Submarine cable fault on-line monitoring system

Abstract

The utility model relates to a submarine cable fault on-line monitoring system which comprises a measuring optical fiber and a distributed optical fiber monitoring system. The distributed optical fiber monitoring system comprises an upper monitoring host, a monitoring unmanned aerial vehicle and a monitoring unit. The monitoring unit comprises a plurality of convex joints, and a combined sensor module used for monitoring submarine cable state parameters, an MCU and a communication module are packaged in a joint cavity of each convex joint; a coding unit is arranged in the MCU; the communication module is in communication connection with an upper monitoring host by taking a measuring optical fiber as a signal transmission channel so as to realize data transmission; the monitoring unmanned aerial vehicle can be in wireless communication connection with the monitoring unmanned aerial vehicle entering the communication range so as to realize data transmission; and the upper monitoring host end is also provided with a monitoring unmanned aerial vehicle docking station for performing data transmission with the returning monitoring unmanned aerial vehicle. The system is high in use reliability, convenient to operate, good in data anti-collision and encryption performance, time-saving and labor-saving, convenient to manage, and capable of saving a large amount of manpower and material resources.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of remote online monitoring, in particular to an online monitoring system for submarine cable faults. Background Art

[0002] Undersea cable is an electric cable wrapped with insulating material, laid on the seabed, used for communication transmission or power transmission, especially 35kV transmission lines. Considering the high cost, complex structure and harsh operating environment of submarine cables, the random and diverse mechanical stresses during their installation and operation (such as external force damage caused by fishing gear and anchors in human activities, activities of benthic plants and animals, etc.) will have a negative impact on the normal operation of submarine cables. Under the action of external forces, submarine cables will bend, and may also produce local torsion and stretching, or even break. Therefore, online monitoring of submarine cables plays an important role in ensuring the safe, reliable and stable operation of submarine cables, and is one of the current research focuses of submarine cables.

[0003] Due to the special working environment of submarine cables, many traditional land cable monitoring methods are difficult to be directly applied to submarine cable monitoring. The existing technology mainly adopts distributed optical cable technology, which is used as a sensor by combining or bundling optical fibers with submarine cables to monitor and record the operating state parameters such as stress, strain and vibration of submarine cables online, evaluate the operating state of submarine cables, and judge the typical fault states such as anchor smashing, torsion and stretching of submarine cables in combination with the changes in structural strain and stress. So far, the submarine cable state monitoring system based on distributed optical fiber sensing can basically monitor the strain information of composite optical fibers effectively. However, although distributed measurement optical cables have many advantages, they also have some disadvantages. The preferred method is that the measurement accuracy of distributed measurement optical cables is greatly affected by environmental factors, such as temperature, humidity, vibration, etc. These factors may cause measurement errors, and the existing distributed measurement optical cables often do not have the function of verifying data or the verification system is relatively complex; in addition, the transmission distance of optical fibers in the existing technology is limited, so the transmission distance of distributed measurement optical cables is also limited, and data measurement and monitoring can usually only be performed within a range of several hundred meters to several kilometers.

[0004] In summary, the existing distributed optical cable technology still has room for improvement. Utility Model Content

[0005] The technical problem solved by the utility model is to provide an online monitoring system for submarine cable faults to solve the shortcomings of the above-mentioned background technology.

[0006] The technical problem solved by the utility model is achieved by the following technical solutions:

[0007] A submarine cable fault online monitoring system, comprising a measuring optical fiber and a distributed optical fiber monitoring system based on the measuring optical fiber;

[0008] The distributed optical fiber monitoring system comprises an upper monitoring host, a monitoring drone and a monitoring unit; the monitoring unit comprises a plurality of monitoring units, which are arranged at intervals on the measuring optical fiber, and the monitoring unit comprises a convex node directly formed on the measuring optical fiber and the submarine cable to be monitored, and a combined sensor module, an MCU and a communication module for monitoring the state parameters of the submarine cable are encapsulated in the node cavity of the convex node, and the combined sensor module, the communication module and the MCU are connected to each other in a wired manner in the convex node;

[0009] The MCU has a built-in encoding unit;

[0010] The communication module is connected to the upper monitoring host by measuring the optical fiber as a signal transmission channel to realize data transmission; the communication module is connected to the monitoring drone that enters the communication range by wireless communication to realize data transmission;

[0011] The upper monitoring host end is also provided with a monitoring drone docking station, which is electrically connected to the upper monitoring host and can transmit data to the docked monitoring drone through the monitoring drone docking station.

[0012] As a further limitation, the measuring optical fiber is arranged on the submarine cable to be monitored in the following manner: the measuring optical fiber is simultaneously laid on the submarine cable laying route or the measuring optical fiber is combined with the submarine cable into one when the submarine cable is manufactured.

[0013] As a further limitation, the measuring optical fiber and the protruding knobs formed thereon both have an armored casing as a protective structure.

[0014] As a further limitation, the encoding unit uniquely encodes the position information of the corresponding monitoring unit on the measuring optical fiber and adds the uniquely encoded information to the communication data packet for data encoding and packaging.

[0015] As a further limitation, the monitoring drone is a low-altitude drone and / or an unmanned underwater vehicle;

[0016] The monitoring drone is provided with a GPS locator and / or a Beidou locator as a positioning device; and when the monitoring drone is an unmanned underwater vehicle, the unmanned underwater vehicle is also provided with a burial depth meter and a depth sensor.

[0017] As a further limitation, the monitoring drone is provided with a high-definition video surveillance system and an infrared night vision system for video acquisition.

[0018] As a further limitation, the sensor used in the combined sensor module is any combination of a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a six-dimensional force sensor, a capacitive coupling sensor, an inductive coupling sensor, an industrial frequency current transformer, a vibration sensor, and a strain sensor.

[0019] As a further limitation, the monitoring unit has a fiber optic sensor based on Raman scattering and a fiber optic sensor based on Brillouin scattering formed in the node cavity that wraps the measuring optical fiber in the corresponding convex node, and the fiber optic sensor based on Raman scattering and the fiber optic sensor based on Brillouin scattering are communicatively connected to the MCU in the convex node through a wired manner.

[0020] As a further limitation, the monitoring system also includes a number of submerged buoys spaced apart along the direction of the measuring optical fiber. The submerged buoys use a floating body as a platform and are equipped with a sensor unit and a relay communication node device in an external or embedded manner.

[0021] Beneficial effects: The submarine cable fault online monitoring system of the utility model is mainly used for online monitoring and verification of submarine cable faults in offshore sections. It uses measuring optical fiber to transmit data with the upper monitoring host at the real-time data end. It has the advantages of anti-electromagnetic interference, high voltage resistance, and small size. It has good effects in practical applications. It can be used for wireless data transmission and on-site video inspection of the buoy and monitoring drone as node equipment, and can be used for comparison and error correction operations to improve the validity of the data; combined with the information in the coding unit, it can also quickly help relevant personnel locate the fault point. It not only has the advantages of high reliability, easy operation, anti-collision, good encryption performance, etc., but also saves time and effort and is convenient for management. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of the utility model.

[0023] Among them: 1. Upper monitoring host; 2. Standby monitoring drone; 3. Monitoring drone docking station; 4. Inspection monitoring drone; 5. Submarine buoy; 6. Measuring optical fiber; 7. Submarine cable to be monitored; 8. Monitoring unit; 9. Communication module; 10. Combined sensor module; 11. MCU. Implementation

[0024] In order to make the technical means, creative features, objectives and effects achieved by the present invention easy to understand, the present invention is further described below with reference to specific illustrations.

[0025] See also Figure 1 A preferred embodiment of an online monitoring system for submarine cable faults is provided. In this embodiment, the online monitoring system for submarine cable faults is used to perform real-time dynamic monitoring of the operating status of a submarine cable 7 to be monitored, and to provide feedback of the fault location and fault code to an upper monitoring host 1 when an operating fault occurs, so as to ensure safe, reliable and stable operation of the submarine cable.

[0026] The monitoring system includes a measuring optical fiber 6, which is independently formed from the submarine cable 7 to be monitored, and is arranged in parallel with the submarine cable 7 to be monitored during the laying process of the submarine cable 7 to be monitored and kept close to it, and is fixedly connected by a fixing member in the close state, and a monitoring unit 8 is evenly arranged on the measuring optical fiber 6 and the submarine cable 7 to be monitored that are kept close to each other, and the real-time status monitoring of the measuring optical fiber 6 and the submarine cable 7 to be monitored is performed by the monitoring unit 8. The advantage of this structure is that the measuring optical fiber 6 and the submarine cable 7 to be monitored are designed and manufactured separately, and the whole has a high mechanical strength, and has the advantages of not being easily damaged during installation and operation.

[0027] In another embodiment, the measuring optical fiber 6 and the submarine cable to be monitored 7 can be combined into one when the submarine cable is manufactured, and the monitoring unit 8 is directly formed on the outside of the composite submarine cable. The advantage of this structure is that the accuracy and stability of the monitoring unit 8 during operation measurement are better.

[0028] The monitoring unit 8 includes an outer shell, and the outer layer of the outer shell and the measuring optical fiber 6 are both configured as an armored shell structure, so as to provide structural protection for the internal structure of the monitoring unit 8 and the optical fiber core of the measuring optical fiber 6 through the armored shell structure.

[0029] The outer shell of the monitoring unit 8 is directly mounted on the measuring optical fiber 6 and the submarine cable to be monitored 7, which are attached and fixed as one, to form a convex node structure, and the node cavity of the convex node structure is kept sealed by a sealing member. In different embodiments, there are two ways to form the outer shell on the measuring optical fiber 6 and the submarine cable to be monitored 7: one is to use the same node cavity to outsource the measuring optical fiber 6 and the submarine cable to be monitored 7 at the same time, and the other is to form two node cavities in the outer shell of the monitoring unit 8, which correspond to the measuring optical fiber 6 and the submarine cable to be monitored 7 respectively.

[0030] The monitoring unit 8 is encapsulated with a combined sensor module 10 for monitoring the state parameters of the submarine cable, an independent MCU 17 and a communication module 9 in the node cavity of the outer shell. In this embodiment, the combined sensor module 10 includes a first type of sensor combination for directly monitoring the state parameters of the submarine cable 7 to be monitored and a second type of sensor combination for indirectly monitoring the state parameters of the submarine cable 7 to be monitored through a distributed optical fiber measurement system. The first type of sensor combination is arranged at the periphery of the submarine cable 7 to be monitored, and is any combination of a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a six-dimensional force sensor, a capacitive coupling sensor, an inductive coupling sensor, an industrial frequency current transformer, a vibration sensor, and a strain sensor. The first type of sensor combination directly obtains the relevant state parameters of the submarine cable 7 to be monitored through the selected sensor combination; and the second type of sensor combination is arranged at the periphery of the measuring optical fiber 6, including an optical fiber sensor based on Raman scattering and an optical fiber sensor based on Brillouin scattering, which mainly uses Raman scattering, Brillouin scattering and Rayleigh scattering to realize the sensing function, so as to indirectly monitor the operation status of the submarine cable online.

[0031] The monitoring unit 8 detects abnormal information such as excessive conductor temperature, vibration and stress changes caused by external force damage during the operation of the submarine cable by performing online data monitoring on the above-mentioned combined sensor module 10. The monitoring results play an important guiding role in monitoring the health status of the submarine cable, accurately predicting and adjusting the transmission capacity of the submarine cable in real time.

[0032] The combined sensor module 10 communicates with the MCU 11 which is also arranged in the same convex cavity through the built-in circuit, and processes and packages the data through the MCU 17. At the same time, a coding unit is built in the MCU 17, through which the packaged data can be encoded or even encrypted and matched. After encoding, the coding unit corresponding to a single MCU 17 has its data uniquely identified in the upper monitoring host 1 and marked with a position, and a corresponding database module is provided in the upper monitoring host 1, which is used to register and store the installation location and installation information of all remote water meters through the coding unit through the database module.

[0033] The data acquired by the MCU 17 is sent out through the communication module 9 in the monitoring unit 8 in two ways:

[0034] One way is to use the measuring optical fiber 6 as a signal transmission channel to establish a limited communication connection with the upper monitoring host 1, which is an existing mainstream online monitoring form of the submarine cable operation status.

[0035] Another way is to use the communication module 9 as the signal source and the buoy 5 as the relay communication node, and to collect data through the monitoring drone system through wireless communication. Under this technical condition, there are also multiple buoys 5, which are arranged at intervals along the direction of the measuring optical fiber. The buoy 5 uses the floating body as a platform, and is installed with a third-type sensor unit and a relay communication node device in an external or embedded manner. The third-type sensor unit includes a sensor for measuring the ocean current velocity and seawater temperature along the monitoring optical fiber, and a camera for video recording the surrounding environment of the floating body; and the relay communication node device is used to improve the communication quality between the communication module 9 in the monitoring unit and the monitoring drone system. The corresponding monitoring drone used in the monitoring drone system can be a low-altitude drone or an unmanned underwater vehicle in different embodiments, or a combination of the two. The monitoring drone system also includes a monitoring drone docking station 3, which is electrically connected to the upper monitoring host 1, and is used to dock the standby monitoring drone 2 to charge the standby monitoring drone 2, and to exchange data with the upper monitoring host 1 through the drone docking station 3.

[0036] In this embodiment, the monitoring drone matched with the monitoring drone docking station 3 is provided with a GPS locator and / or a Beidou locator as a positioning device; and when the monitoring drone is an unmanned underwater vehicle, the unmanned underwater vehicle is also provided with a burial depth meter and a depth sensor. In addition, the monitoring drone is also provided with a high-definition video surveillance system and an infrared night vision system for implementing a visual solution.

[0037] The submarine cable fault online monitoring system of this embodiment can conduct full-time online monitoring of the operating status of the submarine cable 7 to be monitored, and can detect abnormal information such as excessive conductor temperature during the operation of the submarine cable, vibration and stress changes caused by external force damage; when the above abnormal information appears in the submarine cable 7 to be monitored, the measurement optical fiber 6 that communicates with the upper monitoring host 1 as a signal transmission channel first obtains the fault signal, and determines the fault position of the corresponding monitoring unit 8 according to the data encoding on the corresponding data packet. The monitoring results play an important guiding role in monitoring the health status of the submarine cable, accurately predicting and adjusting the transmission capacity of the submarine cable in real time. In order to prevent false alarms, the fault information and fault status can be confirmed through the video of the location of the buoy 5 or by the upper monitoring host 1 dispatching the standby monitoring drone 2 to the corresponding position for additional inspection.

[0038] In addition, in the inspection state, multiple monitoring drones in the monitoring drone dock 3 will perform inspections in a cyclic manner within the selected section of the submarine cable 7 to be monitored. In the inspection state, the inspection monitoring drone 4 will continuously collect sensor data information from the monitoring unit 8 along the way through the buoy 5, and after returning to the drone dock 3, it will transmit the relevant sensor data information to the upper monitoring host 1 for analysis and storage.

[0039] The above shows and describes the basic principle, main features and advantages of the utility model. Those skilled in the art should understand that the utility model is not limited by the above embodiments. The above embodiments and descriptions are only for explaining the principle of the utility model. Without departing from the spirit and scope of the utility model, the utility model may have various changes and improvements, which fall within the scope of the utility model to be protected. The scope of protection of the utility model is defined by the attached claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A submarine cable fault online monitoring system, characterized in that: It includes a measuring optical fiber and a distributed optical fiber monitoring system based on the measuring optical fiber; The distributed optical fiber monitoring system comprises an upper monitoring host, a monitoring drone and a monitoring unit; the monitoring unit comprises a plurality of monitoring units, which are arranged at intervals on the measuring optical fiber, and the monitoring unit comprises a convex node directly formed on the measuring optical fiber and the submarine cable to be monitored, and a combined sensor module, an MCU and a communication module for monitoring the state parameters of the submarine cable are encapsulated in the node cavity of the convex node, and the combined sensor module, the communication module and the MCU are connected to each other in a wired manner in the convex node; The MCU has a built-in encoding unit; The communication module is connected to the upper monitoring host by measuring the optical fiber as a signal transmission channel to realize data transmission; the communication module is connected to the monitoring drone that enters the communication range by wireless communication to realize data transmission; The upper monitoring host end is also provided with a monitoring drone docking station, which is electrically connected to the upper monitoring host and can transmit data to the docked monitoring drone through the monitoring drone docking station.

2. The submarine cable fault online monitoring system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The arrangement of the measuring optical fiber on the submarine cable to be monitored is as follows: laying the measuring optical fiber on the submarine cable laying route at the same time or combining the measuring optical fiber with the submarine cable into one when the submarine cable is manufactured.

3. The submarine cable fault online monitoring system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The measuring optical fiber and the protruding nodes formed thereon both have an armored casing as a protective structure.

4. The submarine cable fault online monitoring system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The encoding unit uniquely encodes the position information of the corresponding monitoring unit on the measuring optical fiber and adds it into the communication data packet for data encoding and packaging.

5. The submarine cable fault online monitoring system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The monitoring drone is a low-altitude drone and / or an unmanned underwater vehicle; The monitoring drone is provided with a GPS locator and / or a Beidou locator as a positioning device; and when the monitoring drone is an unmanned underwater vehicle, the unmanned underwater vehicle is also provided with a burial depth meter and a depth sensor.

6. The submarine cable fault online monitoring system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The monitoring drone is provided with a high-definition video surveillance system and an infrared night vision system for video acquisition.

7. The submarine cable fault online monitoring system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The sensor used in the combined sensor module is any combination of a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a six-dimensional force sensor, a capacitive coupling sensor, an inductive coupling sensor, an industrial frequency current transformer, a vibration sensor, and a strain sensor.

8. The submarine cable fault online monitoring system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The monitoring unit has a fiber optic sensor based on Raman scattering and a fiber optic sensor based on Brillouin scattering formed in a node cavity that wraps the measuring optical fiber in the corresponding convex node. The fiber optic sensor based on Raman scattering and the fiber optic sensor based on Brillouin scattering are communicatively connected with the MCU in the convex node through a wired manner.

9. The submarine cable fault online monitoring system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The monitoring system also includes a plurality of submerged buoys spaced apart along the direction of the measuring optical fiber. The submerged buoys use a floating body as a platform and are equipped with a sensor unit and a relay communication node device in an external or embedded manner.

10. The submarine cable fault online monitoring system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The upper monitoring host is provided with a database for collecting and centrally storing monitoring data.

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