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EP-3743168-B1 - SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING AND CONTROLLING A FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM

EP3743168B1EP 3743168 B1EP3743168 B1EP 3743168B1EP-3743168-B1

Inventors

  • GOYETTE, CHAD A.
  • MAGNONE, ZACHARY L.
  • DENUNZIO, Cassandra Lyn
  • COGSWELL, JEREMY TYLER

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20190118

Claims (13)

  1. A system to mitigate false trips of a valve (20) that supplies water to a piping system (50) in a fire suppression system (10), the system (10) comprising: the valve; at least one edge device (100,1100,2100) to be installed on the fire suppression system (10) that monitors a parameter corresponding to a corrosion in the piping system (50) of the fire suppression system (10), the at least one edge device (100,1100,2100) includes a corrosion monitoring device (100) that measures an electrical characteristic of a coupon (106) disposed in a pipe of the fire suppression system (10), the coupon (106) corrodes at a rate correlated to at least one of the rate of corrosion and the level of corrosion, the coupon comprises a plurality of coupon portions (106a, 106b), and at least one coupon portion of the plurality of coupon portions has a different thickness or diameter than the other coupon portions; and a control circuit (104,2110) comprising one or more processors (145) and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors (145), cause the control circuit to: receive an indication of the parameter monitored by the at least one edge device (100,1100,2100); predict whether a valve tripping event is expected to occur based on the received indication corresponding to at least one of a rate of corrosion and a level of corrosion indicating a portion of a pipe wall of the piping system (50) is so thin that there is a high likelihood of failure and in response to predicting that the valve tripping event is expected to occur, provide the prediction that the valve tripping event can occur for remedial action, the remedial action to place the fire suppression system (10) in an off-line mode based on the at least one of a rate of corrosion and a level of corrosion of a wall of the pipe; and at least one user device that presents display data regarding the prediction.
  2. The system of claim 1, comprising: a communication network (220) that exchanges information between the at least one edge device (100,1100,2100) and the at least one user device.
  3. The system of claim 1, comprising: the control circuit (104,2110) is incorporated into the at least one edge device (100, 1100,2100).
  4. The system of claim 1, comprising: the control circuit (104,2110) is disposed remotely from the at least one edge device (100,1100,2100), and the at least one edge device (100,1100,2100) sends the indication of the parameter monitored by the at least one edge device (100,1100,2100) to the control circuit via a communication network (220).
  5. The system of claim 1, comprising: the one or more processors (145) cause the control circuit (104,2110) to automatically perform the remedial action.
  6. The system of claim 1, comprising: a communication network (220) that exchanges information between the at least one edge device (100,1100,2100) and the at least one user device, the communication network (220) includes a first network and a second network; and a gateway that communicates with the at least one edge device (100,1100,2100) using the first network and communicates with the at least one user device using the second network.
  7. The system of claim 1, comprising: a communication network (220) that exchanges information between the at least one edge device (100,1100,2100) and the at least one user device, the communication network (220) includes a first network that is a wireless network and a second network that is at least one of a cellular network and aninternet protocol (IP)-based network.
  8. The system of claim 1, comprising: the user device is one of a mobile device and a stationary electronic device; and the at least one user device presents the display data regarding the prediction via at least one of a web browser-based dashboard display and an app-based dashboard display.
  9. A method for mitigating false trips of a valve (20) supplying water to a piping system (50) in a fire suppression system (10), wherein the piping system (50) comprises at least one edge device (100, 1100, 2100) installed on the fire suppression system (10), wherein the at least one edge device includes a corrosion monitoring device (100) that measures an electrical characteristic of a coupon disposed in a pipe of the fire suppression system; wherein the coupon comprises a plurality of coupon portions (106a, 106b), and at least one coupon portion of the plurality of coupon portions has a different thickness or diameter than the other coupon portions; the method comprising: monitoring a parameter corresponding to a corrosion, installed on the fire suppression system (10); wherein monitoring the parameter comprises measuring an electrical characteristic of the coupon disposed in the pipe of the fire suppression system (10), the coupon (106) configured to corrode at a rate that can be correlated to at least one of the rate of corrosion and the level of corrosion, and predicting whether a valve tripping event is expected to occur based on the monitored parameter corresponding to at least one of a rate of corrosion and a level of corrosion indicating a portion of a pipe wall of the piping system (50) is so thin that there is a high likelihood of failure; in response to predicting that the valve tripping event is expected to occur, providing a prediction that valve tripping event is expected to occur for remedial action and transmitting data corresponding to the prediction for display on at least one user device using a communication network (220); and executing the remedial action by placing the fire suppression system (10) in an offline mode based on the at least one of a rate of corrosion and a level of corrosion of a wall of the pipe.
  10. The method of claim 9, comprising: monitoring the parameter by measuring a continuity between a probe (1105) and predetermined point on the piping system (50) to determine the presence of water at a low pointin the piping system of the fire suppression system (10); and executing the remedial action by draining the water from the low point of the piping system (50) based on determining the presence of water at the low point.
  11. The method of claim 9, comprising: transmitting the data corresponding to the prediction by transferring the information to a gateway using a first network of the communication network (220) and transferring the information from the gateway to the at least one user device using a second network of the communication network (220).
  12. The method of claim 9, comprising: transmitting the data corresponding to the prediction by transferring the information to a gateway using a wireless network of the communication network (220) and transferring the information from the gateway to the at least one user device using at leastone of a cellular network and an IP-based network of the communication network (220).
  13. The method of claim 9, comprising: transmitting data corresponding to the severity of the corrosion rate for display on the at least one user device.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present disclosure claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/620,680, titled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING AND CONTROLLING A FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM," filed January 23, 2018. BACKGROUND An automatic sprinkler system has sprinklers that are activated once the ambient temperature in an environment, such as a room or a building, exceeds a predetermined value. Once activated, the sprinklers distribute fire-extinguishing fluid, such as water, in the room or building. US2016/093203 discloses a network diagnostic tool for testing and commissioning building systems. US2005/148081 discloses a system and method for corrosion maintenance scheduling. Espinoza and Field (2017) in Comparison of Intrusive and Non-Intrusive Methods for Corrosion Monitoring of Fuel Processing Systems (Senior Project, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo) disclose an assessment of intrusive electrical resistance (ER) probes and non-intrusive ultrasonic sensors for monitoring corrosion in fuel processing systems. SUMMARY Various aspects relate to systems and methods of remote monitoring of fire suppression systems, such as to prevent or mitigate false trips in fire suppression systems. Process and corrosion data of a fire suppression system and be measured and calculated, and transmitted to a central location where the data is processed for diagnostics purposes. The data can be gathered by at least one edge device which is installed on the fire suppression system in multiple locations to capture the process and/or corrosion data. According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a system to mitigate false trips of a valve that supplies water to a piping system in a fire suppression system, the system comprising: the valve;at least one edge device to be installed on the fire suppression system that monitors a parameter corresponding to a corrosion in the piping system of the fire suppression system, wherein the at least one edge device includes a corrosion monitoring device that measures an electrical characteristic of a coupon disposed in a pipe of the fire suppression system, the coupon corrodes at a rate correlated to at least one of a rate of corrosion and a level of corrosion, the coupon comprises a plurality of coupon portions, and at least one coupon portion of the plurality of coupon portions has a different thickness or diameter than the other coupon portions; anda control circuit comprising one or more processors and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the control circuit to: receive an indication of the parameter monitored by the at least one edge device;predict whether a valve tripping event is expected to occur based on the received indication corresponding to at least one of a rate of corrosion and a level of corrosion indicating a portion of a pipe wall of the piping system is so thin that there is a high likelihood of failure; andin response to predicting that the valve tripping event is expected to occur,provide the prediction that the valve tripping event can occur for remedial action, the remedial action to place the fire suppression system in an off-line mode based on the at least one of a rate of corrosion and a level of corrosion of a wall of the pipe; andat least one user device that presents display data regarding the prediction. According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for mitigating false trips of a valve supplying water to a piping system in a fire suppression system, wherein the piping system comprises at least one edge device installed on the fire suppression system, wherein the at least one edge device includes a corrosion monitoring device that measures an electrical characteristic of a coupon disposed in a pipe of the fire suppression system; wherein the coupon comprises a plurality of coupon portions, and at least one coupon portion of the plurality of coupon portions has a different thickness or diameter than the other coupon portions; the method comprising: monitoring a parameter corresponding to a corrosion installed on the fire suppression system, wherein monitoring the parameter comprises measuring an electrical characteristic of the coupon disposed in the pipe of the fire suppression system (10), the coupon (106) configured to corrode at a rate that can be correlated to at least one of the rate of corrosion and the level of corrosion, andpredicting whether a valve tripping event is expected to occur based on the monitored parameter corresponding to at least one of a rate of corrosion and a level of corrosion indicating a portion of a pipe wall of the piping system is so thin that there is a high likelihood of failure;in response to predicting that the valve tripping event is expected to occur, providing a prediction that valve tripping event is expected to occur for remedial action and transmitting data corres