Leak detector for natural gas pipelines
First Claim
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1. A gas leak detection system for detection of leaks of pressurized gases from long pipelines, comprising:
- a plurality of acoustic transducers disposed along the pipeline and responsive to acoustic energy for respectively generating transducer signals indicative of incident acoustic energy; and
an acoustic spectrum analyzer coupled to and responsive to said transducer signals for generating a leak detection signal indicating that a leak has been detected when one or more of said signals indicates that a standing wave has been established as a result of a leak in the pipeline.
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Abstract
A simple acoustic detection system is described for measuring leaks from long gas pipelines. Microphones are strung along (and attached to) the pipeline exterior. The outputs of the microphones are spectrally analyzed. A peak at a frequency f≅Vs /(2d) and its harmonics indicates a leak in the vicinity of the recording microphone, where Vs is the velocity of sound in the gas and d is the thickness of the pipe wall.
92 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A gas leak detection system for detection of leaks of pressurized gases from long pipelines, comprising:
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a plurality of acoustic transducers disposed along the pipeline and responsive to acoustic energy for respectively generating transducer signals indicative of incident acoustic energy; and an acoustic spectrum analyzer coupled to and responsive to said transducer signals for generating a leak detection signal indicating that a leak has been detected when one or more of said signals indicates that a standing wave has been established as a result of a leak in the pipeline. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A leak detection system for detecting leaks of pressurized gas from one or more holes in a long pipeline having a pipeline wall thickness d, comprising:
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a plurality of spaced acoustic microphones arranged along the extent of the exterior surface of said pipeline to be monitored for gas leaks, said microphones responsive to sounds generated by gases escaping through one or more holes in said pipeline and generating microphone signals indicative of the intensity and spectral content of said sounds; and an acoustic spectrum analyzer responsive to said microphone signals for detecting peaks in the spectral content of said signals which are at wavelengths which are submultiples of 2d. - View Dependent Claims (8)
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9. A method for detecting leaks of pressurized gas from one or more holes in a long pipeline having a pipeline wall thickness d, comprising a sequence of the following steps:
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providing the outputs from one or more acoustic microphones arranged along the pipeline, said one or more microphones responsive to sounds generated by gas escaping through one or more holes in said pipeline to generate microphone output signals indicative of the intensity and spectral content of said sounds; analyzing the microphone outputs to determine when peaks in the acoustic spectral response occur at predetermined wavelength which are submultiples of 2d; declaring that a leak is occurring when such peak or peaks are determined. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11)
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12. A leak detecting system for detecting leaks of pressurized gas from one or more holes in a long pipeline having a pipeline wall thickness d, comprising:
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a plurality of spaced fiber optic interferometric microphones arranged along the extent of the exterior surface of said pipeline and responsive to sounds generated when gas escapes through one or more holes in said pipeline for generating signals indicative of standing waves in said pipeline; and an acoustic spectrum analyzer responsive to said microphone signals for detecting peaks in the spectral content of said signals.
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Specification