STTR Phase II: Development and Validation of Low-Cost Natural Gas Leak Detection Sensors and Analytics for Drone-Based and Handheld Deployments

这项小型企业技术转移（STTR）项目的更广泛影响和商业潜力是帮助发现天然气泄漏，以改善公共安全并降低天然气价格。天然气泄漏导致火灾和爆炸，造成数百人受伤，其中一些人死亡，造成超过20亿美元的损失。通过在泄漏变得危险之前发现泄漏，改进的检测系统可以挽救生命并防止代价高昂的损失。目前的方法主要依赖于客户电话和对公用事业资产的年度步行调查，这是一种劳动密集型的方法，而且经常遗漏小的和正在发展的泄漏。拟议的项目是进行自动泄漏检测系统的先进开发。一旦确定了泄漏位置，就可以派遣工作人员精确定位泄漏位置，并在必要时进行维修。在这项工作结束时，将完成两个新工具，以帮助发现天然气泄漏，提高公用事业效率和社区安全。STTR第一阶段项目建议开发一种低成本的天然气分析仪，使用强大的近红外电信级激光器与腔增强激光光谱相结合，在紧凑，便携式的外形因素中对痕量甲烷进行高精度，快速的测量。通过将该分析仪与共同开发的数据分析平台相结合，可以从移动平台定位和量化气体泄漏，从而可以快速准确地测量大多数公用事业分配资产。此外，该项目还将开发一种灵敏、快速的手持式甲烷传感器，以取代目前使用的火焰电离探测器，因为它需要耗材，而且灵敏度不够。该项目将设计一个用于泄漏检测的集成硬件软件系统。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) project is to help find natural gas leaks to improve public safety and reduce natural gas rates. Natural gas leaks have led to fires and explosions that have injured hundreds of people, including some fatalities, and resulted in over $2 B in costs. By finding leaks before they become dangerous, improved detection systems can save lives and prevent costly damage. Current methods, which primarily rely on customer calls and annual walking surveys of utility assets, are labor-intensive and often miss small and developing leaks. The proposed project is to conduct advanced development of an automated leak detection system. Once leak locations are identified, a crew can be dispatched to pinpoint the leak location and perform repairs as necessary. At the conclusion of this work, two new tools will be completed to help find natural gas leakage, improving both utility efficiency and community safety. This STTR Phase I project proposes to develop a low-cost natural gas analyzer using a robust, near-infrared telecommunications-grade laser coupled with cavity-enhanced laser spectrometry to make highly accurate, rapid measurements of trace methane in a compact, portable form factor. By coupling this analyzer with a co-developed data analytics platform, gas leaks can be located and quantified from mobile platforms, allowing for rapid and accurate surveying of most utility distribution assets. In addition, the project will develop a sensitive, fast, handheld methane sensor to replace the state-of-practice flame-ionization detector, as it require consumables and is insufficiently sensitive. The project will engineer an integrated hardware-software system for leak detection.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.