Patent ID: 8766806

Claim:
A method of real time monitoring a pipeline network to identify possible destabilizing events in the pipeline network, comprising: sensing one or more pressure waves within the pipeline network at predetermined locations within the pipeline network; determining the presence of a possible destabilizing event in the pipeline network in response to the sensed pressure waves by detecting variations in the sensed pressure waves, and determining whether or not the detected variation exceeds an accepted standard deviation, wherein the accepted standard deviation is calculated on a rolling basis, wherein determining the presence of a possible destabilizing event in the pipeline network in response to the sensed pressure waves further includes determining whether or not the sensed pressure waves exceed a predetermined stable operating threshold, wherein the predetermined stable operating threshold is automatically adjusted based upon at least one of the current operating mode, current operating conditions and current operating events, wherein determining the presence of a possible destabilizing event in the pipeline network in response to the sensed pressure waves further includes determining whether or not a subsequential decompression characteristic is present following the detection of the variation in sensed pressure waves; corroborating the presence of the destabilizing event based upon at least one of (i) one or more sensed pipeline network operating conditions and (ii) at least one independent process variable, wherein corroborating the presence of the destabilizing event includes determining the certainty of the possible destabilizing event, wherein determining the certainty of the possible destabilizing event includes comparing the determination of a possible destabilizing event based upon sensed pressure waves with one or more sensed pipeline network operating conditions and further corroborating the determination of a possible destabilizing event based upon sensed pressure waves with at least one additional independent process variable; and identifying a potential cause of the sensed destabilizing event by comparing the character of the current destabilizing events using an expert based diagnostic subroutine with prior destabilizing events, the current operating mode of the pipeline network, the current operating conditions in the pipeline network and the current operating events in the pipeline network.