Patent · US Expired

Precise location of buried metallic pipes and cables in the presence of signal distortion

US7356421B2 · kind B2 · utility

72Cited by
1References
44Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 6, 2005
Grant dateApr 8, 2008
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 6, 2025

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01V3/081
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A new approach for locating an underground line described herein remains accurate in the face of bleedover by including both amplitude and phase from at least two magnetic field strength sensors in the measurement set. A numerical optimization step is introduced to deduce the positions and currents of each of several cables, of which one is the targeted cable and the others are termed bleedover cables. Furthermore, some embodiments of the method accounts for practical problems that exist in the field that relate to reliable estimation of cable positions, like the phase transfer function between transmitter and receiver, the estimation of confidence bounds for each estimate, and the rejection of false positive locates due to the presence of noise and interference.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.