Automatic leak detector

Claim 1

A method for automatically measuring a change in a sensor's output, in terms of percentage, for pinpointing gas leaks comprising the steps of: (a) supplying power to a circuit; (b) initializing various internal registers of a microprocessor; (c) reading an external threshold setting; (d) reading a sensor's output; (e) converting said sensor's output to a digital representation by an analog to digital converter; (f) temporarily recording said digital representation in one of said various internal registers of said microprocessor for use as a baseline reference and disabling an alarm; (g) reading and converting a next sensor's output to a next digital representation by said analog to digital converter; (h) determining if said next digital representation is greater than said baseline reference; (i) replacing said baseline reference with said next digital representation as the new baseline reference and returning to step (g) if said next digital representation was greater than said baseline reference; (j) computing said percentage change between said next digital representation and said baseline reference if said next digital representation was less than said baseline reference; (k) determining if said percent change is greater than said threshold setting; (l) computing an alarm response and enabling said alarm if said percentage change is greater than said threshold setting; (m) incrementing a baseline update timer; (n) determining from said timer if a time period has been reached; (o) returning to step (g) if said time period has not been reached; (p) determining if said alarm is enabled if said time period has been reached; (q) returning to step (g) if said alarm is enabled; and (r) returning to step (d) if said alarm is not enabled.

Claim 2

A method for automatically measuring a change in a sensor's output, in terms of percentage, for pinpointing gas leaks comprising the steps of: (a) supplying power to a circuit; (b) initializing various internal registers of a microprocessor; (c) reading an external threshold setting; (d) reading a sensor's output; (e) converting said sensor's output to a digital representation by an analog to digital converter; (f) temporarily recording said digital representation in one of said various internal registers of said microprocessor for use as a baseline reference and disabling an alarm; (g) reading and converting a next sensor's output to a next digital representation by said analog to digital converter; (h) determining if said next digital representation is greater than said baseline reference; (i) replacing said baseline reference with said next digital representation as the new baseline reference and returning to step (g) if said next digital representation was greater than said baseline reference; (j) computing said percentage change between said next digital representation and said baseline reference if said next digital representation was less than said baseline reference; (k) determining if said percent change is greater than said threshold setting; (l) computing an alarm response and enabling said alarm if said percentage change is greater than said threshold setting; (m) incrementing a baseline update timer; (n) determining from said timer if a time period has been reached; (o) returning to step (g) if said time period has not been reached; (p) determining if said alarm is enabled if said time period has been reached; (q) returning to step (g) if said alarm is enabled; and (r) returning to step (d) if said alarm is not enabled.

Claim 4

An apparatus for automatically measuring a change in a sensor's output, in terms of percentage, for pinpointing gas leaks, the sensor operating at a constant high voltage level and the apparatus having a continuous output indication proportional to the percentage, comprising: (a) means for providing a plurality of analog outputs from the sensor; (b) means for converting said analog outputs to a plurality of digital representations, said digital representations have a value; (c) means for temporarily storing a first of said plurality of digital representations as a baseline reference; (d) means for comparing said digital representations to said first digital representation; (e) means for continuous replacement of said baseline reference to reflect a greatest digital representation value; (f) means for computing a percentage change of the value difference when said digital representation is less than said greatest digital representation value; (g) means for providing a threshold value for comparison with said percentage change; (h) means for indicating when said percentage change is greater than said threshold value; and (i) mean for resetting said apparatus without operator assistance.

Claim 5

An apparatus for automatically measuring a change in a sensor's output, in terms of percentage, for pinpointing gas leaks, the sensor operating at a constant high voltage level and the apparatus having a continuous output indication proportional to the percentage, comprising: (a) means for providing a plurality of analog outputs from the sensor; (b) means for converting said analog outputs to a plurality of digital representations, said digital representations have a value; (c) means for temporarily storing a first of said plurality of digital representations as a baseline reference; (d) means for comparing said digital representations to said first digital representation; (e) means for continuous replacement of said baseline reference to reflect a greatest digital representation value; (f) means for computing a percentage change of the value difference when said digital representation is less than said greatest digital representation value; (g) means for providing a threshold value for comparison with said percentage change; (h) means for indicating when said percentage change is greater than said threshold value; and (i) mean for resetting said apparatus without operator assistance.

Claim 15

An apparatus for automatically measuring a change in a sensor's output, in terms of percentage, for pinpointing gas leaks, the sensor operating at a constant high voltage level and the apparatus having a continuous output indication proportional to the percentage, comprising: (a) means for supplying power to a circuit; (b) means for initializing various internal registers of a microprocessor; (c) means for reading an external threshold setting; (d) means for reading a sensor's output; (e) means for converting said sensor's output to a digital representation; (f) means for temporarily recording said digital representation in one of said various internal registers of said microprocessor for use as a baseline reference and disabling an alarm; (g) means for reading and converting a next sensor's output to a next digital representation by said means for converting; (h) means for determining if said next digital representation is greater than said baseline reference; (i) means for replacing said baseline reference with said next digital representation as a new baseline reference and reading a next sensor's output from said means for reading and converting if said next digital representation was greater than said baseline reference; (j) means for computing a percentage change between said next digital representation and said baseline reference if said next digital representation was less than said baseline reference; (k) means for determining if said percentage change is greater than said threshold setting; and (l) means for computing an alarm response and enabling said alarm if said percentage change is greater than said threshold setting.

Claim 16

An apparatus for automatically measuring a change in a sensor's output, in terms of percentage, for pinpointing gas leaks, the sensor operating at a constant high voltage level and the apparatus having a continuous output indication proportional to the percentage, comprising: (a) means for supplying power to a circuit; (b) means for initializing various internal registers of a microprocessor; (c) means for reading an external threshold setting; (d) means for reading a sensor's output; (e) means for converting said sensor's output to a digital representation; (f) means for temporarily recording said digital representation in one of said various internal registers of said microprocessor for use as a baseline reference and disabling an alarm; (g) means for reading and converting a next sensor's output to a next digital representation by said means for converting; (h) means for determining if said next digital representation is greater than said baseline reference; (i) means for replacing said baseline reference with said next digital representation as a new baseline reference and reading a next sensor's output from said means for reading and converting if said next digital representation was greater than said baseline reference; (j) means for computing a percentage change between said next digital representation and said baseline reference if said next digital representation was less than said baseline reference; (k) means for determining if said percentage change is greater than said threshold setting; and (l) means for computing an alarm response and enabling said alarm if said percentage change is greater than said threshold setting.