Felt and environment monitoring system and method

Abstract

This application presents a solution for measuring different physical parameters from the felt and its surrounding environment, such as: pressure, temperature, humidity, pH, airflow and the degradation of the felt. It is disclosed a monitoring system, comprising: an independent measuring unit fixed in a felt, comprising at least one of the following sensors: temperature, humidity, pH, pressure or air flow; a central acquisition unit comprising a microcontroller, a real-time clock, a communication transceiver connected to at least one independent measuring unit and a communication transceiver connected to a computing device; and a polymeric encapsulation material layer. Applications for this technology are the monitoring of the felt and its surrounding environment in, for example, dry filtration, laundries, wet filtration and other suitable applications. Although the system is focused specifically on felt, the same principles could be applied to other types of fabrics with no further modifications to the system.

Claims

1. A felt and environment monitoring system, comprising: at least one independent measuring unit fixed to a felt or on a support structure, comprising at least one of the following sensors: temperature, humidity, pH, pressure or air flow; a central acquisition unit comprising at least a microcontroller, a real-time clock, a communication transceiver connected to the at least one independent measuring unit, an inertial sensor, and a communication transceiver connected to a computing device, wherein said central acquisition unit is configured to set the system in standby status if detecting that the system does not sense movement for a specific time and disabling the acquisition and transmission of data from the at least one independent measuring unit fixed in a felt or on its support structure; and a polymeric encapsulation material layer, wherein the polymeric encapsulation material layer has a thermal conductivity between 0,18 and 0,68 W/mK, a viscosity between 2000 and 10000 mPa.s, and a thickness between 3 and 6 mm.

2. System according to claim 1, wherein the transceiver connected to a computing device is a wireless communication interface.

3. System according to claim 1, wherein the transceiver connected to the at least one independent measuring unit is a RS-485, Profibus, Modbus, CAN or ZigBee communication interface.

4. System according to claim 1, wherein the independent measuring unit comprises the sensors and the acquisition electronics located in different structures.

5. System according to claim 4, wherein the material is RTV silicone or epoxy.

6. System according to claim 1, wherein the central acquisition unit is connected to the at least one independent measuring unit by an interconnection ribbon with integrated conductive wires.

7. System according to claim 1, wherein the central acquisition unit comprises: a unique authentication key, set by a computing device App, in order to guarantee environment conditions only with approved felts; and/or at least one measurement unit configured to perform continuous measurement of a well-known resistance, embedded only on the approved felts.

8. System according to claim 1, comprising at least one secondary acquisition unit comprising a communication transceiver connected to between 20 to 100 independent measuring units.

9. System according to claim 1, wherein the at least one independent measuring unit fixed to the felt or on its support structure, is uniformly distributed on the felt.

10. System according to claim 1, wherein the at least one independent measuring unit fixed in a felt or on its support structure, is placed between two layers of felt.

11. Method of operating a computing device connected to a communication transceiver of a central acquisition unit of the felt monitoring system of claim 1, comprising: Retrieving felt sensor data from the connection to the central acquisition unit; displaying said sensor data in a display screen interface; verifying the authentication key in order to validate if an approved felt is installed; performing configuration parameters of the central acquisition unit and also the independent measuring units attached to it; and controlling different parameters of at least one related factory equipment, connected in the network.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) For easier understanding of this application, figures are attached in the annex that represents different embodiments which nevertheless are not intended to limit the technology disclosed herein.

(2) Reference symbols in the figures: atextile connection between the components with integrated conductive wires bpolymeric protective coating csensor area with no protective coating dcentral acquisition unit eelectronic components protected by the polymeric coating findividual module with integrated electronics with protective coating gindividual module with sensors not covered by the polymeric coating hflow sensor isensors and pcb with electronic components jprotective casing ksupport for attaching to the wires in the cage frame

(3) FIG. 1 illustrates a central acquisition unit connected to its sensing units. In this embodiment the sensing units are divided in the sensor area (example: temperature, humidity, pressure sensors, etc.) and acquisition electronics. This approach is to be applied to laundries.

(4) FIG. 2 illustrates a different approach of the central acquisition unit connected to its sensing units. In this embodiment the acquisition electronics and the sensors are combined in only one structure. This approach is to be applied to laundries.

(5) FIG. 3 illustrates the protective case that supports the sensing unit which is to be applied to, for example, dry filtration. This unit comprises several integrated sensors, such as temperature, humidity, air flow, and also all the related acquisition electronics. This unit is to be connected to a central acquisition unit.

(6) FIG. 4 illustrates the cavity of the sensing unit's protective case, which is to be filled with an encapsulation material.

(7) FIG. 5 illustrates a preferential implementation of the system architecture, especially applied to laundry felts.

(8) FIG. 6 illustrates a preferential implementation of the system architecture, especially applied to dry filtration felts.

(9) FIG. 7 illustrates a screen of the App showing the possibility of monitoring several parameters from several rolls, as a full view.

(10) FIG. 8 illustrates a screen of the App showing the possibility of monitoring the evolution (graphical form) of each one of the measured parameters, by roll.

(11) FIG. 9 illustrates a screen of the App showing the possibility of setting several alert definitions, such as minimum or maximum thresholds, for each one of the parameters, by roll.

(12) FIG. 10 illustrates a screen of the App showing the possibility of having a history analysis of the acquired data.

(13) FIG. 11 illustrates the sequence diagram for sending a data frame from a master to the client (external system).

(14) FIG. 12 illustrates the sequence diagram for a user configuration of a master device and/or slaves.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

(15) The following text provides an explanation on the different embodiments of the technology disclosed in the present application. This explanation is not an extensive overview and does not intend to delineate the scope of the protection or any critical aspect or element of the same technology.

(16) The system can be implemented in three different ways, depending on the application in which it will be used, for example dry filtration, wet filtration or industrial ironing equipment. The sensors that are used, the mechanical supports, the layout of the sensors on the electronic board, and the protective layers must be adapted for each solution to be implemented. Although there are some differences in the system implementation, the core technology and the types of sensors that are used are common to all of the systems.

(17) In one embodiment, the system is used in industrial ironing machines. These have different rotating rolls that have springs in the surface that push the linen (textiles) against a heated chest. The springs in the rolls are covered by at least one layer of a needled felt that is used as a layer between the springs and the textiles pushing them against the heated chest. The textiles are driven between the two components in order to completely dry them and to iron them. The felts can be placed in different ways depending on the type of equipment that is used. There are different ways in which the felt can be used: using a thicker felt, with thickness between 10 and 20 mm, that does not overlap or to use thinner felts, with thickness up to 2.0 and 6 mm, in which case there is the overlapping of at least two layers of the felt. In the first case, the felt ends have to be sewn by hand in place to assure that the felt is kept in the correct position while in the second case the felt edges are tuck in the lateral part of the roll assuring that it is kept in place. There are other possibilities of installation of this type of felts using cords in the edges.

(18) Different equipments may have different dimensions, among others, the roll's diameter and widths, and also may have a different number of rolls, which depends on the required throughput for the equipment. All the calendars are heated to completely dry and iron the textiles. In this process there are several parameters that are important to monitor to assure the correct operation of the equipment such as pH temperature, humidity, pressure and the felt plugging.

(19) From the studies that were performed, it was verified that the operating temperatures of the calendars can go up to 210 C., normally between 150-210 C., and there is a considerable pressure that can be applied between the rolls and the heated chest depending on the equipment. In the laundry process, there are different steps to wash the textiles. In some of the steps, alkaline solutions are used, with a pH that can go up to 11-12. After these steps a rinsing step is used to assure that the pH of the textiles is lowered to values below 7. If there is some problem with the washing cycle, the textiles that are placed in the ironing machines may have an inadequate pH leading, in combination with the high temperature and humidity, to the hydrolysis of the felt and a premature replacement, resulting in higher costs of operation.

(20) Said embodiment for industrial ironing equipment comprises independent measuring units, which are connected to each other by conductive metallic wires. These wires are interlaced in a textile support that can be composed by different materials such as m-aramid or others which can withstand the working conditions.

(21) The conductive metallic wires are used to transport the information from each measuring unit using a RS-485 based communication protocol. In the areas close to the independent measuring units, the textile support is surrounded by a velcro that can be made of different materials, such as polyester, aramid or metallic materials, such as steel, in order to assure that it adheres to the felt, in order to limit the movement of the measuring equipment during its operation.

(22) The independent measuring units are thin structures with dimensions between 2 to 6 mm already considering the polymeric coating. These units must be as small as possible since they are to be placed between two layers of the felt and the impact in the ironing equipment must be minimal. At one of the extremities, one of the independent measuring units is connected to the central acquisition unit that is placed on the side of the roll since its dimensions don't allow it to be placed on top of the roll. This unit gathers the data form the different number of measuring units and sends it, using wireless technology, to the external systems. The wireless technologies that can be used are Zig Bee, Bluetooth Low Energy, among others with low power consumption.

(23) The energy required to operate the independent measuring units and the central acquisition unit comes either from a battery, preferably a primary Li-Ion battery, that has to be periodically replaced, in a period from 3 to 6 months, depending on the operating conditions, namely the acquisition and communication cadence, or from a thermogenerator that generates energy, which in a preferential implementation is based on the temperature difference that exists in the ironing equipment.

(24) In a second embodiment, the present solution is used in dry filtration. The dry filtration environment corresponds to the application of the felts as filtration sleeves that are used in industrial air filtration for filtering solid particles. The filters installed usually in chimneys can have hundreds or thousands of filtration sleeves depending on the size of the industrial facility. The sleeves can have different shapes, round or rectangular with round corners, depending on the equipment where they will be installed and their diameter and length may vary between from few meters up to 20 meters. The selection of the materials used for the felt production depends on the application parameters, namely running conditions in the filters as temperature, pH raw gas composition, dust particle sizes, among others. The most common materials used are, polyester, m-aramid, polypropylene, acrylic, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyimide, polyphenylene sulfide, glass, among others.

(25) Typically, the felts are placed around a cage made of metallic wires that maintain the final shape of the felts during operation. The felts have to withstand the different pressures that are applied coming both from the pressure of the air leaving the filter and also the pulse of air that periodically is injected in the sleeves to remove the particles that are accumulated in the exterior of sleeves.

(26) The conditions in which the felts are used depend on what type of industry they are intended for, and they may be used in extreme conditions with very high temperatures and the presence of gases that may degrade the materials that are used. As an example, the temperature inside a filter installed in a cement fabrication facility can exceed temperatures of 200 C. in continuous operation, which requires the use of very specific materials such as glass or m-aramid.

(27) With the use, the felt suffers some degradation which drives to a reduced performance, i.e. with a decreasing permeability, and that may lead to ruptures in the filtration sleeves. Since the filters may be composed by hundreds or thousands of sleeves, in case of rupture of one of them it is necessary to stop the equipment to which the filter is associated and verify one by one all of the sleeves to replace the ruptured one, which is a time consuming process.

(28) In said embodiment, the system is composed by independent measuring units that are placed near the top of the filtration sleeve. In this form of implementation the following sensors can be used: temperature, humidity, pH and airflow.

(29) The installation must be done near the top of the sleeve in order to detect the changes in the airflow that may indicate that the sleeve is either saturated, i.e. with a decrease of airflow, or has ruptured, i.e. occurs a sudden increase in the airflow. The flow sensors are used has a method for detection of the degradation of the sleeve and also to detect if there is any rupture in the sleeve, that must then be replaced.

(30) In this embodiment, there is more available room space for the installation of the system, so a protective case can be used. This protective case embraces the electronic system and has also an additional support for the flow sensor that protrudes from the casing placing the flow sensor in the center of the sleeve. The case has, in the back, a fitting that adapts to the metallic wires of the cage in order to keep it in place.

(31) Each one of the independent measuring units is connected by wire to the central acquisition unit that at the same time provides electrical power. The central acquisition unit is connected to the external system either by wires or by wireless technology depending on the properties of the filter in which the sleeves are installed.

(32) The preferential process to supply electrical power is the direct connection to the electrical grid that is typically available where the systems are installed, not requiring an autonomous energy source.

(33) The external systems can be placed away from the area to be monitored and more accessible to the users. This part of the system has the software that will acquire, process, store and display the data from all the sensors that are being used.

(34) In a third embodiment, for use in wet filtration, the sensor has similar structure to the application in the industrial ironing machines that can be integrated in filters in industrial installations. These filters are used to separate solids from liquids where the solids or the liquids are the end product. These filters are used in several industries as for example, Pulp & Paper production, chemical industries, mining industries.

(35) System Architecture

(36) Both industrial laundry and filtration systems are based in a master-slave typology for the electronic system side communication and a client-server typology for the client information presentation. Regarding the industrial laundry system, the preferential implementation is shown in FIG. 5, where the central acquisition unit is the master and the sensing units located across the felt are the slaves.

(37) Essentially, the master sends requests and each one of the slaves respond accordingly, sending its acquired parameters. This data will be temporarily stored by the master, which then sends, periodically (user-defined cadence), the information about all the received parameters, to an external system which is preferably an embedded Android-based platform. Nevertheless, other embedded platforms (Windows CE, embedded Linux, etc.) or mobile devices can be used. In this implementation the client and the server are present in the same device. The system can have several masters and slaves, giving enough flexibility to apply it in equipments that have several rolls. In practice, the limitation resides in the communication protocol number of simultaneous connections. Preferably, due to the movement of the rolls, the communication between the master and the external system should be performed wirelessly and the power supply of the electronic system should be done by using batteries.

(38) Regarding the filtration system, the preferred implementation is shown in FIG. 6. In this approach each one of the sensing units (slaves) from the sleeves is connected to a concentrator (master), by means of a cable network connection for communication (network 1) and power supply. These concentrators, similarly to what happens in the architecture from FIG. 5, also send requests to the network 1 and each one of the slaves respond accordingly. Every concentrator is connected to the power grid. Another cable network (network 2), is responsible for handling the communication between concentrators and the server, which will process and store all the data sent, periodically as user-defined, from those units. The server is not located near the chimney, like the other elements of the system, this device is to be located externally, for example on the server room of the factory facilities. In order to visualize the acquired parameters, a client embedded platform running Android, for example located on the factory control room, allows user to monitor all the collected data, by means of a wireless client-server connection.

(39) Client Interface with Industrial Equipment

(40) Both architectures, FIGS. 5 and 6, were designed having in mind scalability, therefore the client (external system) is always able to interact with factory equipment. Taking as example industrial laundries, the client embedded platform is able to control actively some of the equipment parameters based on the monitored data, such as the roll speed, calendar temperature, etc., as long as the equipment offers any type of industrial digital interface, such as RS-485, Profibus, Modbus, CAN, ZigBee, etc. Therefore, the industrial equipment can be a part of the system network, increasing the equipment adaptability to different conditions and consequently improving the process's performance.

(41) About the Software (Client Application)

(42) The software developed in android environment is common to all of the three possible implementations only requiring the definition of the different sensors to be used in the process. The software is responsible for communicating with the central acquisition unit (or units) to get the values measured by the sensors, to process and store the data, display the information for the user and generate alerts in case any of the values is outside a range defined by the user. The system displays the data acquired by the sensors in the last few minutes (depending on the transmission cadence) and stores the data of each day.

(43) The external system in which the software is installed can communicate with a variable number of central acquisition units, depending on the number of simultaneous connections limitation defined by the wireless interface in use. The communication can be done using a physical connection or by wireless technologies, preferably, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy or Zigbee, depending on the operating conditions and the distance between the systems. If the distance is larger than 100 meters than preferably Wi-Fi should be used while for shorter distances Zigbee or Bluetooth Low Energy is preferred, since it also has lower energy consumption.

(44) The client App functionalities are transversal to the three possible implementations, nevertheless, to have a more detailed description it will be presented, as a reference, some screenshots applied to laundry felt monitoring. One of the possible visualization layouts of the main screen, FIG. 5, presents the instant and last measured values, as useful information to the operator of the equipment. This way it is possible to know immediately the measured values giving to the operator a first overview, indicating if everything is ok with the process. This screen is intended to provide a resume of the environment conditions of the equipment without displaying excessive information. Additional information is provided in this screen such as the hour/date, the percentage of battery charge, in the cases where the central acquisition system and sensing units are powered by batteries, and displays alerts if any of the parameters values are exceeded, given a pre-defined alert configuration. The FIG. 7 shows a three roll visualization, however, instead of rolls it can be presented sleeves, for dry filtration monitoring, all the user interaction would still be the same. If required, the user can enter in a second screen, FIG. 8, where it is possible to access to more detailed information about the measured parameters. The user can choose what parameters he wishes to visualize and what areas of measurement he wants to be displayed. The user then has access to the evolution of the parameters in the last, for example, ten previous acquisition updates (user-defined in the configuration area), being able this way to analyze the evolution of the system while checking if there is an abnormal behavior. In a similar way, the software developed to the dry and wet filtration application allows to monitor the different parameters in the different areas where the monitoring system is installed. The FIG. 9 represents the screen where it is possible to configure alerts, regarding the operating conditions. One of the functionalities of the software is the possibility of configuring a range of values for each measured parameter that are considered to be normal operation conditions. If this range, defined by the user, is exceeded when the equipment is working, a visual alert is displayed in the main screen giving an indication to the operator that there is some problem with the equipment that should be verified. It is also possible to view a history analysis of the measured parameters during the lifecycle of the felt, FIG. 10 shows an example of a pH analysis where it is possible to apply filters for a better visualization. The information history can also be presented as an evolution graphic, such as the one presented for the more detailed visualization of the parameters (FIG. 8).

(45) Communication Data Flow Mechanism

(46) For a better understanding of the data flow, FIG. 11 shows the mechanism used in order to communicate between a master and the external system (client), while FIG. 12 illustrates the method for user configurations of a master and eventually the slave units. In the master-client communication, as a preferred implementation, a master sends the information through a wireless connection (sendDataFrame method), when the client receives the data frame it starts the checksum validation (validateFrame method), responding with an acknowledgement if the data is consistent and storing it in the database, otherwise, the client sends a not acknowledgment and the data is re-sent by the master, for a new validation process. In a master re-configuration, required by the user, as a preferred implementation, the client sends the new configuration data to the master (sendConfiguration method), which replies with an acknowledgement after checking the data consistency (validateFrame method) and also after slave configuration, if required in the data frame (ConfigurateSlaves method), otherwise, master sends a not acknowledgment and the configuration data is re-sent by the client, a new validation is then performed.

(47) About the Firmware

(48) For the specific firmware is developed for the independent measuring systems in order to acquire data from all of the installed sensors and communicate the data to the central acquisition unit. The firmware is adapted in function of the type and number of sensors that are used in each system.

(49) Authenticity of the Felts

(50) In order to assure that the systems are only used with authorized felts/fabrics, two different systems are implemented. One system is software based and consists in a software key that is given to the user when a felt is bought, which is inserted in the software by the user. The system will then start working, acquiring and displaying data, during a specific period that can be defined by the seller, depending on the expected lifetime of the felt that is installed. When the period of time is exceeded and if the felt is not replaced by a new one that is accompanied by a new software key, the software will display a message stating that the utilization period has expired and a new key should be inserted.

(51) A second system is hardware based and requires the integration of a wire, with a well know electrical resistance, in the felt that will later be attached to the central acquisition unit that will recognize the value of the resistance. If the value is in a range previously defined the software will work properly. If the measured electrical resistance is outside of the range the software displays a message informing that an allowed felt is not detected and the connection between the felt and the measuring system should be confirmed.

(52) Naturally, the present solution are not in any way limited to the embodiments described in this document and a person with average knowledge in the field will be able to predict many possible changes to it without deviating from the main idea, as described in the claims.