SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--California-based cleantech leader, Electro Scan Inc., announced its 14th international patent for its groundbreaking multi-sensor technology that accurately locates & measures water leaks.
While traditional solutions 'listen' for a leak or rely on cameras to 'see' a leak, Electro Scan's machine-intelligent probe automatically measures leaks by locating actual cracks & holes that go through the pipe wall, measuring the size of each opening using harmless low voltage electric current.
The Electro Scan technology also evaluates pipe wall thicknesses, particularly in Asbestos Cement (AC) pipes that tend to burst, collapse, or lead to catastrophic failure without warning.
The company's award-winning cloud application reports leak locations in minutes – to the closest centimeter or 3/8th of an inch – and quantifies severity expressed in industry standard Gallons per Minute or Liters per Second.
Announcement of the new patent is timely, especially as New Zealand is in the midst of a water crisis where the Government recently created a new regulator, Taumara Arowai, proposing to take control of water from 67 councils to be reorganized into several publicly-owned regional water authorities.
Electro Scan’s Founder, Chuck Hansen, is no stranger to the New Zealand water industry, choosing to ground truth his patented leak detection solutions in Christchurch from 2012 to 2013.
But, Hansen's work with the New Zealand water market began much earlier.
In 1999, Hansen won a competitive New Zealand water & sewer asset management tender issued by the ASSOCIATION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT ENGINEERS OF NEW ZEALAND (ALGENZ), later merged into INGENIUM, and then becoming the INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC WORKS ENGINEERING AUSTRALASIA (IPWEA).
"Having worked with acoustic leak detection and CCTV-based data for nearly 40 years, I knew these technologies were not capable of protecting our water supplies or containing our effluent," stated Hansen.
New Zealand's summer has already seen a record number of towns issuing ‘boil water’ notices, including Naseby, Pateroa, Te Horo, Otematata, Duntroon, Tokarahi, Awamoko, Cannington, Motukaika, Featherston, Martinborough, Coromandel Town, and Mt Pleasant in Christchurch.
Worldwide, aging infrastructure has resulted in hundreds of millions of miles of underground water and sewer pipes with cracks and holes.
But the use of traditional acoustic listening sensors in pressurized water mains and long-time use of closed-circuit television cameras in gravity sewer pipes, have been unable to reliably locate or quantify leak locations or their size.
In water pipes, when pressure drops below acceptable levels, cracks and holes allow groundwater to seep back into potable water systems. Some of that groundwater can carry harmful bacteria that can only be eliminated by boiling the water.
In sewer pipes, contractors have successfully fought to keep using CCTV cameras to approve pipes as watertight, despite the inability to tell if cracks go through a pipe wall or if pipe joints have hidden pathways through narrow bell & spigots that allow unseen sewage to seep out of a pipe.
In fact, most ratepayers are surprised to learn that most pipe acceptance standards allow new & rehabilitated pipes to leak; oftentimes allowing only ‘visual inspection’ to accept pipes assumed to have 50-year useful lives.
As a result, acoustic, data correlators, ground penetrating radar, lasers, LIDAR, satellite, and sonar, have been ineffective in locating or quantifying leaks.
Earlier this month, New Zealand's Intellectual Property Office granted Patent No. 713053 for Electro Scan's 'MULTI-SENSOR INSPECTION FOR IDENTIFICATION OF PRESSURIZED PIPE DEFECTS THAT LEAK,' filed in 2015.
In January 2021, Electro Scan Inc. was selected 'WATER LEAK DETECTION SOLUTION OF THE YEAR' for 2021 by IoT Breakthrough.
The Company was also chosen ‘winner’ of the November 2020 UK Water Dragons Competition sponsored by UK-based Future Water Association.
As governments look to stimulate their economies during the post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery, adoption of innovative technologies that allow communities to 'Build Back Better' and 'Find Leaks Before Breaks' are good first steps. Besides, studies find that every US$1 invested in safe water and sanitation yields US$5-to-US$28 due to increased economic activity and reduced health care costs.
Contact the company for international water loss projects and Non-Revenue Water assessments, including technology-as-a-service (TaaS) licensing opportunities and equipment purchasing.
ABOUT ELECTRO SCAN INC.
Electro Scan Inc., is a leading supplier of machine-intelligent pipeline assessment products and services for the water & wastewater pipeline market, developing proprietary pipe condition assessment equipment and delivering field services, and cloud-based applications that automatically locate, measure, and report leaks typically not found by legacy inspection methods. Follow Electro Scan Inc. on LinkedIn.
