Patent Application
20100023172
The invention relates to wireless control systems for controlling or restricting the supply of a utility such as water or gas to various consumer systems utilizing the utility.
Kates, U.S. Pat. No. 7,228,726, discloses a system for monitoring water use or detecting leaks where water is supplied to a plurality of sprinklers. A controller provides control signals to the sprinkler valves and to the monitoring system. An output from a flow meter is also provided to the monitoring system. The monitoring system monitors and records water flow through each of the valves by recording water flow data from the flow meter when each of the valves is opened.
Addink et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,944,523, discloses an irrigation controller that reads water, gas and electric meters and communicates metering data over a network including irrigation nodes with valves for turning on and shutting off supply of the utility under a schedule set by the utility customer. If the customer exceeds the water use restrictions, a “reminder” is sent by the utility to the customer.
Cardinal et al., U.S. Pat. Pub. No. US2004/0181315, discloses an irrigation control system for computing a schedule to send to an irrigation control circuit.
Nelson et al, U.S. Pat. Pub. No. US2006/0030971, discloses a modular controller for controlling an irrigation system and for communicating with utility meters.
Doering et al., Pat. Pub. No. US2007/035907, discloses an irrigation valve controller for controlling an irrigation valve in a subsurface enclosure of a type used for utility meters. This patent discusses the details of the irrigation controller and how it can receive signals from many devices.
Ensworth, U.S. Pat. Pub. No. US2007/0106426, discloses a controller for controlling irrigation stations through a wireless network.
Cerny et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,894, discloses a mobile automatic meter reading (AMR) system with communication to a drive-by vehicle or a person on foot carrying a data collection unit.
There are various reasons for shutting off or restricting usage of utility service such as to protect the utility system or property in an emergency response situation, or to conserve the utility in times of shortage.
The invention provides a system and method for sending wireless control signals to a controller to operate a fluid control device in a utility supply system to restrict usage based on a schedule determined by the utility provider and without interrupting essential utility services.
In its broadest aspects, the utility is a fluid, preferably, water, but the fluid could also be natural gas or propane gas. In its broadest aspects, the network could be fixed or mobile, with a first example being a mobile system for water.
In a more particular aspect of the invention, a monitoring and control system of the type used for automatic meter reading and irrigation control is used to restrict usage of the utility in non-critical uses.
A system control unit communicates with meters used to monitor consumption of the utility and with fluid control devices used to control supply of the utility to various user devices. The communication is preferably wireless, using radio frequency (RF) signals, infrared (IR) signals, electromagnetic coupling signals or inductive coupled signals. The system control unit is preferably mobile, using a vehicle or a person to carry a reader and control unit. The vehicle system is sometimes referred to as a “drive-by” system and the other system is sometimes referred to as a “walk-by” system. The system control unit will communicate commands from the utility to the individual fluid control devices, and return any responses (also known as “status”) to the utility.
The fluid control devices respond to a variety of commands received from the system control unit to indicate status, or to open or close on demand, allowing the utility to override a customer's settings during periods of necessary conservation. In one example, a water utility can shut off access to irrigation at any point to restrict supply of the utility in times of drought or water shortage.
The invention is very advantageous over prior systems in allowing a utility to override user settings in a user service link to the distribution system without interrupting essential services.
Other objects and advantages of the invention, besides those discussed above, will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the description of the preferred embodiments which follows. In the description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and which illustrate examples of the invention.
Referring to
As seen in
The mobile system control unit 24 in the vehicle 21 can be an Orion® receiver, adapted in this case for providing transmissions with limited command signals as well as receiving RF signals with meter data. This Orion® system control unit 24 has previously been commercially offered by the assignee of the present invention, but not with the features of the invention described herein. Besides signaling radio frequency (RF) signals, the system control unit 24 receives meter data, and certain status data of a type known in the art. This meter data and status data can then be transferred to a laptop computer also located in the vehicle 21.
The system control unit can also be a handheld receiver carried by a service technician. These receivers are carried along a route for collection of utility metering data. In the case of the handheld device, this is carried back to a site where the device is placed in a pedestal including an electrical connector and the meter data is unloaded to a personal computer. For both types of radio control units, the system control unit transmits an electronic message that includes at least an identification code, meter reading data, and an error code for checking the data at the receiving end. In addition other types of status data, such as tamper indication data, can be included in the message. The utility consumption data is collected from meters at various customer locations for billing purposes.
As seen in
Referring to
Through the RF interface circuit 37, the controller 14b (
The controllers in the valve assemblies 13-16 are normally in an idle state, waiting for one or more commands from the system control unit 24 in the vehicle 21. Once a message is received, the CPU 30 determines whether or not the serial number matches that of the message addressee. If the addressee serial number matches, the CPU 30 parses the message and determines what actions to take. Actions may include actuating the valve 14a to close or to open, changing programmed settings for valve actuations, changing a programmed schedule of valve actuations, and reporting of status data.
The controller 14b is electrically connected to an electrically operable actuator to actuate the valve 14a in response to receiving wireless control signals from the system control unit 24 in the drive-by vehicle 21. The wireless control signals can include data comprising a command to close a valve, a command to open a valve, a schedule for opening and closing one or more valves, a usage limit or flow rate limit a schedule for reporting status or settings to mitigate leakage. The system control unit 24 in
Valve actuations can be scheduled on an hourly, daily or weekly basis, or for other intervals or for “no use” periods to respond to weather-related usage restrictions, peak demand restrictions or emergency responses. Scheduled actuations can also include periodic operations for maintenance and reliability of the equipment.
This has been a description of the preferred embodiments, but it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that variations may be made in the details of these specific embodiments. Such are intended to be encompassed by the broadest aspects of the present invention unless excluded by the following claims.
