Fotech’s LivePIPE® solution uses distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) technology to process vast quantities of data on events as they happen. The system extracts the actionable information and raises an alert instantaneously, allowing you the opportunity to respond quickly to intervene and stop illegal activity or prevent an incident such as a leak; saving money, increasing security, and preserving your company’s reputation.
With a LivePIPE system you have peace of mind that your pipeline network is monitored and protected 24 hours per day, every day.
With LivePIPE® smart pipeline monitoring system you can gain instantaneous visibility of the integrity and security of your entire pipeline network.
The system then warns against pipeline threats simultaneously, monitoring and protecting your assets 24 hours a day, every day. Allowing you the opportunity to intervene quickly and stop theft or prevent an accident, saving money, reducing environmental impact, and preserving your company’s reputation.
Pipelines around the world are exposed to several risks and challenges associated with the industry. Threats of random nature are difficult to predict and prevent, such as:
LivePIPE II delivers a fully integrated and networked sensing solution, based on the world’s most advanced fibre optic Distributed Acoustic Sensor (DAS).Fotech challenges the standards for leak detection and helps customers solve business critical issues, even in harsh, densely populated, and remote locations. DAS can detect and locate leaks faster and more accurately than legacy systems, doing it simultaneously in multiple locations.
LivePIPE®II works on a scale of minutes, or even seconds to detect and locate events to within metres, compared to other legacy systems that often deal in hours and hundreds of metres.
LivePIPE II Modules are fully integrated and networked solutions, built and tested by Fotech, ready for rapid onsite deployment. The modules can be configured with multiple Helios® DAS units and Panoptes® alarm handling servers to facilitate the continuous monitoring of multiple sections of a pipeline network.
The LivePIPE II modular system allows for a swift installation and the opportunity for future expansion as your pipeline network grows.
By using a combination of modules to build your overall solution, we can tailor make you pipeline integrity monitoring system to suit your needs. The three principle modules that are used to build your unique solution are:
One, or more Helios® DAS and a Panoptes® alarm management server, co-located in a rack.
Allows the solution’s sensing range to be readily expanded along the length of the pipeline with multiple Helios DAS networked together.
Contains a Panoptes Alarm Management Server, which may be located away from the pipeline, for example at an operator’s central monitoring facility.
Fotech’s LivePIPE®II leak detection capability has been tested and proven through rigorous work in the laboratory and the field.
SwRI (South West Research Institute) facility in Newfoundland has tested 359 scenarios where fluids were released with varying pressures from an actuated valve in a section of pipe buried in the soil box. Oil leaks were simulated with water, and gas leaks with nitrogen. Four cable designs were tested, some directly buried and some in conduits, located directly next to the pipeline and at distances offset from the pipeline by 1ft, 3ft and 5ft. In every case, for every cable and every position, LivePIPE II was able to detect the leak. Additionally, and of immense importance to operators, we had zero false alarms. Moving from the laboratory to the real world, in Turkey, a LivePIPE II solution was installed on a fuel pipeline. While simulating a leak by using water, a lance is pushed into the ground at an equal distance from the fibre sensing cable (see diagram).
Water is injected though a hole at the end of the lance at the relevant pressure and flowrate through a certain size hole and we verify the response of the LivePIPE II solution.
After successfully passing 45 blind tests across 9 locations, LivePIPE II was commissioned
for 34km of pipeline leak detection and monitoring. The operator used an operational pressure of 20bar and flowrate of 20lt/min with 4 different hole sizes. LivePIPE II detected and raised alarms for all 45 leak tests, with zero false alarms. The world’s first demonstration of detection of a gas leak by a pipeline was carried out in India. Again, LivePIPE II achieved 100% leak detection on the client’s tests and zero false alarms. This was achieved because of our efforts to calibrate the solution in the laboratory environment and tune it to the local environment in the field.
The retrieval of a stuck PIG can require excavation and opening of the pipeline. Which is why it is best to know where to dig. LivePIPE®II can detect the location of a PIG by recording the audio and plotting the location on the map.
LivePIPE®II can be integrated with other sensors, such as CCTV, thermal cameras, or Infrared sensors for complete protection of an asset. For the most effective response to a threat to a pipeline, LivePIPE II can be integrated with a UAV (drone) system, such that when a threat is detected a UAV can be automatically launched and flown to location to identify further details about the threat, let intruders know they have been detected, warn them away or follow them.
With algorithms optimised for perimeter security LivePIPE II can be further used to provide the location of a disturbances on fences around key assets along the pipeline route.
