System and method for sensing flow and user interface for monitoring material flow in a structure

A system for sensing flow material in a fluid-holding structure, comprising:

• a plurality of sensor assemblies, each sensor assembly including
• a housing;
• a sensor array disposed at least partially in the housing;
• and
• an external-surface-mounting attachment portion configured to non-intrusively attach the sensor assembly to an exterior surface of the fluid-holding structure;
• a flow monitoring module configured to receive data from the sensory array and use it to predict potential failure, leaks, and other abnormal conditions in the fluid-holding structure;
• and
• a user interface configured to display a plurality of graphical elements spaced along a graphical representation of the fluid-holding structure, wherein each graphical element corresponds to a separate sensor assembly noninvasively attached to an exterior surface of and spaced along the fluid-holding structure, and is configured to display data associated with the sensor array in the corresponding sensor assembly, said data comprising conditions of the flow material in the fluid-holding structure and structural integrity of the fluid-holding structure at or near the location of the sensor assembly;
• wherein the sensor array includes a flow material pressure sensor, a flow material density sensor, a flow material corrosion sensor, a member vibration sensor, a temperature sensor, and a location sensor,
• said density sensor is configured to locate air pockets, measure cavitation, and identify debris in the flow material,
• said pressure sensor includes a strain gauge attached to the exterior surface of the fluid-holding structure, said strain gauge being configured to measure a strain of a wall portion of the fluid-holding structure
• said corrosion sensor includes a magnetometer configured to detect a magnetic interference in the flow material;
• wherein each of the plurality of assemblies transmits sensed data of the sensor array to the user interface;
• and
• wherein display of the graphical user interface varies based on the sensed data.

A method for monitoring a fluid-holding structure, comprising:

• non-invasively attaching a first sensor assembly to a first surface of the fluid-holding structure and non-invasively attaching a second sensor assembly to a second surface of the fluid-holding structure;
• sensing a first density data and a first corrosion data using the first sensor assembly;
• sensing a second density data and a second corrosion data using the second sensor assembly, wherein said first and second density data includes location of any air pockets and cavitation, and whether there is debris in the flow material, and said first and second corrosion data includes magnetic interference data for the flow material;
• transmitting the first and second density data and the first and second corrosion data to a user interface;
• using the first and second density data and the first and second corrosion data to predict potential failure, leaks, and other abnormal conditions in the fluid-holding structure
• displaying a graphical user interface including a first graphical element and a second graphical element on the user interface, wherein the first and second graphical elements are spaced along a graphical representation of the fluid-holding structure, wherein the first and second graphical elements correspond to the first and second sensor assemblies, respectively, which are spaced along the fluid-holding structure, and are each configured to display data associated with the sensor array in its corresponding sensor assembly, said data comprising conditions of the flow material in the fluid-holding structure and structural integrity of the fluid-holding structure at or near the location of the respective sensor assembly;
• varying a display of the first graphical element based on the first density data and the first corrosion data;
• and
• varying a display of the second graphical element based on the second density data and the second corrosion data;
• wherein the sensing of the first and second density data is non-radioactive sensing.