Patent Application
20230160867
The present disclosure generally relates to safety features for gas meters in response to detections of gas leaks by gas detectors in the same system.
Gas meters in a system are typically battery-operated devices, they can be in sleep mode at various intervals during the course of a day or week to preserve the battery energy to keep meter running for many years. The gas meter also has an integrated shut off valve to shut off the flow of gas in various conditions. One such condition is when a gas leak detector detects a gas leak, it reports the gas meter about the gas leak level and meter shuts off the gas flow While the gas meter is in sleep mode, gas leaks can occur within the gas system. Moreover, when the gas leaks occur, the gas meter being in sleep mode may not be notified of the detected gas leak.
Another consideration is that a gas meter should be able to communicate with other entities such as a head end system and gas detector. When the gas meter is in sleep mode, it is unable to communicate with either a gas detector and a head end system. Moreover, a gas leak can continue while the gas meter is in sleep mode.
As such, a need exists for the gas meter to be alerted when the gas meter is in sleep mode. The gas meter should be able to receive notification when there is a potential leak so that that potential leak can be prevented.
In addition, a need also exists for the gas meter to be able to communicate its data included gas level received from gas detector and its gas valve status with a head end system. The gas meter needs to be alerted to a potential gas leak, and communicate with both a gas detector and head end system to help prevent the gas leak from occurring.
Both gas meter and gas detector are battery operated wireless devices running in very low power mode of operation, whereas meter continue to measure the gas flow volume and detector continue to monitor the gas leak levels. Beyond that they are always sleeping devices. Both gas meter and gas detector communicate wirelessly with each other and also gas meter communicates with head end system over wireless network.
The following summary is provided to facilitate an understanding of some of the features of the disclosed embodiments and is not intended to be a full description. A full appreciation of the various aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein can be gained by taking the specification, claims, drawings, and abstract as a whole.
The aforementioned aspects and other objectives can now be achieved as described herein.
In an embodiment, a system includes a gas detector configured to detect a gas leak and provide a notification to a gas meter regarding a gas level of the gas leak, wherein the gas meter includes an integrated shut off valve configured to shut off or switch on the gas flow. The system also includes the gas meter configured to receive the notification about the gas leak from the gas detector. The gas meter compares the gas level detected by the gas detector with a threshold level and determines if the detected gas level is greater than the threshold level to determine whether to turn off a gas valve due to the detected gas level. The system also includes a head end system configured to receive notification of the detected gas level and status of the gas valve from the gas meter.
The gas meter is in sleep mode when the gas detector detects the gas level in relation to the gas leak.
The gas detector sends a wakeup signal to the gas meter when a gas leak is detected. The gas meter detects the wakeup signal, checks for authenticity of the detector which sent the wakeup signal and receives the gas level information.
The gas meter closes the gas valve when the received gas level is greater than the threshold level.
In an embodiment, a system includes a gas detector configured at a first position. The gas detector is configured to detect a gas leak of a gas meter configured at a second position. The gas detector sends a wakeup signal to the gas meter due to the gas meter being in sleep mode. The system also includes the gas meter configured to receive the wakeup signal from the gas detector. The gas meter compares a gas detector level associated with the gas leak, to a threshold level and determines whether to close a gas valve associated with the gas meter, and report its data to a data head end system. The system also includes the head end system configured to receive the data from the gas meter. The data includes the determination as to whether the gas meter turned off the gas valve due to the comparison of the gas level associated with the gas leak to the threshold level.
The gas meter determines to close the gas valve due to the comparison of the gas level to the threshold level.
The gas meter reports the data regarding the gas level and gas valve status to the head end system in periodic levels.
The gas meter receives the wakeup signal in one frequency and switches to a different frequency in response to the wake up signal from the gas detector to exchange data with the gas detector.
In an embodiment, a method includes configuring a gas detector to detect a gas leak and provide a notification to a gas meter regarding a gas level of the gas leak. The method also includes positioning the gas meter to receive the notification about the gas leak from the gas detector. Further the gas meter compares the gas level detected by the gas detector with a threshold level and determines if the detected gas level is greater than the threshold level to determine whether to turn off a gas valve due to the detected gas level. The method also includes configuring a head end system to receive notification of the detected gas level and status of the gas valve from the gas meter.
The gas meter communicates to the head end system whether the gas valve was turned off due to the detected gas level.
The gas detector sends a wakeup signal to the gas detector on a RF wake-up channel operating at a frequency of 451.4 mega-Hertz.
The gas meter wakes up when it sees wakeup signal on the RF wake-up channel, switches to RF data channel operating at 915 MHz frequency band to receive the gas level information from gas detector & informs the gas detector that it received the gas leak level information.
The gas meter on receiving the gas level from gas detector, checks the gas level with the configured threshold to close the valve. If the gas level is greater than the configured threshold, the gas meter switches off the valve and reports the gas level and the valve status to head end system immediately, with different or the same communication protocol, possibly even in the same RF data channel frequency bands.
The accompanying figures, in which like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate views and which are incorporated inf and form a part of the specification, further illustrate the present invention and, together with the detailed description of the invention, serve to explain the principles of the present invention.
Unless otherwise indicated illustrations in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale.
The particular values and configurations discussed in these non-limiting examples can be varied and are cited merely to illustrate one or more embodiments and are not intended to limit the scope thereof.
Subject matter will now be described more fully herein after with reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and which show, by way of illustration, specific example embodiments. Subject matter may, however, be embodied in a variety of different form and, therefore, covered or claimed subject matter is intended to be construed as not being limited to any example embodiments set forth herein, example embodiments are provided merely to be illustrative. Likewise, a reasonably broad scope for claimed or covered subject matter is intended. Among other issues, subject matter may be embodied as methods, devices, components, or systems. The followed detailed description is, therefore, not intended to be interpreted in a limiting sense.
Throughout the specification and claims, terms may have nuanced meanings suggested or implied in context beyond an explicitly stated meaning. Likewise, phrases such as “in one embodiment” or “in an example embodiment” and variations thereof as utilized herein may not necessarily refer to the same embodiment and the phrase “in another embodiment” or “in another example embodiment” and variations thereof as utilized herein may or may not necessarily refer to a different embodiment. It is intended, for example, that claimed subject matter include combinations of example embodiments in whole or in part.
In general, terminology may be understood, at least in part, from usage in context. For example, terms such as “and,” “or,” or “and/or” as used herein may include a variety of meanings that may depend, at least in part, upon the context in which such terms are used. Generally, “or” if used to associate a list, such as A, B, or C, is intended to mean A, B, and C, here used in the inclusive sense, as well as A, B, or C, here used in the exclusive sense. In addition, the term “one or more” as used herein, depending at least in part upon context, may be used to describe any feature, structure, or characteristic in a singular sense or may be used to describe combinations of features, structures, or characteristics in a plural sense. Similarly, terms such as a “a,” “an,” or “the”, again, may be understood to convey a singular usage or to convey a plural usage, depending at least in part upon context. In addition, the term “based on” may be understood as not necessarily intended to convey an exclusive set of factors and may, instead, allow for existence of additional factors not necessarily expressly described, again, depending at least in part on context.
One having ordinary skill in the relevant art will readily recognize the subject matter disclosed herein can be practiced without one or more of the specific details or with other methods. In other instances, well-known structures or operations are not shown in detail to avoid obscuring certain aspects. This disclosure is not limited by the illustrated ordering of acts or events, as some acts may occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other acts or events. Furthermore, not all illustrated acts or events are required to implement a methodology in accordance with the embodiments disclosed herein.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the disclosed embodiments belong. Preferred methods, techniques, devices, and materials are described, although any methods, techniques, devices, or materials similar or equivalent to those described herein may be used in the practice or testing of the present invention.
Although claims have been included in this application to specific enumerated combinations of features, it should be understood the scope of the present disclosure also includes any novel feature or any novel combination of features disclosed herein.
References “an embodiment,” “example embodiment,” “various embodiments,” “some embodiments,” etc., may indicate that the embodiment(s) so described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every possible embodiment necessarily includes that particular feature, structure, or characteristic.
Headings provided are for convenience and are not to be taken as limiting the present disclosure in any way.
Each term utilized herein is to be given its broadest interpretation given the context in which that term is utilized.
The following paragraphs provide context for terms found in the present disclosure (including the claims):
The transitional term “comprising”, which is synonymous with “including,” “containing,” or “characterized by,” is inclusive or open-ended and does not exclude additional, unrecited elements or method steps. See, e.g., Mars Inc. v. H.J. Heinz Co., 377 F.3d 1369, 1376, 71 USPQ2d 1837, 1843 (Fed. Cir. 2004) (“[L]ike the term ‘comprising,’ the terms ‘containing’ and ‘mixture’ are open-ended.”). “Configured to” or “operable for” is used to connote structure by indicating that the mechanisms/units/components include structure that performs the task or tasks during operation. “Configured to” may include adapting a manufacturing process to fabricate components that are adapted to implement or perform one or more tasks.
“Based On.” As used herein, this term is used to describe factors that affect a determination without otherwise precluding other or additional factors that may affect that determination. More particularly, such a determination may be solely “based on” those factors or based, at least in part, on those factors.
All terms of example language (e.g., including, without limitation, “such as”, “like”, “for example”, “for instance”, “similar to”, etc.) are not exclusive of other examples and therefore mean “by way of example, and not limitation . . . ”.
A description of an embodiment having components in communication with each other does not infer that all enumerated components are needed.
A commercial implementation in accordance with the scope and spirit of the present disclosure may be configured according to the needs of the particular application, whereby any function of the teachings related to any described embodiment of the present invention may be suitably changed by those skilled in the art.
The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems and methods according to various embodiments. Functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved.
Further, any sequence of steps that may be described does not necessarily indicate a condition that the steps be performed in that order. Some steps may be performed simultaneously.
The functionality and/or the features of a particular component may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices that are not explicitly described as having such functionality/features. Also, various embodiments of the present invention need not include a device itself.
More specifically, as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system and/or method. Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a plurality of systems to enable gas meter to perform self-checking to determine its overall functioning without requiring a meter operator.
Embodiments of the present invention include wireless gas meter being positioned in the same system as a wireless gas detector and head end system. The gas meter can be in sleep mode at various intervals in the system. The gas detector can be configured with a sensor (methane, propane, environmental) to monitor the gas level of the gas meter. As such, the gas detector can monitor the gas level of the gas meter while the gas meter is in sleep mode.
The gas detector, or sensor within the gas detector, can detect a gas level of the gas meter that can be a suspected gas leak. Since the gas meter can be in sleep mode, the gas detector can send a wakeup notification to the gas meter at a signal of 451.4 Megahertz (Mhz). The gas meter can receive the signal and switch to a communication frequency of 915 Mhz to communicate with both the head end system and the gas detector. The gas meter can also send acknowledgement of the gas level received to the gas detector.
The gas meter will compare the detected gas level to a threshold level to determine if a gas leak exists. As such, if the detected gas level is greater than the threshold level, the gas meter will determine that a gas leak exists and close a gas valve within the gas meter to prevent any further damage due to the gas leak. In the alternative, the gas meter can decide to leave the gas valve on if the detected gas level is less than the threshold level.
The gas meter will also communicate its data with the head end system. The gas meter will inform the head end system of the detected gas level and whether or not the detected gas level was a gas leak. The gas meter will also communicate to the head end system its valve status, and whether or not the gas valve was turned off or not.
The gas meter can communicate with the head end system and the gas detector at a communication frequency of 915 Mhz. The gas meter can periodically communicate with both the gas detector and the head end system regarding its gas level and its valve status. While in sleep mode, the gas meter will always be alerted by the gas detector when the gas detector has detected a gas level that can potentially be a gas leak. Moreover, the gas meter will always be alerted to determine whether or not to turn off the gas valve due to the detected gas level.
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Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the example embodiments are non-exhaustive and that embodiments other than that described here may be included without departing from the scope and spirit of the presently disclosed embodiments.
Overall, a gas leak can occur when the gas meter is in sleep mode. The gas detector can detect the gas level associated with the gas leak when the gas meter is in sleep mode. As such, the gas detector, or sensor within the gas detector, can send a wakeup signal to the gas detector to notify the gas meter of the suspected gas leak when the gas meter is in sleep mode.
When the gas meter is in sleep mode, the gas meter will receive the wakeup notification from the gas detector regarding the detected gas level. As such, the gas meter is alerted to the potential gas leak due to the wakeup notification from the gas detector. Accordingly, the gas meter can switch to the communication frequency needed to communicate with both the gas detector and the head end system. Further, the gas meter will then compare the detected gas level with a threshold level to confirm if a gas leak exists or not. As such, the gas meter will determine that the gas leak exists if the detected gas level is greater than the threshold level, and, in contrast, determine that no gas leak exists if the detected gas level is less than the threshold level.
The gas meter will also turn off the gas valve when it is determined that the gas leak exists due to the comparison of the detected gas level to the threshold level. The gas meter will also communicate its data to the head end system. The gas meter will inform the head end system of the detected gas level, and gas leak, and whether the gas valve was turned off.
As such, even when in sleep mode, the gas meter can be informed of any potential gas leaks, and receive a wakeup signal by the gas detector to allow the gas meter to determine if a gas leak exits due to the detected gas level. In addition, the gas meter can then turn off the gas valve when the gas meter has determined that the gas leak exits to prevent any further damage from occurring due to the gas leak.
The system supports local pairing/communication between gas meter and gas detector in a way that it can co-exist with other head end system communication stacks such as LoRa/wmBUS/CAT-M1. Thus the gas detector can piggyback on gas meter's HES communication system and avoid additional hardware/mythologies to connect with head-end system independently.
Since the communication model achieved is bi-directional between gas detector and HES (head end system) (via gas meter), the head end system may monitor gas detectors health and other parameters remotely when gas meter is connected to the head system and also update any settings in detector remotely.
In addition, a local pairing/communication model will communicate with the sensor in such a way that gas meter and gas detector communication can co-exist with the gas meter's and head end system communication stack such as LoRa/wmBUS/CAT-M1, etc. the head end system. Thus allowing a gas meter to be built to fully comply with a utility company's specification.
Further, the sensor can piggyback on gas meter's head end system communication model, thereby providing the flexibility for the sensor to avoid another hardware interface model to communicate with. Moreover, wherein a bi-directional communication is established between the sensor and head end system via the gas meter, without disturbing gas meter operations; thus allowing the operator to monitor gas detector's health or other parameters directly and update relevant settings on demand remotely.
The system maintains normal communication with the head end system when gas leak is not detected with a wireless stack of choice and manages to maintain coexistence of said stack with the communication methodology used to communicate with the gas detector, thus having a gas meter which runs normally as per the specification of utility companies. The system also describes a method by which the gas detector could piggy-back on the gas meter's existing infrastructure to establish a direct communication with the head end system and avoid its own hardware/methodology to interface with the head end system.
All references, including granted patents and patent application publications, referred herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
All the features disclosed in this specification, including any accompanying abstract and drawings, may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.
Various aspects of the invention have been described above by way of illustration, and the specific embodiments disclosed are not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed. The particular implementation of the system provided thereof may vary depending upon the particular context or application. The invention is thus to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the following claims. It is to be further understood that not all of the disclosed embodiments in the foregoing specification will necessarily satisfy or achieve each of the objects, advantages, or improvements described in the foregoing specification.
The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed.
