Researchers from South Korea’s Pusan University have developed a non-intrusive sensor for pipeline monitoring to prevent unexpected pipeline failures — and, consequently, leaks that pollute the environment.

The non-intrusive sensor — unlike intrusive sensors that need to be pre-installed during pipeline construction — can be installed after pipeline construction and use light and sound-based measurement systems.

Researchers from Pusan National University have proposed a low-cost non-intrusive sensor system which employs a force-sensing resistor, the Euclidean distance method, and a support vector machine learning algorithm to optimally detect pipeline damage and monitor pipeline integrity. Source: Pusan National University

To overcome some of the challenges commonly affecting non-intrusive sensors, specifically that they can be affected by environmental conditions and noise, the team developed this system based on an inexpensive force-sensing resistor (FSR).

According to its developers, the sensor features a stiff clamping band with an FSR that includes conductive particles within a non-conductive polymer.

“When the pressure inside a pipe increases, the contact force between the pipe and clamping band also increases. That, in turn, compresses the FSR. As a result, the conductive particles come closer to each other, and current starts flowing in the non-conductive polymer due to quantum tunneling. This brings down the FSR resistance. Hence, the sensor can indirectly measure pipe pressure and detect changes in it,” explained the Pusan team.

During testing, the non-intrusive sensor reportedly performed on par with a commercial, intrusive sensor. Further, the team used the Euclidean distance method to optimally place the sensors within a pipeline network.

The researchers concluded that the non-intrusive sensors can be incorporated into virtually any pipeline system with a high risk of pipe failure — nuclear power plants and naval ships, for instance. The sensors are also expected to automate pipeline integrity monitoring, thereby reducing the amount of manual work involved in the process and protecting human and environmental health.

The sensor is detailed in the article “Nonintrusive Sensor System Developed Using a Force-Sensing Resistor for Pipeline Integrity Monitoring,” which appears in the journal Structural Control and Health Monitoring.