Sensors and Imaging Technologies for License

• Remote Gas Leak Sensor for Underground Pipelines
• Vibration Imaging for Industrial Applications

Remote Gas Leak Sensor for Underground Pipelines

What: Out of the approximately 1 million underground natural gas pipeline miles in the U.S. alone, at least 150,000 miles must be inspected for leaks each year by surveyors, either in a vehicle or on foot. Current technology relies on point monitors ("sniffers"), which are inefficient for large-area coverage. SRI International has developed a mobile remote sensing technology for gas leak detection that solves this problem. The technology is based on the principle of lidar (laser radar). Our remote sensor detects trace amounts (as low as 18 ppm) of methane, a major constituent (more than 95%) of natural gas.
 
More Information: Remote Gas Leak Sensor (pdf)
 
The lidar system uses a semiconductor (diode) laser source based on SRI's proprietary Diode Oscillator/Fiber Amplifier (DO/FA) approach. The DO/FA technology provides a powerful tunable continuous-wave laser source to this system, which sets it apart from other remote methane detectors researched earlier.
More information: Tunable Laser Source (pdf)
 
In field experiments, the system prototype has demonstrated its ability to efficiently detect simulated gas pipeline leaks from a moving vehicle.
 
Advantage: SRI International's remote sensing technology for gas leak detection can dramatically reduce the maintenance cost of gas pipelines around the world.
 
Opportunity: This time- and money-saving technology was created under a contract with the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) and is available for license.
 
Contact: David Cooper, 650-859-3742 or david.cooper@sri.com

Vibration Imaging for Industrial Applications

Imaging building vibrations. View enlarged image

Vibrations coming from an object such as a car or building can tell a lot about how "sound" it is - and whether it may need maintenance or service. SRI's vibration imaging technology dynamically images low-frequency (<500Hz) vibrations from any visible object, including machines, buildings, pipelines, vehicles, and even buried objects such as landmines using a highly portable device (<10 lbs.) and a computer. Uses for this patented technology include non-destructive evaluation, process monitoring, continuous health monitoring, quality control, and predicting incipient failures, for industries such as automotive, power systems, aerospace/avionics, and construction.

SRI's technique uses a modified imaging array with associated electronics to extract the vibration/acoustic signatures using light reflected from the object's surface in real time. The technique does not require the object to be flat or have particular reflective characteristics, or require coherent light sources such as lasers. This imaging technique is scalable to features from microns to meters, and relies on commercially available equipment with application-specific processing hardware and software.

Advantages: SRI's vibration imaging technology is non-invasive, highly portable and can be used to focus onto features in real time, making it superior to traditional accelerometers and laser Doppler vibrometers.

Opportunity : SRI has unique capabilities in this area that can be leveraged to enhance the performance characteristics of this technique, and unique intellectual property (one issued patent and six invention disclosures to date) that is available for licensing in specific fields of use.

Contact: Chris Lantman, 650-859-5725 or chris.lantman@sri.com