Device for indicating a liquid level in a liquid container
OwnerNicholas Seymourinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This invention relates to a device for indicating liquid level in a liquid container by wirelessly communicating the angle of inclination of the device, and by inference the level of liquid in the container relative to a predetermined low level point. The same embodiment can be deployed in shallow or deep liquid containers as free-floating in the former, or tethered to a fixed point in the latter, to facilitate remote monitoring of the liquid level. The device can be easily moved to new locations without the use of tools or fixings with the location of the device updated on the remote user interface via GPS data transmitted with the sensor data.
Claims15
A device for indicating a liquid level in a liquid container, the device comprising:
- a waterproof housing that includes an upper portion and a lower portion, and
- an electronic circuit that is mounted within the housing, and that includes:
- at least one sensing element that is configured to output an electronic signal that represents a distinct condition of the sensing element within the environment surrounding the device,
- a processor that is in electronic communication with the sensing element so as to receive electronic outputs from the sensing element, and that generates information based on the received electronic output from the sensing element,
- a data transmitter for receiving generated information from the processor, and transmitting wireless electronic signals that represent received generated information, and
- a power supply for providing electrical power in the electronic circuit,
- wherein the device is configured to be positively buoyant in the contained liquid such that, when the device is free-floating, the lower portion is submerged and the upper portion is above the liquid level to thereby define a draft depth of the device,
- wherein the device is configured to adopt a substantially upright orientation when free-floating in liquid, and to adopt an inclined orientation when the liquid level within the container is less than the draft depth or predetermined depth,
- wherein the electronic outputs of the sensing element include an electronic output that is indicative of the device being in the substantially upright orientation, and a second electronic output that is indicative of the device being in the inclined orientation, and
- wherein the device further comprises an attachment point to which a tether is attachable, wherein the attachment point is positioned within the lower portion of the housing, and whereby the device is in a substantially inverted orientation compared with the upright orientation when the device is suspended by the tether.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.