초록 ▼

An early warning system for providing notice that seismic activity, such as an earthquake, is imminent. The earthquake early warning system includes a subterranean detector unit assembly having a plurality of detector units carried by a subterranean inverted conduit. The conduit is filled with a den

An early warning system for providing notice that seismic activity, such as an earthquake, is imminent. The earthquake early warning system includes a subterranean detector unit assembly having a plurality of detector units carried by a subterranean inverted conduit. The conduit is filled with a dense, dry inert aggregate and has a soil interface consisting of a perforated metal screen or porous fabric material thus allowing migrating gases to migrate into the conduit. Gas detectors carried by the conduit detect the gases as they migrate into the conduit. Access tubes are provided to allow access to the detectors from the surface of the ground without exhuming the conduit assembly. The conduit would carry a plurality of detectors and associated access tubes for monitoring migration of gases across a linear distance. The detectors are in communication with a monitoring facility for monitoring the rate of migration of gases. The monitoring facility has electronic processing circuitry for sensing a rate of gaseous migration accelerated beyond the normal background rate and thus trigger an alarm that seismic activity that may precede an earthquake is occurring. In the preferred embodiment, the conduit would follow a slope, or a known fault line and would be arrayed with other subterranean, assemblies in a given area.

대표청구항 ▼

An earthquake early warning system for detecting seismic activity that precedes an earthquake, said earthquake early warning system comprising: a plurality of gas collector assemblies each including a subterranean, inverted conduit member having a known length and a known cross-sectional width for c

An earthquake early warning system for detecting seismic activity that precedes an earthquake, said earthquake early warning system comprising: a plurality of gas collector assemblies each including a subterranean, inverted conduit member having a known length and a known cross-sectional width for collecting gases migrating through subterranean strata, said conduit member filled with an inert aggregate and including a flange member for preventing surface originated groundwater from seeping directly beneath said inverted conduit and further including a gas permeable soil interface member for retaining said aggregate within said inverted conduit while allowing gases to migrate into said inverted conduit; at least one gas detector assembly carried by said gas collector assembly, said gas detector assembly including a gas detecting member for detecting gas collected within said gas collector assembly; electronic analyzer circuitry in electronic communication with said gas detecting member for monitoring a rate of migration of gas detected by said gas detecting member, comparing the rate of migration to a known normal background rate of migration, and for indicating when the rate of migration accelerates beyond the normal background rate of migration; and electronic circuitry for communicating between said gas detecting member and said electronic analyzer circuitry wherein said electronic analyzer circuitry is located at a central monitoring facility and is in electronic communication with a plurality of said gas detecting members, said electronic circuitry further including processing circuit for determining an earthquake index, said earthquake index corresponding to the area of a curve corresponding to gas activity versus time up to time Tx multiplied by the slope of said curve at time Tx.