Water Usage Profiling for Leak Detection Across Distributed Infrastructure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Distributed water infrastructure systems face challenges in detecting leaks and abnormal water usage efficiently, leading to unnoticed waste and potential damage, as users often fail to recognize leaks until significant water loss occurs, and existing methods lack precision in tracking water usage across multiple appliances and consumers.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising sensors, processors, and communication components that aggregate water usage data to create time-based profiles, compare current usage to baseline profiles, and initiate remedial actions such as automatic valve closure or alerting administrators to address abnormal consumption, while also differentiating between overlapping water events and identifying appliance-specific usage patterns.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional water monitoring methods are used, then system simplicity is maintained, but measurement precision and leak detection capability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments water usage monitoring into multiple categories (e.g., bathing, cooking, cleaning) by analyzing temporal patterns and flow characteristics from sensors. This segmentation enables precise measurement of different water usage types without requiring separate physical sensors for each category, thus improving measurement precision while limiting system complexity growth.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary processing layer that analyzes sensor data to infer water usage categories. Instead of directly measuring each usage type with dedicated sensors, the system uses flow rate, duration, and timing patterns as intermediaries to classify water usage, achieving high precision without proportional increases in sensor complexity.
2Reliability
If comprehensive water usage tracking is implemented, then water waste detection is improved, but loss of time for data processing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent establishes baseline water usage profiles for normal activities (showers, baths, cooking) during system operation. These pre-established profiles enable rapid comparison against current usage patterns, allowing the system to quickly identify anomalies and leaks without performing complex real-time analysis, thus improving detection reliability while minimizing processing time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously compares real-time sensor data against established baseline profiles and provides feedback when deviations are detected. This feedback mechanism enables rapid leak identification by focusing computational resources only on anomalous patterns rather than continuously analyzing all data, improving reliability while reducing overall processing time.
3Loss of information
If detailed water usage profiles are constructed, then water management insights are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts key characteristics (flow rate, duration, temporal patterns) from raw sensor data to construct simplified water usage profiles. By extracting only the most relevant features rather than processing complete raw datasets, the system achieves comprehensive water usage information while limiting the complexity of data processing algorithms required.
Data Source
AI summary
A system is provided for tracking, in a distributed water infrastructure, water usage by category. The system may comprise at least one processor configured to receive from at least one sensor associated with the distributed water infrastructure signals indicative of water usage in the distributed water infrastructure. The system may, based on the signals indicative of water usage, construct a plurality of profiles. The system may assign each profile to one of a plurality of water usage categories. The system may collect, from the at least one sensor, signals indicative of water usage for substantially all water delivered through the distributed water infrastructure in a time period. The system may construct a plurality of water usage profiles in the aggregate, encompassing substantially all water delivered through the distributed water infrastructure in the time period. The system may assign each constructed water usage profile to one of the plurality of water usage categories. The system may output, for display, water usage for the time period for each of the plurality of water usage categories.