Device to deploy rapidly and cover stadium and open space to collect rainfall

Abstract

A device, system and method to deploy rapidly and cover open space and stadium to collect flash rainfall thereby protect the event from disruption, protect people and objects from rain water, and having ability to manage wind with device comprising of rain collection strips, support tower cable support arm with strip guide, cable connector on arm, drive for collection strips and control cables, drainage unit, camera and computer. The device having wide scope for use in political meeting, open air theatres, rain sensitive crops like grapes and with the device being low on infrastructure cost, with the above device protecting people and events which so far has been tolerated quietly by people and organizers of events due to flash rains. Getting correct cover surface shape configuration and profile to manage problem of wind is the solution offered by the invention.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A device to deploy rapidly and cover open space and stadium to collect flash rainfall thereby protect the event from disruption, protect people and objects, and having ability to manage wind with surface profile control and drainage of collected water from resulting surface profile, said device being portable, with said device comprising of;
 a) plurality of rain collection strips, drive for rain collection strips and cables, support cable, tower mounted on wheel, wind control cables, support arm with strip guide, cable connector and guide arm, drainage unit;   b) plurality of camera on gimbal, computer and display monitor console for manual support, wind sensors and cable tension sensors;   c) plurality of cantilever arm with gripping tool, cantilever arm based support at border area.   
     
     
         2 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 ;
 Wherein the rain collection strip being at least one of plastic film, and plastic film reinforced with fiber, and fabric with nylon chords to withstand force and one of fabric cloth, and rubber sheet, with a strong cable at the border to guide water flow and give shape and wherein collection strip is one with strip having sleeve at both edges with cable passing through allowing free movement of strip on cable, and wherein the film having ultra violet absorption chemicals so device can be used for shading and wherein rain collection strip being rolled on spool in holding box having cleaning brush while winding in, with box having spool drive motor for retraction and wherein the rain collection strip is one of transparent and one of opaque and one of combination of transparent and opaque to get shading and required light needed and wherein the rain collection strip being arranged in more than one layer to allow free flow of air for aerodynamic management of wind, being one of double layer with lower layer having extensions with over lap to cover completely the gaps in the upper layer and to get effective full coverage, and one of three layers used if very good prevention of rain water entry is needed.   
     
     
         3 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 :
 Wherein the support tower to hold cable support arm, support cables and wind control cables is mounted on base with wheels with electric drive motor and gear, moving on one of rail track having metallic track confining wheel and moving on one of leveled ground with rubber tires where rail tracks are not used, and with tower having balancing cables attached to ground by anchor to prevent swaying in wind and wherein tower being foldable and one having telescoping tubing, to allow transport and avoid obstruction to view when not in use.   
     
     
         4 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 :
 Wherein the border area which is curved is protected from rain using separate rain collection surface formed using pair of rotating cantilever which suspend support arms on which the rain collection strips are supported.   
     
     
         5 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 :
 Wherein the cable support arm comprising of upper cable support arm for wind control cables and lower cable support arm for rain collection strips, having rollers to suspend rain collection strips, which is raised up on one side and lowered on other side to get a proper curved profile for best flow of wind, and wherein cables go to drive units placed on roof of spectator gallery without obstructing game and view.   
     
     
         6 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 ;
 Wherein the cable connecting and guide arm with coupler carries the cables from spool at opposite side over to top of tower and along to the other side with the help of side support cable and enable drive cable connection to be made rapidly to rain collector strip without stopping and interrupting the event or game.   
     
     
         7 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 ;
 Wherein wind control cables supported on upper support arm, attached from top and from bottom of the rain collection strip, help in getting required surface profile and wherein cables are attached to cable attachment points on the rain collection strip and wherein cable connector arm meant for guiding connection of wind control cables enables proper and quick connection and with wind control cable being provided with damper one of spring type and one of cylinder with piston having perforations and having damping fluid, and where in water filled rubber bags are used to provide weight to the rain collection strip where needed for balancing forces from wind.   
     
     
         8 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 ;
 Wherein the drive force for cable is provided by at least one of electric motor on ground, being one of alternating current, one of direct current and one of stepper motor, with driving shaft having spools for cable controlled by clutch and brake to select either to wind or unwind cable as decided by the computer with actuation through solenoid and wherein drive cables with spool are housed in cassette like box for easy storage and transport.   
     
     
         9 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 :
 Wherein drainage unit being made of frame with rubber rollers to grip the rain collection strip with one edge raised and other edge lowered to allow water to drain to collector tray having flat type flexible pipe attached to discharge water to one of ground channel and to one of collecting pipe to take it outside the protected area and with the collector tray being one of rubber material for safety reason and wherein the drainage unit is carried on the lower support arm before deployment and deployed along with rain collection strips which passes through the frame of the drainage unit during deployment.   
     
     
         10 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 :
 Wherein drainage unit is avoided to accommodate more wind control cables in demanding windy condition, a separate drainage water collector strip is used which is placed perpendicular to direction of rain collection strips, being suspended from side support cable, and wherein separate drainage water collector strip drains the water to one side of the protected area by forming a sloping wedge like profile.   
     
     
         11 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 ;
 Wherein the Camera unit mounted on gimbal is oriented to fix reference coordinated and forming grid map, captures the cover surface contour image and profile and movement of rain collector strips based on wind, and provide image on monitor to enable control of wind control cables by computer and with operator assistance and wherein image of rain collector strips enable correction of problem with the help of cantilever arm with gripping tool from top and wherein the camera covers a selected sector of the area involved.   
     
     
         12 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 ;
 Wherein the computer using program instructions, analyses image from camera to detect wind effect and calculate counter force required from wind control cable, controls image display on monitor with console and joy stick for manual support by moving cursor pointer for enabling control of wind control cables and wherein the computer controls drive cables by controlling the winding and unwinding of drive cables and wind control cables by providing actuate and release signal to solenoid which actuates and releases clutch and brake of spool with proper timing which enables in getting required profile of rain collection strip, and wherein computer provides drive pulse signal to stepper motors, and take data from wind and cable tension sensors and gives correction signal to wind control cable drive and wherein interface with computer is by one of wire and one of wireless radio control, and wherein computer records wind direction from wind vane and wind sensors and gets likely wind direction by prediction based on past wind data for the region   
     
     
         13 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 ;
 Wherein tear and leakage water collecting unit is formed by one of rotating cantilever mounted on a pole with collector tray and one of collection strip moved on cable suspended from side support cable, moved to required leaking position, under the rain collecting surface and thereby give a perfect protection by prevention of water entry from rain.   
     
     
         14 . A device as claimed in  claim 1 :
 Wherein the said device is used for protecting people in large political and religious rallies and meeting, large scale food storage area, open air theatres, rain sensitive crops like one of grapes for disease management in critical flowering and fruit set stage, musical concerts, and emergency relief accommodations, cotton storage yards, also for protection from hail for crops, and for protection from snow fall and wherein the said device is used to provide shade from blazing sunshine.