Weather detection and intensity evaluation

Abstract

Embodiments disclosed herein may relate to weather sensors and particularly to methods and systems related to collecting weather data and other site-specific data. The system may also be used to collect data on hydrometeors, especially hail. Some, but not all of the things a system described can determine are the kinetic energy, diameter, mass, and velocity.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A weather information capturing and processing system, comprising:
 a solar electric panel comprising a plate having an impact surface and an undersurface, wherein said plate is configured to vibrate in response to said impact surface being impacted by hydrometeors;   wherein the system includes a power source comprising said solar panel;   one or more vibration sensors mounted on said undersurface and configured to sense vibrations in said plate and translate the sensed vibrations into electrical wave data; and   an analog-to-digital converter, communicatively coupled to the one or more vibration sensors, configured to receive the electrical wave data and convert the received electrical wave data to digital vibration data.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising:
 a central processing unit, communicatively coupled to the analog-to-digital converter, configured to:
 receive the digital vibration data; 
 analyze the digital vibration data, at least in part by interpolating attributes of the digital vibration data to a lookup table accessible by the central processing unit, to create interpolated digital vibration data; 
 create composite data from the interpolated digital vibration data; 
 send the composite data to non-volatile flash memory to be stored; and 
 transfer the composite data to one or more centralized servers via one or more networks for further analysis; 
 
 wherein the composite data comprises one or more of kinetic energy, diameter, velocity, mass of the impacting hydrometeors, or density of the impacting hydrometeors. 
 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  wherein at least one of the one or more sensors is coupled generally adjacent the center of the undersurface of the plate. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more sensors is coupled generally adjacent a corner of the undersurface of the plate. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the impact surface and undersurface of the plate are substantially square shaped. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the impact surface and undersurface of the plate are substantially rectangular shaped. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise at least one of the following data recording devices:
 piezoelectric accelerometers;   piezoresistive accelerometers;   capacitive MEMS s;   strain gauges;   velocity sensors;   gyroscopes;   microphone sensors;   pressure sensors;   laser displacement sensors;   eddy current sensors; and   capacitive displacement sensors.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the digital vibration data is filtered to create signal energy data, wherein the signal energy data extracts signal components correlating best with intensity of hydrometeors impacts, and wherein the signal energy data is used as a main hydrometeor intensity gauging feature. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the undersurface of the plate is mounted to a roof surface. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a network of said weather information capturing and processing systems, located in a regional area, collectively used as an early warning system, wherein the early warning system transmits a plurality of the visual data and information to the centralized server via one or more networking devices, and wherein the centralized server sends a plurality of signals with a warning message to mobile computing devices of end users. 
     
     
         11 . A weather information capturing and processing system, comprising:
 a plate comprising an impact surface and an undersurface, configured to vibrate when a hydrometeor impacts the impact surface;   one or more sensors, communicatively coupled to the plate, configured to translate the vibrations into electrical wave data, wherein the one or more sensors are coupled generally adjacent the undersurface of the plate;   an analog-to-digital converter, communicatively coupled to the one or more sensors, configured to receive and convert the electrical wave data to digital vibration data;   a system power supply, wherein the system power supply is a solar electric panel comprising at least a part of said plate.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11  further comprising:
 a central processing unit, communicatively coupled to the analog-to-digital converter, configured to:
 receive the digital vibration data; 
 analyze the digital vibration data, at least in part by interpolating attributes of the digital vibration data to a lookup table accessible by the central processing unit, to create interpolated digital vibration data; 
 create composite data from the interpolated digital vibration data; 
 send the composite data to non-volatile flash memory to be stored; and 
 transfer the composite data to one or more centralized servers via one or more networks for further analysis; 
 
 wherein the composite data comprises one or more of kinetic energy, diameter, velocity, mass of the impacting hydrometeors, or density of the impacting hydrometeors. 
 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein at least one of the one or more sensors is coupled generally adjacent the center of the undersurface of the plate. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein at least one of the one or more sensors is coupled generally adjacent a corner of the undersurface of the plate. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the impact surface and undersurface of the plate are substantially square shaped. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the impact surface and undersurface of the plate are substantially rectangular shaped. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the one or e sensors comprise at least one of the following data recording devices:
 piezoresistive accelerometers;   capacitive MEMSs;   strain gauges;   velocity sensors;   gyroscopes;   microphone sensors;   pressure sensors;   laser displacement sensors;   eddy current sensors; and   capacitive displacement sensors.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the digital vibration data is filtered to create signal energy data, wherein the signal energy data extracts signal components correlating best with intensity of hydrometeors impacts, and wherein the signal energy data is used as a main hydrometeor intensity gauging feature. 
     
     
         19 . A weather information capturing and processing system, comprising:
 a plate comprising an impact surface and an undersurface, configured to vibrate when hydrometeor impacts the impact surface;   one or more sensors, communicatively coupled to the plate, configured to translate the vibrations into electrical wave data, wherein the one or more sensors are coupled generally adjacent, the undersurface of the plate; and   an analog-to-digital converter, communicatively coupled to the one or more sensors, configured to receive and convert the electrical wave data to digital vibration data;   wherein the plate consists of a completed product that already exists as a stand-alone product, and wherein the completed product is a solar electric panel.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19  wherein the solar electric panel comprises said impact surface.