Final Validation Steps_Self-Powered IoT Water Distribution Monitoring System

英国水务公司正面临缺水、净零和利润率的挑战。23%的管道泄漏率使这些挑战更加复杂。首先，专家们预测到2040年将出现供水问题，届时不必要的水源将会流失，这将加速供水问题。此外，每年用于获取、处理和运输这些流失的水的碳足迹相当于运行55万辆汽车。这导致了财政紧张，因为水务公司每年从非收入用水中损失2.6亿英镑，同时还会招致更多的监管罚款。因此，他们试图通过部署泄漏检测传感器来解决泄漏率问题。传感器依靠频繁更换短寿命、一次性、不可回收的电池供电。这种低效的解决方案增加了运营成本，而且是不可持续的。然而，水务公司必须找到一种经济实惠的方式来部署这些传感器，而不会增加客户的批发水价，这样才能达到水务署的目标。因此，需要一种经济、可靠和可持续的电源解决方案。Vysion技术公司开发了一种正在申请专利的微型水力涡轮机，它可以从管道流动中收集电力，为远程传感器提供清洁、可靠和负担得起的电力。我们的技术提供了比电池高12倍的电力，可以实现更高的数据准确性和粒度，因此水务公司可以做出更明智的决定来修复和减轻泄漏。“青年创新者：下一步2022 - 2023”项目旨在证明TRL 7的可行性，并打算在成功试验后将其带到TRL 8和9。这些TRL阶段解决了由于水公司和地区之间景观和可用基础设施的差异而导致的运营环境挑战。该项目旨在克服这两个障碍，使产品能够大规模部署。第一个挑战是通过开发一种节能设计来推动物联网技术的发展，该设计利用多种数据传输方法来保持安全连接。这是行业中普遍存在的问题，设备通常位于地下室或山谷中。第二个挑战是为水轮机壳体设计一种经济高效且灵活的安装方法，在多次改造和新建配置中保持较低的投资回收期。我们与埃塞克斯大学（University of Essex）和独立水务网络公司（Independent Water Networks）合作，对这些挑战进行合作调查。该项目将包括设计、建造、认证和测试，以在现场管道中试用解决方案。

UK water companies are facing water shortage, Net Zero, and profit margin challenges. These challenges are compounded by the 23% pipeline leakage rate. Firstly, experts have predicted water supply problems by 2040, which is accelerated by the unnecessarily sourced water that is then lost. Furthermore, the annual carbon footprint required to source, treat, and transport this lost water is equivalent to running 550,000 cars. This results in a financial strain because water companies lose £260m from non-revenue water annually, whilst incurring further regulatory fines. They are therefore trying to tackle leakage rates by deploying leak detecting sensors. The sensors rely on frequently replacing short life, single use, non-recyclable, batteries for power supply. This inefficient solution increases the operating costs and is unsustainable. However, water companies must find an affordable way to deploy these sensors without increasing wholesale water prices for customers, so that OFWAT targets can be met. Therefore, the need for a cost-effective, reliable, and sustainable power source solution exists.Vysion Technologies has developed a patent pending, micro hydro-turbine that harvests electricity from the pipe flow to provide clean, dependable, and affordable power to remote sensors. Our technology provides 12x more power than batteries to enable greater accuracy and granularity of data, so that water companies can make more informed decisions to repair and mitigate leaks.The Young Innovators: Next Steps 2022 -- 2023 project aims to prove the feasibility at TRL 7, with the intention to bring it to TRL 8 and 9 after a successful trial. These TRL stages address the operational environment challenges due to the variation in both the landscape and available infrastructure between water companies and regions. The project aims to overcome the two barriers, enabling mass deployment of the product. The first challenge is driving forward the IoT technology by developing a power efficient design that harnesses multiple data transmission methods to maintain a secure connection. This is a prevalent problem in the industry, with equipment often situated in subterranean chambers or valleys. The second challenge is to design a cost-effective and flexible installation method for the hydro-turbine housing, maintaining a low payback period across multiple retrofit and new build configurations. We have partnered with the University of Essex and Independent Water Networks to conduct collaborative investigations into these challenges. The project will include the design, build, certification, and testing required to trial the solution in live pipework.