What is GasTutamen^TM

Natural gas is a valuable resource and is transmitted and distributed through over 2,000,000 miles of pipelines in the United States alone. Gas pipelines are subject to damage and corrosion, resulting in gas leaks that are extremely difficult to detect. Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is inherently colorless, odorless and diffuses rapidly into the air once it escapes the pipeline. Conventional techniques to detect methane leaks are limited and inefficient because they require point samplings of methane concentrations. Many sensors must be installed and maintained and even then these sensors must be in close proximity with the leak to provide useful information. Our product, GasTutamen^TM, offers a new innovative approach to detecting gas leaks using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. Using this process, GasTutamen^TM is capable of detecting gas leaks from far away and provides a far more cost effective solution by requiring fewer sensor nodes.

Gas Leak Detection - A Challenging Problem

There are two major techniques used for gas pipeline leak detection: (1) active detection, which requires illuminating the scene with a radiation source such as a laser which is absorbed by the gas plume, and (2) passive detection which relies on radiative transfer resulted from the temperature difference that usually exists between the background and the methane (CH4) plume. Active detection removes the constraint of thermal difference, but requires a laser and a scattering surface behind the gas for echo signals. While passive methods allow a long range of detection with a relatively simple thermal imaging device, these methods rely upon a thermal flux between the gas plume and the ground surface below it.

Remote Gas Leak Detection Using Sunlight

Since the existing active detection system is too expensive and passive detection system is less reliable, Migma has developed a system which utilizes sunlight during daytime to detect the methane, within 840 - 940 nm wavelength range. Being able to detect methane within this range is significant, which makes it possible to dramatically reduce the system cost associated with an expensive NIR spectrometer, an expensive laser device, and complex and costly system operations.

Our Unique Patented Technology

This gas leak detection product utilizes Migma™s patented technology to reliably measure spectral absorbance during different time of a day under various weather conditions. This is achieved by applying a pattern matching technique using a set of normalized light intensity profiles estimated from the vacuum scanning. A low-pass filter, specifically designed for spectra data processing, can effectively remove the spectral measurement noises. 

Since the spectral absorbance within 840-940 nm wavelength range is primarily dominated by the water vapor in the air, an enhanced ICA (Independent Component Analysis) method is used to decompose the spectral absorbance signal into a set of independent spectral signals representing the chemical components present in the air, which include H2O, O2, and CH4 in case of gas leak. To detect and classify methane from these unmixed signals, unique features are extracted for further statistical pattern recognition, thus, achieving the methane detection and false alarm mitigation.

Need more information?

Product brochure can be downloaded here.

Our paper presented at ISA 2006 can be downloaded here.

Our paper presented at SPIE 2006 can be downloaded here.

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Product Specification

This system detects methane using an NIR spectrometer. It does NOT require any laser illumination of methane molecules in the outdoor environment. Instead, sunlight is used as the light source. This system works from early morning to late evening under various weather conditions (sunny, partly cloudy, cloudy, windy, etc.). Major features include:

Detection sensitivity: < 5 ppm-m
Range: up to 410 ft
Response time: < 1 second
Detection technique: passive
Platform: mobile (vehicle at 70 mph) or stationary 
Data logging: SQL