the depth  302  and surface velocity  303  ultrasonic transceivers relative to the depth of flow  304  in pipe  306 . Note that water surface drops as it enters manhole  305 , reaches a minimum in the middle of the manhole and then experiences a hydraulic jump as it exits manhole. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates the benefits of the installation location. Owing to the respective sensor fields of view, the sensor installed at location  407  will measure the depth at location  402  and the velocity location  401 . Since the depth at  401  is the same as the depth at location  402 , the velocity at  401  is identical to the velocity at  402 . Consequently it is possible to compute the flow rate based on the velocity at  401  and the depth at  402 . This is not the case for sensors installed at locations  408  and  409 . In location  408 , the velocity accelerates as it enters the manhole such that the velocity at  404  is higher and the depth more shallow than at  403 . Therefore computing a flow rate based on the depth at  404  and the velocity at  403  will result in a significant overstatement of the flow rate. Similarly, the flow at  406  is deeper and slower than the flow at location  405 . Therefore, computing a flow at location  409  based on the depth at  405  and the velocity at  406  will result in a significant understatement of the flow rate. This effect is characteristic of small pipes, typical in midsized pipes and less common in very large pipes. 
       FIG. 5  is an exemplary block diagram of the sensor system illustrating the electronic aspects of the invention. Microprocessor  501  sends a synchronization signal to both the digital to analog converter  502  and to analog to digital converter  507  as well as a data stream to the analog to digital converter. The synchronization signal insures that all signal processing is handled coherently. The data stream is converted into a time variant analog voltage by digital to analog converter  502  whose output excites ultrasonic transmit sensor  503 . Note that the amplitude and characteristics of the transmitted signal (such as center frequency or signal magnitude as a function of time) can be controlled simply by controlling the data stream sent by the microprocessor. Sound is transmitted by transmit sensor  503  at an angle of approximately 30-60 degrees from the surface of the water such that it reflect off of water surface  504 . When the signal reflects it will experience a Doppler shift, and at least some of the reflected energy will be received by ultrasonic receiver  505 . This weak signal will be amplified by variable amplifier  506 . The processor can control the amount of amplification through control lines  509 . The amplified signal is then digitized by analog to digital converter  507  and stored by microprocessor  501 . 
       FIG. 6  is an exemplary flow chart illustrating the signal processing. In step  600 , a sequence of numbers representing the desired excitation waveform is loaded into the transmit table and the gain of amplifier  506  is set. The receive gain can be set through the following process. With the transmitter turned off, record the input from the receiver and then set the gain of the receive amplifier such that the received signal constitutes several bits of the ADC. The waveform frequency and magnitude is normally set to the resonant frequency of the crystal and the amplitude to the maximum. This insures that the maximum possible signal is transmitted. Care should be taken to insure that the maximum possible signal is not large enough to saturate the front end receiver. In step  601 , the first entry in the transmit table is strobed into the Digital to Analog Converter  502 . At step  603 , the system waits a fixed amount of time and in step  604  reads the output of Analog to Digital Converter  507  and loads the output value into the FFT input buffer. In step  606 , the system checks to see if the last table value has been sent and its corresponding ADC value has been read. If not, then step  607  sets the table pointer to the next location and operation resumes at step  601 . If complete, then the received signal data will be filtered twice in block  608   a . It will be filtered once to reject out of band signal and filtered a second time to reject the carrier. It is important to reject the carrier as this energy is associated either acoustic energy coupling directly through the air from the transmitter to the receiver or from energy reflecting from non-moving reflectors like the pipe wall. This energy is self jamming energy and if large enough will overflow the dynamic range of the signal processor. Since this energy is not needed and is of no value, it can be filtered out with a notch filter. This notch filter can be implemented with either an external hardware filter or through digital signal processing. In step  608   b , an FFT is performed on the received data thus converting it into the frequency domain. The FFT can be performed on the entire data set or smaller FFTs can be performed and their results summed. The direction of the flow is determined in step  609 . Direction is determined by comparing the amount of energy received less than the carrier frequency with the amount of energy received that is greater than the carrier frequency. The greater magnitude indicates the signal direction. In step  610  a thresholding algorithm determines the peak velocity. The basis for this operation will be explained in the discussion of  FIG. 7 . In step  611  the peak velocity is converted into average velocity by applying a correction factor of approximately 0.92. In step  612  the temperature of the environment is measured and the water velocity measurement is corrected for the change of the speed of sound in water as a function temperature. In step  613  the depth is measured. In step  614  the depth and velocity is stored in memory. As an option, it is also possible in step  615  to compute and store the flow rate. Flow rate is determined by multiplying the velocity measured by the cross-sectional area of the flow. That area can be computed by knowing the pipe geometry and the depth of flow. 
       FIG. 7  shows an exemplary captured velocity spectrum and describes the key signal features. The vertical axis shows the log of the received signal amplitude. The horizontal axis shows the velocity in ft/sec of Doppler frequency shift. The point indicated by  701  is the energy that is received either from fixed objects or is residual carrier frequency energy that was not taken out by the carrier notch filter. It can be ignored. The line indicated as  704  is the environmental and electronic noise floor. The range of velocities/Doppler shifts indicated by the arrow  702  is intended to illustrate the fact that the system will receive return energy from water surface areas moving at different velocities or, dependant on the angle of the flow to the angle of the beam, different apparent velocities. Regardless of the velocity distribution or the angle of the flow to the energy beam, there is only one peak velocity. That velocity occurs approximately at point  703 . By setting threshold level  705  to 20 dB, the intersection of the threshold and the spectrum can be used as an indicator of peak surface velocity. In general, the peak Doppler shift frequency  703  is the high frequency intersection between a predefined threshold  705  and the power spectral density plot ( FIG. 7 ) of the reflected ultrasonic signal. The predefined threshold  705  is established between the system noise floor  704  and a maximum spectral density value  701 . In one embodiment the threshold  705  may be half way between the noise floor  704  and the maximum  701  on a log(dB) scale. The robustness of the peak surface velocity measurement can be improved by taking several such measurements and integrating the results. 
       FIG. 8  is an exemplary block diagram of the complete system including data logger, communications interface and sensors, data logger and communications interface. More specifically data logger  800  contains the following: battery  801 , electronics package  802  (power supply, microprocessor, memory and sensor interface electronics) and communications interface  803 . A wide variety of communications interfaces can be supported including RS232, USB, Telephone, Bluetooth, Zigbee, GSM cell phone or 802.11. The data logger may send any or all data to a data processing facility for further processing and recording. The data logger is connected to downward sensor head  804  and optional redundant flow sensor  810 . The downward sensor head contains a pair of ultrasonic surface velocity sensors  805 , an air temperature sensor  806 , a pressure sensor  807 , a downward ranging ultrasonic sensor pair  808  and a velocity sensor  809 . Optional sensor  810  is mounting in the flow and contains pressure sensor  811 , water temperature sensor  812 , diagonally upward looking ultrasonic range sensor  813  and ultrasonic velocity sensor  814 . 
       FIG. 9  is a functional flow diagram of one embodiment using a depth measurement to determine the velocity source. Referring to  FIG. 9 , the process starts  901 . A depth measurement is taken and the depth is compared with a predetermined threshold  902 . Typically, if the depth is high enough to interfere with the operation of the air ultrasound sensor, the underwater sensor is selected. The depth threshold may be entered manually when the system is installed, based on the pipe size. The depth threshold may be typically from 90% to 95% of the pipe diameter. Other values may be used depending on the performance of the air ultrasound sensor. If the depth is less than the threshold, the air ultrasound sensor is operated in step  903  to determine the velocity. If the depth is greater than the threshold, the fluid ultrasound is operated in step  904  to determine the velocity. By operating only one ultrasound system at a time, interference between the ultrasound systems is prevented. The resulting velocity measurement is then reported  905 . 
       FIG. 10  is a functional flow diagram of one embodiment using a measurement quality estimate to determine the velocity source. Referring to  FIG. 10 , the process starts at  1001 . The system runs both the air  1003  and fluid  1004  ultrasound velocity systems in parallel  1002 . In one embodiment, the air and fluid ultrasound systems utilize different ultrasound frequencies and do not interfere and can run simultaneously. In another embodiment, the two ultrasound velocity systems are run one at a time alternately. Measurement quality is determined for the air  1005  and fluid  1006  systems. Measurement quality may be based on receiving sufficient return signal strength, or on measurement to measurement variance in velocity. In a further embodiment, a depth measurement may influence the quality determination and may even override the quality determination. For example, a depth measurement of 95% of pipe diameter may rule the air ultrasound unreliable. The resulting measurement value reported is the one returned by the system (air or fluid) having the highest quality determination  1007 . For the purposes of this disclosure, fluid means liquid, typically liquid water, and does not refer to gas or air. 
     CONCLUSION 
     Thus, herein described is a flow sensor that accurately and economically measures flow velocity, including low flow and reverse flow, in a pipe over the full range of fill percentages without substantially interfering with the flow and may operate for extended periods in remote unattended locations. 
     The present invention has been described above with the aid of functional building blocks illustrating the performance of specified functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of the description. Alternate boundaries can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships thereof are appropriately performed. Any such alternate boundaries are thus within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention. One skilled in the art will recognize that these functional building blocks can be implemented by discrete components, application specific integrated circuits, processors executing appropriate software and the like or any combination thereof. 
     While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.