The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 21, 2010
Filed:
Jan. 09, 2008
Yves Choquette, Boucherville, CA;
Pierre Lavigne, Boucherville, CA;
Pierre Ducharme, Saint-Eustache, CA;
Alain Houdayer, Montréal, CA;
Jean-pierre Martin, Laval, CA;
Yves Choquette, Boucherville, CA;
Pierre Lavigne, Boucherville, CA;
Pierre Ducharme, Saint-Eustache, CA;
Alain Houdayer, Montréal, CA;
Jean-Pierre Martin, Laval, CA;
Hydro-Quebec, Montreal QC, CA;
Abstract
A gamma monitoring apparatus and method for measuring water equivalent of snowpack over a selected ground area. A detector unit is installed at a given height above the area. The detector unit has a collimator and a scintillator coupled to a photomultiplier tube for detecting gamma rays emitted by naturally radioactive elements present in soil under the snowpack and absorbed by the snowpack in a field of view defined by the collimator. Pulses in a signal produced by the photomultiplier tube are measured and those exceeding threshold energy levels in a number of energy windows are registered as gamma counts. The water equivalent of the snowpack is periodically computed as functions of the gamma counts in the energy windows and the height of the detector unit with respect to ground level. The data representing the computed water equivalent are stored and controllably transmitted for reporting. Soil moisture content is also determinable.