Little Robot Maps Out Leaks in City Water Pipes Before Catastrophe Strikes
Access to clean, safe water is one of the world's pressing needs, but today's water distribution systems lose an average of 20 percent of their supply because of leaks. These leaks can also cause structural damage to buildings and roads. Many leak detection systems don't work well in systems that use wood, clay, or plastic pipes - which account for the majority of systems in the developing world. Researchers at MIT have developed a fast, inexpensive robotic device that can find even tiny leaks in pipes, no matter what the pipes are made of. The robot can inspect water or gas pipes from the inside to find leaks long before they become catastrophic. The device can be inserted into the water system through any fire hydrant. It then moves passively with the flow, logging its position as it goes. It detects even small variations in pressure by sensing the pull at the edges of its soft rubber 'skirt' which fills the diameter of of the pipe.
Transcript
00:00:00 This is the MIT Leak Detection Robot. It can find leaks in city water pipes. It has three components. The blue membrane sensor can be stretched and sense a pulling force. The yellow flexible support can be compressed and measure the pipe size change. The Robot housing contains electronics to make the robot wireless. The housing is made of soft rubber
00:00:24 so it can bend to go around pipe elbows. So how does this robot find leaks? In a leak, water is escaping from a pipe and creates a suction of force. When the robot passes a leak the blue membrane sensor will feel the suction force and get stretched. The robot senses this stretch and indicates a leak. Now one may ask, how about false alarms? The robot can distinguish obstacles from leaks. In a pipe obstacles can be dirt, scales, or other kinds
00:00:55 of pipe diameter reductions. When the robot passes an obstacle the yellow support will be compressed, combining the compression signal and the stretch signal. The robot can differentiate leaks and obstacles. Now let's look at how a technician can use this robot. The technician's job is to find if there are water leaks and where they are. He arrives at the job site. Puts the robot into the underground water
00:01:20 pipes through a customized robot launcher. The robot will follow the water flow, travel towards a precalculated exit point, and inspect the pipes along its path. At the same time, the robot generates a Google map for leaks. We call it the leak map. It records where leaks are on the robot's path. When the robot arrives at the exit point, it will be captured by a net.
00:01:44 The technician can then take the robot out of the pipe and receive the leak map. So this is the MIT Leak Detection Robot. The solution for mapping out water pipe leaks in your city.