Method for the real-time estimation of the total consumption of a fluid distributed to users, and a distribution network implementing said method
US9952060B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignees
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 16, 2012 |
| Grant date | Apr 24, 2018 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 10, 2033 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY04S20/30
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A method for the real-time estimation of the total consumption of a fluid, in particular water or gas, distributed from a unit (A) to users (b1, b2 . . . ) via a network of supply pipes (E) with a branch (d1, d2 . . . ), for each user, fitted with a counter (c1, c2 . . . ) of the fluid consumed by the user, which method involves defining cohorts of users having homogeneous behavior with regard to the consumption of fluid; defining, for at least one of these cohorts, a sample of users from the cohort that is statistically sufficient to represent the cohort; fitting only the branches of the users of each sample with a remote reading device (t1, t2, . . . ) for reading the consumption; also fitting remote reading devices to the branches of the users of the other cohorts that have not been sampled; and processing the information provided by the remote reading devices to obtain a real-time value representative of the total consumption of the network.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.