Critical Infrastructure Pipeline Protection Systems (CIPPS)

“除了家庭之外，从医院和学校到工厂和农场的大多数经济活动都依赖于可靠的清洁用水。这使得输送水的管道基础设施的完整性变得非常重要。英国、欧洲和美国有超过600万公里的水管，其中65%的水管使用年限超过70年。由于无法充分监测这些管道的结构完整性，导致一些国家的水损失高达供水总量的50%。漏水主要是管道和接头失效、腐蚀以及其他外部因素（例如地面沉降、地面移动和意外损坏）的影响。行业采用的现有解决方案无法检测到这些影响。声学“噪音记录器”是最常见的机制，但由于塑料管道中的声音传输能力差，范围有限，它们过于昂贵，无法提供全面的广域覆盖。该行业需要预测系统，但由于成本高和长距离覆盖差，目前的传感器无法提供这一点。因此，公用事业公司发现维护其基础设施越来越困难：反复遭受管道爆裂，招致昂贵的罚款，无法实现国家监管机构Ofwat设定的减少漏水目标。为了解决这一问题，我们开发了“关键基础设施管道保护系统”（CIPS）。CIPPS是一种突破性的保护系统，它使用超低成本的印刷电子技术，以经济有效的方式提供预测性故障检测和管道运行的连续监控。我们的解决方案通过嵌入传感器来长距离测量管道健康状况，彻底改变了管道基础设施的潜力。最重要的是，CIPPS易于安装和制造。该系统是基于广泛的研发工作和原型开发使用以前的创新英国赠款资金以及通过伯明翰市理事会的“区域增长基金”。该项目将是一个在水行业的一步变化，特别是资产管理控制。预测性故障检测可以显著减少水损失，延长资产寿命，并通过减少突发来降低健康和安全风险。同样重要的是，CIPPS将使水务公司能够实现零泄漏目标，避免昂贵的罚款，并减少额外水处理和泵送活动的二氧化碳排放。"

"Beyond households, most economic activities, from hospitals and schools to factories and farms, depend on reliable access to clean water. This makes the integrity of the pipeline infrastructure which delivers that water significantly important. Over 6 million kilometres of water pipes exist in the UK, Europe and US, of which up to 65% are over 70 years old. The inability to adequately monitor the structural integrity of these pipes has led to water losses in some countries to be as high as 50% of the total water supply. Water leakage is largely the effect of pipeline and joint failure, corrosion, and other external factors such as subsidence ground movement and accidental damage.Existing solutions employed by the industry fail to detect such effects. Acoustic 'noise loggers' are the most common mechanism but, with limited range due to poor sound transmittance in plastic pipes, they are too expensive to provide comprehensive wide-area coverage. The industry requires predictive systems but current sensors are unable to provide this due to high cost and poor long-distance coverage. As a result, utilities are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain their infrastructure: suffering from repeated pipe bursts, incurring costly fines and missing water leakage reduction targets set by the national regulator, Ofwat.To address this problem, we have developed ""Critical Infrastructure Pipeline Protection Systems"" (CIPPS). CIPPS is a ground-breaking protection system which uses the power of ultra-low-cost, Printed Electronics to provide predictive failure detection and continuous monitoring of pipeline operation cost-effectively. Our solution revolutionizes the potential of pipeline infrastructure by embedding sensors to measure pipeline health over long distances. Crucially, CIPPS is easy to install and manufacture. The system is based on extensive R&D work and prototypes developed using previous Innovate UK grant funding as well as through the Birmingham City Council's 'Regional Growth Fund'.This project will be a step-change in the water industry, in particular asset management control. Predictive failure detection allows for significant reduction in water losses, extending asset lifetimes and lowered health and safety risks by reductions in bursts. Equally importantly, CIPPS will enable water utilities to achieve Zero Leakage targets, avoid costly penalties and reduce CO2 emissions from additional water treatment and pumping activities."