Want to find sources of infiltration? Want to make sure your next piping or pipe lining project is delivered ‘leak free’? Then, you may want Electro Scan. It is attracting a lot of interest in the sewer market, and many accolades. It must have great applications in the mineral industries. As Electro Scan says, “it’s a simple fact – pipe defects that leak water also leak electricity. Since electricity flows through the slightest crack and around corners, Electro Scan finds all defective pipe joints and sewer tap connections that CCTV can’t by visual observation. In addition to identifying leak locations, Electro Scan indicates the size, too. The bigger the electrical flow, the bigger the defect, the bigger the leak potential. The type of defect – joint, tap, or crack, is shown by the pattern of the electric current.
Leaks in pipes are located by measuring the electricity flowing from a probe. As the probe is pulled through a pipe, electricity is used to scan the pipe indicating all defects – hence the term ‘Electro Scan.’
Electro Scan’s proprietary technology and intelligent data management solutions marks the location of joints, shown with a plus mark ”+” and when coinciding with a diamond mark ”◊” indicates a defective joint.
Peaks between joints are indicated by a triangle mark “Δ” show a structural defect or defective service connection.
Results are transmitted, processed, recorded and displayed on Electro Scan’s smartphone app. The scan data is exported to Electro Scan’s Critical Sewers™ cloud computing app for post-processing and re-transmission to the smartphone.
Once resident in the Electro Scan Critical Sewers cloud computing app, Member Only users can complete additional analysis and reporting, including integration with Geographic Information Systems and use with Hydraulic Modelling. An Executive Dashboard allows rapid access to scans completed that day or week.
Of course, electro scan only works if a pipe does not conduct electricity. Since Electro Scan relies on water in the pipe to provide electrical contact with the pipe wall, it will detect all defects of a pipe submerged in water. To Electro Scan the entire circumference of a pipe, the pipe need only be full at the probe location, eliminating the need to have the entire pipeline full of water.
