METHODS TO MONITOR POWER AND DATA CABLE(S) FOR EFFICIENT CABLE MANAGEMENT, SAFE HANDLING OF ABOVE GROUND, UNDERGROUND AND INDOOR INDUSTRIAL ENERGIZED CABLE(S) TO PREVENT DATA AND POWER INTERRUPTIONS

METHODES DE SURVEILLANCE DE CABLE D`ALIMENTATION ET DE DONNEES POUR UNE GESTION EFFICACE DES CABLES, UNE MANIPULATION SECURITAIRE DE CABLES A LA SURFACE, SOUTERRAINS ET INTERIEURSSOUS TENSION AFIN D`EVITER LES INTERRUPTIONS DE DONNEES ET D`ALIMENTATION

English Abstract

Described are the method(s) and device(s) that integrate sensors, algorithms,
software applications, wireless technologies, data protocols, communication
networks, data storage, energy harvesting, edge computing, cloud computing,
machine learning, and artificial intelligence techniques to monitor
aboveground and underground cable(s) used in industrial, mining, power
transmission and distribution, server farm and commercial areas; to prevent
loss of connectivity, hazards and risks from cable(s) that connect fixed and
non-fixed plant assets and equipment such as pump drives, barges, shovels,
dozers, trucks and related equipment.
In this invention, we additionally propose a distributed device network,
communication backbone and software applications that monitor electrical and
mechanical health of the cable(s) to improve predictive and preventive
maintenance strategies for cable(s) in aboveground and underground industrial
areas.

Claims

LIST OF CLAIMS:
1. A device installed on or attached to data and power cable(s) can monitor
the energized
and de-energized state of the cable(s). A variety of invasive and non-invasive
sensing
principles such as optical, electromagnetic, magnetic field sensing,
electromechanical,
electric field sensing, mechanical sensing, electrochemical are used to
monitor the
energized state of the cable(s). The energized state sensed by the device will
be
transmitted over a wired or wireless network for remote monitoring and
alerting.
2. The device described in claim 1 may also have a local visual or audio
indication to
alert the field personnel to the energized and de-energized state of the
cable(s).
3. The energized state of the cable(s) measured by the device described in
claim 1 may
be treated as a primary indication and the cable(s) status is corroborated
with the cable
string check procedure ensuring visual verification of cable number(s) for
validation.
4. The device described in claim 1 may be placed at any location along the
cable(s); for
example, at the substation close to the power source or at the load side such
as a
shovel for a power and data transmission cable(s).
5. If the insulation on the cable(s) prohibits the device described in claim 1
from
accurately measuring the energized and de-energized state of the cable(s),
then
additional sensor(s) are proposed to improve the accuracy of the device
described in
claim 1 to identify the energized /de-energized state of the cable(s) by
monitoring the
relay status associated with the cable(s) themselves.
6. A secondary device with motion sensor(s) may be placed on or attached to
the
cable(s) close to the load side of mobile mining equipment like a shovel. The
motion
variables such as vibration or acceleration or shock picked up by this second
device
provide additional confirmation to the primary device in claim 1 to cross
validate
energized and de-energized state of the cable(s).
7. Multiple number of devices described in claim 1 are placed on or
attached to the cable
along its length to measure the contour of the cable(s). The contour is
obtained by
aggregating the geo-location of the devices along the cable length using
GPS/GNSS
coordinates of the device in aboveground industrial areas. If the device
described in
claim 1 are attached to cable(s) in underground or indoor industrial areas,
then the
devices can form a mesh network and variables such as radio/wireless signal
strength
of the devices are used to infer indoor location of the devices placed along
the
cable(s) and hence able to obtain the contour of cable(s).
8. GPS/GNSS/Indoor location data associated with the contours of the cable(s)
in claim
7 are used to alert any field operator or mobile equipment approaching the
cable(s) in
aboveground, underground and indoor industrial areas. The devices attached to
the
cable(s) may display strobe lights that flash in a pre-determined sequence or
emit a
loud audio signal to alert any approaching mobile equipment within a specified
geofence to avoid vehicle-cable interaction or cable run-over.
9. Cable contours in claim 7 are also integrated with information systems such
as GIS
database and GPS/GNSS alert systems or any type of software applications to
alert
1

remote operators, field operators, remote control system crew, and industrial
mobile
operator(s) by sending alerts, SMS, voice, logs or electronic messages when
they are
approaching cable(s) within a specified distance from the cable(s) or a
geofence.
10. A software application is programmed to track cable(s) contours in real-
time and
compare them with geolocation or indoor location of any object (operator or
mine
equipment) approaching the cable(s) to initiate the alerts in claim 8. When
there is an
alert, the software application also triggers a visual warning (during the day
or
nighttime) such as strobe lights on the devices attached to the cable(s) or
emits a loud
audio signal to indicate the presence of a nearby cable(s).
11. Additional motion sensor based device(s) may be placed on or attached to
the cable(s)
to monitor damages to the cables from driving over the cable, crush and impact
due to
rocks and materials falling on the cable. The sensing parameters are relayed
over
wired or wireless network for generating alerts described in claims 8, 9 and
10.
12. Additional motion sensor based device(s) may be placed on or attached to
the cable(s)
that measures physical changes like stress, strain, cable bending, twisting,
kinking,
flexing of the cable to assess damages to the cable(s) from excess pulling
tension
during cable layout, relocation, and transportation. The sensing parameters
are relayed
over wired/wireless network for generating alerts described in claims 8, 9 and
10.
13. Additional device(s) with environmental monitoring sensor(s) may be placed
on or
attached to the cable(s) to monitor temperature and other mine ground
conditions to
alert the remote operators in case of any hazardous condition(s) such as
damaged or
faulty cable(s) catching fire.
14. The multiple devices and the combination of sensing mechanisms described
in the
above claims my use a battery or energy harvesting technologies or a
combination of
both as a power source.
15. The multiple devices described in the above claims have unique
identifier(s)
associated with each cable. Maintenance records of the cable(s) may be tagged
and
saved to the hard drive on the device(s) associated with the cable(s) or to
the memory
space allocated to the device(s) on a remote software application. A field
operator can
scan a device tag to obtain the maintenance records of the cable(s) associated
with
that device. A combination of wireless technologies like RFID, NFC, Bluetooth
and
other low power technologies can be used to access/read/write/update the
records to
the device(s) and cable data in the field using a handheld remote terminal or
a
software application/maintenance database from a remote location.
16. In addition to placing the device(s) on the cable(s) as described in the
claims 1-15, the
device(s) may also be placed on any cable accessories such as cable stands
(horses),
couplers, cable clamps, satellite wire balls, spot heads, and receptacles, and
mining
cable arches for monitoring the cable(s).
17. The management software proposed in this invention aggregates data from
the
multiple devices described in claims 1-15 to create a predictive/preventative
maintenance strategy for cable(s) maintenance and handling. The management
2

software may run sophisticated machine learning or artificial intelligence
algorithms
to assess the cable status, damages such as wear and tear, duty cycle, and
health
metrics of the cable(s). The software and database provides a comprehensive
maintenance records and operations insights of the cable(s) for implementing
an
effective care and maintenance program to improve mine cable safety. At any
given
time, the user can search for a specific cable tag name (associated with the
device(s)
and the cable(s)) and access the past and current maintenance and repair
history of
any cable(s).

Description

SUMMARY:
In this invention, we are proposing cable(s) mechanical and electrical health
monitoring
solution whose orchestration is shown in Figure.1 . In a typical aboveground,
underground
and indoor industrial application, a substation power source 100 feeds the
cable(s) 101 that
power fixed and mobile industrial equipment such as electric shovel loads or a
pump drive
103. The cable(s) extend from few feet to thousands of meters depending upon
the location of
the source 100 and the load 103.
Several device(s) 102 are installed on or attached to the cable 101 or
cable(s) accessories
such as cable stands. These devices measure the energized and de-energized
state and
mechanical health metrics such as bend radius, vibration, shock, pulling
tension of the
cable(s) using either invasive or non-invasive sensing mechanisms. Different
types of
measurements associated with cable(s) 101 health are discussed in the claims.
The devices
102 can be installed at any location along the length of the cable(s) ¨ at the
source, along the
cable contour, and at the load.
The devices 102 transmit the electrical and mechanical measurements to a
nearest gateway
104, 106 over a wireless or wired network. The implementation supports the use
of a both
cloud information infrastructure 105 and/or an on-premise 105, 107 enterprise
networks for
data exchange and control. The energized and de-energized state of the
cable(s) along with
the mechanical health metrics can be accessed by a field operator 109 and by a
mobile mining
equipment operator 110. The application layer 108 aggregates all the sensor
information
collected from devices 102 from different cable(s) 101 strings and runs a
sophisticated
machine learning algorithm to assess the electrical and mechanical health of
the cable(s).
1
CA 3054700 2019-09-09

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:
Figure.1 Illustrates the orchestration of a distributed sensor network,
wireless and wired
network connectivity, application software, cloud, on premise/enterprise data
storage, and information technology is deployed to monitor mechanical and
electric
health of the data and power cable(s) in aboveground, underground and indoor
industrial areas.
2
CA 3054700 2019-09-09

Representative Drawing