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US 12,222,298 B2Granted
Multi-sensor pipe inspection system and method
AssigneeHydromax USA, LLC
InventorsGuy Schiavone, Adam Fredrick Stewart
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An approach for collecting disparate data within a pipe involves a sensor arrangement configured to be deployed within the pipe. The sensor arrangement includes a plurality of sensors configured to detect disparate data related to the pipe. Each sensor of the plurality of sensors is coupled to a respective collection computer on the sensor arrangement. A synchronization module is configured to synchronize the disparate data. A database is configured to store the synchronized data. A processor is configured to process the synchronized data. A user interface configured to present the synchronized data to a user.
Claims15
A system for collecting disparate data within a pipe, comprising:
- at least one sensor configured to be deployed within the pipe, wherein the at least one sensor generates data associated with at least one of structural and material defects of the pipe;
- a processor that executes instructions to process the data generated from the at least one sensor, wherein the instructions include:
- process preliminary data from the at least one sensor, wherein the instructions to process the preliminary data from the at least one sensor includes additional instructions to:
- apply a water-level mask by blanking above a water line;
- apply a bilateral filter to reduce noise in the data;
- implement a binarization threshold to the data filtered by the bilateral filter;
- extract contour features from the data generated from the at least one sensor;
- match some of the data to a template of the pipe;
- determine deformations in the pipe based on the data generated from the at least one sensor;
- and
- analyze quality of the data generated from the at least one sensor;
- wherein a corrective action is enabled to be performed at a defective location of the at least one of structural and material defects of the pipe, and wherein the defective location is determined based on the data processed by the processor.
9 more elements
A system for collecting disparate data within a pipe, comprising:
- at least one sensor configured to be deployed within the pipe, wherein the at least one sensor generates data associated with at least one of structural and material defects of the pipe;
- a processor that executes instructions to process the data generated from the at least one sensor, wherein the instructions include:
- process the data from the at least one sensor;
- extract contour features from the data generated from the at least one sensor, wherein the instructions to extract contour features from the data generated from the at least one sensor includes additional instructions to segment an image into regions based on perceptual similarity, wherein the segmentation of the image into regions based on perceptual similarity is accomplished by instructions to define a bounding box around the largest span of connected closed contours or chains of pixels;
- compute angles of sediment contour segments;
- determine a presence of unconnected sediment segments;
- and extend any unconnected sediment segments to form an unbroken sediment surface;
- match some of the data to a template of the pipe;
- detect sediment depth or volume within the pipe based on the data generated from the at least one sensor;
- determine deformations in the pipe based on the data generated from the at least one sensor;
- and
- analyze quality of the data generated from the at least one sensor;
- wherein a corrective action is enabled to be performed at a defective location of the at least one of structural and material defects of the pipe, and wherein the defective location is determined based on the data processed by the processor.
10 more elements
A system for collecting disparate data within a pipe, comprising:
- at least one sensor configured to be deployed within the pipe, wherein the at least one sensor generates data associated with at least one of structural and material defects of the pipe;
- a processor that executes instructions to process the data generated from the at least one sensor, wherein the instructions include:
- process the data from the at least one sensor;
- extract contour features from the data generated from the at least one sensor;
- match some of the data to a template of the pipe, wherein the instructions to match some of the data to the template of the pipe includes additional instructions to:
- determine a center of the pipe by centering an image in a pixel canvas, wherein for an N-pixel×N-pixel image, the pixel canvas used is 3N-pixel×3N-pixel, and wherein N is any integer;
- detect sediment depth or volume within the pipe based on the data generated from the at least one sensor;
- determine deformations in the pipe based on the data generated from the at least one sensor;
- and
- analyze quality of the data generated from the at least one sensor;
- wherein a corrective action is enabled to be performed at a defective location of the at least one of structural and material defects of the pipe, and wherein the defective location is determined based on the data processed by the processor.
8 more elements
A system for collecting disparate data within a pipe, comprising:
- at least one sensor configured to be deployed within the pipe, wherein the at least one sensor generates data associated with at least one of structural and material defects of the pipe;
- a processor that executes instructions to process the data generated from the at least one sensor, wherein the instructions include:
- process the data from the at least one sensor;
- extract contour features from the data generated from the at least one sensor;
- match some of the data to a template of the pipe;
- detect sediment depth or volume within the pipe based on the data generated from the at least one sensor, wherein the instructions to detect sediment depth or volume within the pipe based on the data generated from the at least one sensor includes additional instructions to:
- construct a mask to blank out everything outside of a pipe wall perimeter, wherein a mask radius smaller than a radius of the pipe radius, classify every non-zero pixel inside of the mask as sediment, calculate a horizon line of the sediment;
- determine deformations in the pipe based on the data generated from the at least one sensor;
- and
- analyze quality of the data generated from the at least one sensor;
- wherein a corrective action is enabled to be performed at a defective location of the at least one of structural and material defects of the pipe, and wherein the defective location is determined based on the data processed by the processor.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.