Utility meter transponder/antenna assembly for underground installations
AssigneeBadger Meter, Inc.
InventorsDavid L. Cerny, Brenda Stewart, Lee Karsten, H. Paul Walding, Jr., Joseph A. Ziino
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A remote meter reading arrangement in which utility consumption data accumulated in an electronic metering unit located within an underground enclosure is transmitted via radio frequency signals to a handheld data collection unit or to a mobile data collection unit carried in a vehicle. An assembly for installation in the underground enclosure includes an antenna enclosure, a transponder enclosure and means for enclosing and protecting an antenna within the antenna enclosure and a transponder within the transponder enclosure. Two embodiments are disclosed.
Claims6
An assembly for radio frequency communication of data between a utility meter within a subsurface pit enclosure and a collection unit, the pit enclosure having a pit lid with a hole therein and the assembly comprising:
- an antenna enclosure having a cap including a stem with a lower end and with an upper end, the stem extending through the hole in the pit lid and the cap closing completely the upper end of the stem and being supported by a top side of the pit lid to suspend the stem in the hole;
- means around the lower end of the stem for clamping against an underside of the pit lid to trap a portion of the pit lid between said means and the cap;
- an antenna disposed within the antenna enclosure and projecting above the pit lid for transmitting radio signals to the collection unit;
- a transponder enclosure within the pit;
- a transponder completely enclosed within the transponder enclosure for converting data signals received from the meter to radio frequency signals for transmission through the antenna;
- means for electrically connecting the transponder to the antenna;
- and
- means for sealing and enclosing the antenna enclosure and the transponder enclosure against the environment within the pit enclosure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.