An investigation into the optimum design parameters of an inertial sensor for use in detecting water leaks from buried pipes

• Grant number: 20/05961-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: June 01, 2020
• End date: April 30, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Mechanics of Solids
• Principal Investigator: Michael John Brennan
• Grantee: Vitor Franco Girardi
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia (FEIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Ilha Solteira. Ilha Solteira , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 17/50343-2 - Institutional development plan in the area of digital transformation: advanced manufacturing and smart and sustainable cities (PDIp), AP.PDIP

Abstract

Water scarcity, especially in large centers where the reservoirs are at their maximum capacity, as well as the location of generally a few tens of kilometers from external water sources, make sanitation and water distribution companies under great pressure to reduce losses in its distribution systems. In this way, plans for loss management, as well as technologies used in the rapid detection and location of leaks, have been developed and implemented. There are logger type sensors on the market that can be mounted on hydrants, for example, helping to detect leaks via cross-correlation. In Brazil, however, the lack of hydrants on the streets makes such an application unfeasible. One way around this situation would be to incorporate a vibration sensor in residential water meters. In this way, water meters would be measuring points where it would be possible to collect vibration signals from the main pipeline, including those related to the presence of leaks in the network. However, what limits the application of vibration sensors in these cases is their cost, since high sensitivity and low instrumentation noise are desired and directly proportional to their manufacturing cost. An alternative would be to manufacture MEMS sensors (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems), which are more accessible, but need modifications mainly in relation to their low instrumentation noise. Therefore, the objective of this project is to determine the technical specifications of a low-cost vibration sensor such as its sensitivity, operating frequency range, minimum sample rate, physical size and an Analog/Digital (A/D) converter with the required number of bits to obtain a leakage vibration signal that can be applied to plastic pipes and in the future on water meters. For this, a mathematical model representative of the system will be developed, where a model of a vibration sensor will be coupled to a model of A/D converter aiming to carry out simulations in a controlled environment to obtain the desired construction parameters. These parameters will be provided to the IPT (Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas) so that a sensor-prototype with these characteristics can be manufactured. Experimental tests in the laboratory and in the field will be carried out and compared with commercial sensors consolidated in the market aiming at the validation of the developed prototype. It should be noted that this project will be a partnership between IPT and Unesp-Ilha Solteira. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

GIRARDI, Vitor Franco. An investigation into the effectiveness of piezoelectric and MEMS accelerometers in the detection of leaks in water pipes. 2022. Master's Dissertation - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Engenharia. Ilha Solteira Ilha Solteira.