Back to results
US 11,307,137 B2Granted
Systems and methods for locating sources of fugitive gas emissions
AssigneeABB Schweiz AG
InventorsJ. Brian Leen, Yi-wen Huang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fugitive gas detection system includes an inertial measurement assembly that measures a change in position of the inlet of a gas analyzer and applies a time slip to concentration data detected by an analyzer to generate a time series of the concentration of the gas in three-dimensional space. Applying statistical methods, the relative location of the source of the fugitive gas can be established from the time series. Additionally, in some embodiments, the data may be interpolated to establish a map of a plume of the fugitive gas.
Claims24
A gas leak detector comprising:
- an inertial measurement assembly;
- a high precision gas analyzer;
- a wand having an inlet that receives ambient air and directs all or part of the ambient air to the high precision gas analyzer, the wand physically coupled to the inertial measurement assembly such that movement of the wand is detected by the inertial measurement assembly;
- and
- a controller receiving signals from the inertial measurement assembly and the high precision gas analyzer, the controller including processor and a memory device, the memory device including instructions that, when acted upon by the processor, cause the controller to:
- monitor the signals from the inertial measurement assembly to identify real-time changes in location of the inlet of the wand;
- log the changes in location;
- monitor signals from the high precision gas analyzer indicative of a concentration of a one or more particular type of fugitive gas dispersed in the ambient air;
- log the concentration of particular molecules of each of the one or more particular type of fugitive gas dispersed in the ambient air;
- apply an adjustment factor based on characteristics of the wand to a time series of the concentration of the particular type of fugitive gas in the ambient air to offset the time series such that the measured concentration of the particular type of fugitive gas is aligned with the location of the inlet of the wand when the measured concentration entered the wand to create an adjusted concentration time series;
- and
- log the adjusted concentration time series with the changes in location time series to create a combined time series that includes both position and fugitive gas concentration data.
9 more elements
A method of identifying a source location of a gas leak, the method comprising:
- moving an inlet of a handheld gas analyzer in space to collect ambient air samples;
- measuring real-time changes in a position of the inlet of the handheld gas analyzer using an inertial measurement assembly;
- logging a time series of the changes in position of the inlet;
- measuring a real-time concentration of a particular fugitive gas using a high precision gas analyzer;
- adjusting the real-time concentration of the particular fugitive gas with a time slip factor to account for delays in a transfer of the fugitive gas from the inlet to the high precision gas analyzer to generate a time-slipped data series of the concentration;
- and
- combining the time-slipped data series of the concentration with a time series of changes in position of the inlet to create a time series indicative of a relative position of the inlet and the concentration of fugitive gas at the inlet over time.
4 more elements
A system for measuring a distribution of a fugitive gas in three dimensions, the system comprising:
- an inertial measurement assembly providing a signal indicative of changes in three-dimensional position and three-axis orientation of the inertial measurement assembly in real-time;
- a high precision gas analyzer to measure a concentration of a gas in real-time;
- a wand having an inlet with a tip that receives ambient air and directs the ambient air to the high precision gas analyzer, the wand physically coupled to the inertial measurement assembly such that movement of the wand is detected by the inertial measurement assembly;
- a user interface having user input devices and a display;
- and
- a controller in communication with the inertial measurement assembly, the high precision gas analyzer, and the user interface, the controller including a processor and a memory device coupled to the processor,
- wherein the memory device stores instructions that, when executed by the processor:
- cause the user interface to display a prompt a user to input data regarding a configuration of the wand;
- receive a signal from the user input devices indicative of the configuration of the wand;
- based on the configuration of the wand, establish a time slip parameter for monitoring ambient air for the concentration of the gas and establish an offset from the tip of the inlet to the inertial measurement assembly;
- and
- log a time series that includes a change in position of the tip of the inlet and the time slipped concentration data as the tip of the inlet is moved in space.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.