Page 10 - West Virgina 811 Magazine 2019 Issue 1
P. 10

D t h 1 gy ‘t’
h f th ° 1' ° (1 t g
amas Mam Size]:
511M-Sguzmzs
hen It eomes to leak
deteetlon, Heath
consultants as a
company that knows
what tt's doing. one ren~nnI}1ls'
cumpany has been In bustness for the
past 35 years is they am constantly on
the lookuul fol new and tnnovatave
Iechnolugy to bnng to then eltents.
Paul Wehnexl, ssnlnr nee ptestdent
or sales and marketing, says, ”Eal:h
- — e - teehnology has to be at least as good
3 : , ( as the one that came before." so you
A —- —- A can bet that when Heath began to use
:- __ — uAvs (unmanned aenal velneles) 01
~ ,1  ii ;\ g V _ .. s "dmn£.~'”, they had been Lhomugllly
,- g—— - ' ‘-V r - tested and the numbers had been
_ run
‘ About rout years ago, Heath
— consultants and Physical sciences,

Inc. were awarded a Depamnent

of Energy grant meant to develop

' I innovattve teohnology to reduce
Q greenhouse gas emasstons The
C . ob,eet was to find new uses for
- V Existing Iechnnlngy so the eotnpames
"'—"‘- set to work to (male a new way of
_/ .v- ~‘ , ntspeeung plpelme nghts-oz-way fol
_ ‘ t leaks and damage
. ' _ ‘ " Cumbmlng Heath consultants’
. ' _ portable leak detection hardware
3 V‘. ' O, ‘ u ' wtth Physieal sctenees, lne  lnstant
' Eye technology and mounttng then.
~ on a deelasstned mllilary drone

proved to be a wuuung comblnallon.
"W2 wem able to nuntatunze the
teehnology and put it on a drone to
do mspeettons vta the an along R-0-
ws, pumzlnly vnth natuml gas."

But leaks am not the only tlung these
drones ate handy for. According

_, -' ‘ ‘ to Paul, "They can detect leaks
- =»  " on theltne, but atthesame time,

wtth the cameras, you can monitor
eonsteuetton or enetoaehtnents

by landowners or eonsttuetton
eotnpantes." This feature saves
manpower that would othetwtse be
rzqulmd to walk the entue length of
a plpelme.

Ptevlously, teehntetans equipped
wtth gas detection devtees on Lhelr
persons would have walked the ltne

e . West Wglmn an 2019, Issue 1































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