Overview

Your water transmission mains are a valuable asset, and leakage or failure of them can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in direct and indirect costs. Traditional acoustical leak detection systems may be inappropriate or expensive to implement on a temporary or permanent basis, or there simply may not be suitable access.

Echologics in partnership with Omnisens is pleased to offer a cost effective, accurate and highly sensitive alternative to traditional leak detection methods that can cost effectively monitor high value pipelines on a continuous basis.

The LeakMonitor system is a fiber optic (FO) based system that works by detecting even the smallest changes in temperature that would indicated a fluid leak. The system can pinpoint leaks to within a meter of it’s location, and can be programmed to monitor the temperature as often as desired (every 1/2 hour is typical).

The system is based on the concept of distributed fiber optic sensing. A fiber optic cable is used as a continuous sensor capable of monitoring temperature or strain. If a pipe has a leak or is subject to a high stress due to an unwanted movement in the soil, this will cause a local change in temperature or strain that can be pinpointed with a high degree of accuracy.

When a local change in temperature or strain occurs within the fiber optic cable, a scattering of light within the cable occurs. By looking at the time of the reflections caused by this scattering, leaks can be pinpointed. If a fiber optic cable is bonded to the pipe, any changes in pipe strain can also be identified.

Echologics can engineer a pipeline leak or strain detection system for virtually any pipe installation that will monitor it permanently in real time. A basic system can monitor up to 30 km of pipe on a single fibre, and signal amplifiers can be added to extend this range to up to 250 km.

The Echologics LeakMonitor System is based on the Omnisens DiTeSt-STA100/200 Series instruments, which integrates a technology pioneered by Omnisens offering distributed measurement of temperature and strain in real-time over more than 30 kilometers using single mode standard optical fiber and providing thousands of measurement locations while keeping a very fast acquisition and processing time. Its inherent high stability and reliability guarantees an optimal security for the long-term surveillance of large structures.

The DiTeSt is a laser based monitoring system using one of the most advanced technique for distributed sensing, an optical interaction between light and optical fibers called “Stimulated Brillouin Scattering.”