Wireless fire hose flow rate apparatus and measuring flow rate in a fire hose
AssigneeGovernment of the United States of America, AS Represented By the Secretary of Commerce
InventorsChristopher Uriah Brown, Gregory William Vogl, Wai Cheong Tam
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A wireless flow rate apparatus measures flow rate in a fluid-conductive conduit and includes: the fluid conductive conduit comprising a non-rigid wall; a wireless sensor network including a flow sensor that detects vibrations of the fluid-conductive conduit, produces a sensor signal; and a wireless node that receives the sensor signal and wirelessly communicates the sensor signal; a base station that wirelessly receives the sensor signal; and a flow rate analyzer that receives the sensor signal from the base station and determines the flow rate of fluid in the fluid-conductive conduit from the sensor signal.
Claims20
A wireless fire hose flow rate apparatus for measuring flow rate in a fire hose, the wireless fire hose flow rate apparatus comprising:
- a wireless sensor network comprising:
- a flow sensor that detects vibrations of the fire hose generated by water flowing through the fire hose, produces a sensor signal from which the flow rate of water in the fire hose is determined, and communicates the sensor signal;
- and
- a wireless node in electrical communication with the flow sensor and that receives the sensor signal from the flow sensor and wirelessly communicates the sensor signal;
- a base station in radiocommunication with the wireless node and that wirelessly receives the sensor signal from the wireless node and communicates the sensor signal;
- and
- a flow rate analyzer in electrical communication with the base station and that receives the sensor signal from the base station and determines the flow rate of the water in the fire hose from the sensor signal.
A wireless flow rate apparatus for measuring flow rate in a fluid-conductive conduit, the wireless flow rate apparatus comprising:
- the fluid-conductive conduit comprising a non-rigid wall that communicates vibrations caused by fluid flowing through the fluid-conductive conduit;
- a wireless sensor network comprising:
- a flow sensor disposed on the fluid-conductive conduit that detects vibrations of the fluid-conductive conduit generated by fluid flowing through the fluid-conductive conduit, produces a sensor signal from which the flow rate of the fluid in the fluid-conductive conduit is determined, and communicates the sensor signal;
- and
- a wireless node in electrical communication with the flow sensor and that receives the sensor signal from the flow sensor and wirelessly communicates the sensor signal;
- a base station in radiocommunication with the wireless node and that wirelessly receives the sensor signal from the wireless node and communicates the sensor signal;
- and
- a flow rate analyzer in electrical communication with the base station and that receives the sensor signal from the base station and determines the flow rate of the fluid in the fluid-conductive conduit from the sensor signal.
A process for measuring flow rate in a fire hose, the process comprising:
- flowing water through a fire hose;
- detecting, by a flow sensor, vibrations of the fire hose generated by water flowing through the fire hose;
- producing, by the flow sensor, a sensor signal based on the vibrations of the fire hose detected by the flow sensor;
- communicating the sensor signal from the flow sensor;
- receiving, by a wireless node in electrical communication with the flow sensor, the sensor signal from the flow sensor;
- wirelessly communicating the sensor signal from the wireless node;
- wirelessly receiving, by a base station in radiocommunication with the wireless node, the sensor signal from the wireless node;
- communicating the sensor signal by the base station;
- receiving, by a flow rate analyzer in electrical communication with the base station, the sensor signal from the base station;
- and
- determining, by the flow rate analyzer, the flow rate of the water in the fire hose from the sensor signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.