Method and apparatus to monitor a reservoir or a structure
AssigneeTechnologies Intelia Inc.
InventorClaude Bouchard
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus to monitor the weight of a silo or tank is disclosed. The system is adapted to be attached to a leg of the silo and comprises a load cell, a support member anchored to the ground and a lifting device attached to the load cell and to the support member. The load cell comprises two extremities that are attached to the silo leg and comprises an aperture there between. The aperture is preferably threaded to receive the lifting device, such as a bolt. The bolt is rotated using a tool as to induce a movement of the load cell along the axis of the bolt thereby lifting the load cell and the attached silo leg. Strain gauges are attached to the load cell to measure the variation in an electric or optical signal that is translated in human readable data using a monitoring device.
Claims17
A system for monitoring and supporting the weight of a structure above a surface, the structure comprising at least two supporting members, the system comprising:
- a load cell support, the load cell support being anchored to the surface;
- a beam load cell, each of two ends of the beam load cell being attached to one of the supporting members;
- a lifting device linking the load cell support to the beam load cell between the two ends, the lifting device upwardly or downwardly moving the beam load cell;
- and
- at least one sensor for measuring deformation of the beam load cell.
A method for monitoring and supporting the weight of a structure comprising at least one supporting element above a surface, the method comprising:
- attaching a first section of the load cell to a first portion of the support element of the structure;
- attaching a second section of the load cell to a second portion of the support element of the structure;
- using a lifting device to upwardly move the load cell with respect to a load cell support attached to the surface;
- measuring deformation of the load cell;
- and
- calculating load of the supporting element using the deformation of the load cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.