Patent Application
20140225617
The invention relates to a system for and method of separately detecting a plurality buried conductors. More specifically, the invention relates to a system for and method of remotely controlling separate detection of a plurality buried conductors.
Before commencing excavation or other work where electrical cables, fibre optic cables, ducts, pipes, or other utilities are buried, it is important to determine the location of such buried utilities to ensure that the buried utilities are not damaged during the work.
Utilities, such as fiber optic cables, non-metallic utilities ducts, pipes or the like are typically fitted with a small electrical tracer line in which an alternating electrical current can be induced in the tracer line which in turn radiates electromagnetic radiation. Other utilities may allow an alternating electrical current to be induced in other ways which in turn radiates electromagnetic radiation.
One type of such detector works in one of two modes, namely ‘active’ or ‘passive’ modes. Each mode has its own frequency bands of detection.
The passive mode comprises ‘power’ mode and ‘radio’ mode. In power mode, the detector detects the magnetic field produced by a conductor carrying an AC mains power supply at 50/60 Hz, or the magnetic field re-radiated from a conductor as a result of a nearby cable carrying AC power, together with higher harmonics up to about 5 KHz. In radio mode, the detector detects very low frequency (VLF) radio energy which is re-radiated by buried conductors.
In the active mode, a signal transmitter produces an alternating magnetic field of known frequency and modulation, which induces a current in a nearby buried conductor. The signal transmitter may alternatively be directly connected to the conductor or, where direct connection access is not possible, a signal transmitter may be placed near the buried conductor and a signal may be induced in the conductor. The buried conductor re-radiates the signal produced by the signal transmitter.
When the operator is seeking to determine the location of a plurality of utilities using the active mode with direct connection, the operator must connect the signal transmitter to a first utility and then locate the first utility. Then the operator must subsequently connect the signal transmitter to a second utility and then locate the second utility. The process is repeated for each subsequent utility. This requires an operator to make several trips between the signal transmitter location and the location where the utility is being located. This multiple trip process can be time consuming and inefficient.
Accordingly, an improved system for detecting a plurality of buried conductors which overcomes some of the disadvantages of conventional systems is needed.
The foregoing needs are met, to a great extent, by the invention, wherein in one aspect a technique and apparatus are provided to more quickly and efficiently locate a plurality of utilities.
In accordance with one embodiment, a system for detecting a plurality buried conductors includes a transmitter configured to generate an alternating test signal for a plurality of buried conductors, a receiver configured to detect an electromagnetic field produced by the alternating test signal in the plurality buried conductors, and a remote control configured to control the transmitter to generate the alternating test signal in one of the plurality of buried conductors.
In accordance with another embodiment, a system for detecting a plurality buried conductors includes means for producing an alternating test signal in a plurality of buried conductors, means for detecting an electromagnetic field produced by the alternating test signal in the plurality buried conductors, and means for remotely controlling the means for producing to generate the alternating test signal in one of the plurality of buried conductors.
In accordance with a further embodiment, a method of detecting a plurality buried conductors includes providing a transmitter for producing an alternating test signal in a plurality of buried conductors, providing a receiver for detecting an electromagnetic field produced by the alternating test signal in the plurality of buried conductors, and controlling the transmitter with a remote control to generate the alternating test signal in one of the plurality of buried conductors.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, certain embodiments of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof herein may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional embodiments of the invention that will be described below and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of embodiments in addition to those described and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein, as well as the abstract, are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention.
The invention will now be described with reference to the drawing figures, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout. Embodiments of the invention advantageously provide a device and method for more quickly and efficiently detect a plurality of utilities.
The transmitter 5 may generate an alternating current test signal and fed the alternating current test signal to one of the buried conductors 3 through a connection 14. In particular, the transmitter 5 may be connected to a plurality of the buried conductors 3 such as Utility One, Utility Two, . . . Utility n (wherein n is an integer). A single one of the buried conductors may be selectively connected to the transmitter 5 and the selective connection may be achieved with a switch device 20 as described in detail below.
The receiver 7 receives and detects the electromagnetic field 11 produced by the test current in the one of the buried conductors 3 that is fed the alternating current test signal. The receiver 7 may further include a remote control 22 to operate the switch device 20 to selectively connect the transmitter 5 to another one of the plurality buried conductors 3. The remote control 22 may be configured as a separate component from the receiver 7. In this regard, the remote control 22 may be utilized to operate with existing receivers 7. Alternatively, the remote control 22 may be incorporated and/or integrated into the receiver 7 to provide the operator with a single unified device.
More specifically, operation of the remote control 22 can function to operate the switch device 20 to connect one of the plurality buried conductors 3 to the transmitter 5. Accordingly, the operator can set up the transmitter 5 to be connected to each of the plurality buried conductors 3. The operator can then operate the receiver 7 and remote control 22 such that only one of the plurality buried conductors 3 may receive an alternating current test signal, the operator can then detect the electromagnetic field 11 emitted from the one of the plurality buried conductors 3 receiving the alternating current test signal. Thereafter, the operator can use the remote control 22 to control the switch device 20 such that another one of the buried utilities receives the alternating current test signal. Subsequently, the operator can use the receiver 7 to detect the electromagnetic field 11 emitted from that subsequent one of the plurality buried conductors 3. This process can be repeated for other ones of the plurality buried conductors 3. Accordingly, the operator does not have to physically travel back to the transmitter 5 and disconnect the transmitter 5 from one of the plurality buried conductors 3 and connect the transmitter 5 to another one of the plurality buried conductors 3. The connecting and disconnecting may be performed by the switch device 20 as controlled by the operator is using the remote control 22 from a remote distance.
In an alternative aspect, the transmitter 5 may include a plurality of aerials. The transmitter 5 may feed an AC voltage test signal to one of the plurality of aerials to produce a magnetic field which links around one of the buried conductors 3, thereby inducing an alternating current test signal in the buried conductor 3 adjacent one of the plurality of aerials. The alternating current test signal is radiated as an electromagnetic field 11 by the buried conductor 3 which can be detected by the receiver 7. Again, the switch device 20 may control which aerial produces a magnetic field and which one of the buried conductors 3 produces the electromagnetic field 11. Which one of the plurality of aerials transmits the AC voltage test signal may be controlled by the switch device 20 as controlled by the operator using the remote control 22 from a remote distance.
Both the transmitter 5 and receiver 7 may include a communications module 13, 15. Each communications module 13, 15 may include a transceiver that provides a communication link between the receiver 7 and the transmitter 5. Control signals may be transmitted using a wireless communications technique using the Bluetooth™ standard, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) standard, ZigBee™ standard, or the like. In other aspects, other wired or wireless techniques may be used to transmit control signals between the receiver 7 and the transmitter 5.
The test signal produced by the output module 21 may be controlled by a signal processor module 23. The signal processor module 23 may set a power, frequency and modulation scheme of the signal to be applied to the buried conductor 3. The signal processor module 23 and output module 21 may be controlled by a controller 25. The operation of the transmitter 5 may be set either by an operator via a user interface module 27 or by the commands received at the communications module 15 sent from the receiver 7.
The user interface module 27 may convey information to the operator of the transmitter 5 and may include one or more of a display for displaying information to the operator of the device, input devices such as a keypad or a touch sensitive screen and audible output devices such as a speaker or beeper. In addition to the communications module 15 sending and receiving commands to/from the communications module 13 of the receiver 7, the communications module 15 may also enable the transmitter 5 to be connected to a personal computer (PC) or a personal digital assistant (PDA) (not shown). The transmitter 5 further may include a memory module 29 and a power supply unit (PSU) 31 that includes a power source such as batteries, power management circuitry, or the like.
The transmitter 5 may include a device for calculating the complex impedance of the ground 12 at the transmitter 5. The complex impedance of the ground 12 may be measured by comparing a phase and magnitude of the voltage driving the output module 21 with the phase and magnitude of the current through the output module 21. The relationship between these phases depends on the nature of the load (the utility) to which the test signal is applied. If the load is dominantly resistive then the current and voltage may be substantially in phase. For a dominantly capacitive load, the current may lead the voltage at a phase angle up to 90 degrees and if the load is dominantly inductive then the current may lag the voltage by a phase angle up to 90 degrees. The transmitter 5 may further include additional components to address other signal related issues. The components of the portable transmitter 5 may be housed in a housing (not shown).
The communications modules 13, 15 of the receiver 7 and the transmitter 5 provide a communication/data link between the receiver 7 and the transmitter 5 which enhances the locating experience of the operator of the system 1, simplifies the operator interface and facilitates single user operation of the transmitter 5 and the receiver 7. In one aspect, the communication link may be a radio frequency telemetry system providing half-duplex communication between the transmitter 5 and the receiver 7. In other aspects a full duplex communication link may be used.
By using a long range Bluetooth transceiver, such as the Ezurio Bluetooth® Serial Module BISM II available from Laird Technologies, Earth City, Mo. USA, the communication link between the transmitter 5 and the receiver 7 may be maintained up to a line of sight range of, for example, 800 m. This communication standard may provide a good balance between the range of the communication link and low power consumption required from the batteries of the transmitter 5 and receiver 7 to maintain the communication link. Alternative communication standards may be used in other embodiments.
In one aspect the receiver 7 may take full-authority control of the transmitter 5. The communication transport layer may be based on a standard slip protocol suitable for asynchronous and synchronous serial data. The receiver 7 may act as the bus master and the transmitter 5 as a slave. All commands sent from the receiver 7 to the transmitter 5 may be acknowledged by the transmitter 5 to allow the transmitter 5 and the receiver 7 to be synchronized. In the event of a checksum error or an acknowledge signal not being received by the receiver 7, both the receiver 7 and the transmitter 5 may assume the command to be inactive.
Alternatively, the transmitter 5 may incorporate the switch device 20 into the housing of the transmitter 5. Accordingly, the line 42 may be a hardwired connection to the transmitter 5 or may be incorporated into the circuitry of the transmitter 5 or the output module 21.
The switch device 20 may include an input 50 that receives the alternating current test signal from the transmitter 5. The input 50 may connect to a switch 48 that selectively connects the signal received by the input 50 to one of a plurality of outputs 52. The switch 48 may be configured as a demultiplexer or similar switching arrangement. Depending on the position of the switch 48, the alternating current test signal may be transferred from the input 50 to a specific one of the outputs 52.
Operation of the switch 48 may be controlled by the remote control 22 to move the switch 48 to one of a plurality of positions. Each position connects the input 50 to one of the outputs 52. The switch position of the switch 48 may further be controlled by an input 58 configured with the switch device 20.
The transmitter 5 and the switch device 20 may further include the need to send a signal to ground, obtain a signal from ground, and/or be grounded. In one aspect, the transmitter 5 may connect a line 56 to ground that may include a stake 54. The line 56 may be separate from line 42 or combined with line 42.
The respective outputs 52 may then be transferred from the outputs 52 to one of the buried conductors 3 such as Utility One, Utility Two, . . . Utility n (wherein in is an integer). The transfer from the output may be achieved with a connector, a line, and another connector. The connectors may include croc clips, banana connectors, hardwired connections, or the like to connect to each of the buried conductors 3. Other arrangements are contemplated as well.
In a further implementation, the remote control 22 may be implemented as a smart phone, tablet computer or the like. Such an implementation may utilize an application providing the functionality described above in conjunction with the remote control 22. Such an implementation may utilize the communication channels associated with the smart phone or tablet computer such as the short message service (SMS) messaging, or the like. Similarly, the switch device 20 may be implemented, at least in part, as a smart phone, tablet computer or the like. Such an implementation may utilize an application providing the functionality described above in conjunction with the switch device 20. Such an implementation may utilize the communication channels associated with the smart phone or tablet computer such as the short message service (SMS) messaging, or the like.
In yet a further implementation, the remote control 22 and the switch device 20 may include identification during a transmission and/or pairing prior to transmission. The identification and/or pairing allowing only a specific remote control 22 to operate with a specific switch device 20. This would prevent the remote control 22 of one user inadvertently operating the switch device 20 of another user resulting in possibly erroneous results.
Accordingly, as described above, the system for detecting a plurality of buried conductors overcomes a number of the disadvantages of conventional systems. The system allows the operator to be more efficient and requires less time for detecting a plurality of buried conductors.
The invention may be implemented in any type of computing devices, such as, e.g., a desktop computer, personal computer, a laptop/mobile computer, a personal data assistant (PDA), a mobile phone, a tablet computer, cloud computing device, and the like, with wired/wireless communications capabilities via the communication channels.
Further in accordance with various embodiments of the invention, the methods described herein are intended for operation with dedicated hardware implementations including, but not limited to, PCs, PDAs, semiconductors, application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), programmable logic arrays, cloud computing devices, and other hardware devices constructed to implement the methods described herein.
It should also be noted that the software implementations of the invention as described herein are optionally stored on a tangible storage medium, such as: a magnetic medium such as a disk or tape; a magneto-optical or optical medium such as a disk; or a solid state medium such as a memory card or other package that houses one or more read-only (non-volatile) memories, random access memories, or other re-writable (volatile) memories. A digital file attachment to email or other self-contained information archive or set of archives is considered a distribution medium equivalent to a tangible storage medium. Accordingly, the invention is considered to include a tangible storage medium or distribution medium, as listed herein and including art-recognized equivalents and successor media, in which the software implementations herein are stored.
The invention may include communication channels that may be any type of wired or wireless electronic communications network, such as, e.g., a wired/wireless local area network (LAN), a wired/wireless personal area network (PAN), a wired/wireless home area network (HAN), a wired/wireless wide area network (WAN), a campus network, a metropolitan network, an enterprise private network, a virtual private network (VPN), an internetwork, a backbone network (BBN), a global area network (GAN), the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, an overlay network, a cellular telephone network, a Personal Communications Service (PCS), using known protocols such as the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access), W-CDMA (Wideband Code-Division Multiple Access), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, and/or the like, and/or a combination of two or more thereof.
The many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the detailed specification, and, thus, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the invention which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and variations will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described, and, accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to that fall within the scope of the invention.
