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:
May. 16, 2017
Filed:
Mar. 28, 2014
Applicant:
Ut-battelle, Llc, Oak Ridge, TN (US);
Inventor:
Timothy J. McIntyre, Farragut, TN (US);
Assignee:
UT-Battelle, LLC, Oak Ridge, TN (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01M 3/00 (2006.01); G06K 7/00 (2006.01); G01M 3/28 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01M 3/005 (2013.01); G01M 3/2807 (2013.01); G06K 7/00 (2013.01);
Abstract
Sensors locate troublesome leaks in pipes or conduits that carry a flowing medium. These sensors, through tailored physical and geometric properties, preferentially seek conduit leaks or breaches due to flow streaming. The sensors can be queried via transceivers outside the conduit or located and interrogated inside by submersible unmanned vehicle to identify and characterize the nature of a leak. The sensors can be functionalized with other capabilities for additional leak and pipeline characterization if needed. Sensors can be recovered from a conduit flow stream and reused for future leak detection activities.