Water leakage, on-site detection, concentric ring pressure sensor
Water leakage detection in water distribution networks
Water leakage can reach 30% on average of the water transported across the water distribution networks. Current water leakage detection methods can be expensive, time consuming, not accurate enough, have noise interference problems, depend on pipe material and the pipe location must be known. The widely used acoustic and noise correlators are not very effective with plastic pipes.
This invention proposes a leakage detection method that measures pressure gradients at a leak site, which is more dependable. On-site leakage detection cannot be used in the center of the pipe due to drop-off of the signal, so in this device there is a concentric ring pressure sensor that travels down the pipeline millimeters from the inner pipe surface, which carries electronics and communication devices.
US Patent Application 13/095135 filed on 4/27/2011
Last revised: November 15, 2011