| CPC C23F 13/04 (2013.01) [C23F 13/06 (2013.01); G05B 15/02 (2013.01)] | 30 Claims |
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1. A cathodic protection interruption system comprising:
a metallic structure embedded in an electrolytic medium;
a plurality of passive cathodic protection units embedded in the electrolytic medium adjacent to and spaced apart along the metallic structure;
a plurality of test units electrically coupled with the metallic structure and each of the plurality of passive cathodic protection units; and,
a low-power consumption component arrangement comprising:
a local real-time clock coupled with each test unit of the plurality of test units and a global positioning system (GPS) receiver coupled with each test unit of the plurality of test units for receiving GPS time from at least one global positioning system satellite in data communication therewith;
at least one controller communicatively coupled with each real-time clock and each GPS receiver for activating the GPS receiver once the local real-time clock reaches a predetermined real-time clock time to synchronize a real-time clock time of each local real-time clock with GPS time; and,
a plurality of interruption modules each coupled in electrical and data communication with the at least one controller, the at least one controller selectively changing an activation state of each interruption module of the plurality of interruption modules once the real-time clock time reaches a predetermined activation state change time to selectively electrically couple or electrically decouple each passive cathodic protection unit of the plurality of passive cathodic protection units from the metallic structure.
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