ABB Ability mobile gas leak detection system

The ABB Ability mobile gas leak detection system benefits from drone deployment as it is said to enable faster identification of leaks, require less man-hours to implement and cover wide, hard-to-reach areas. To avoid false readings, it can distinguish between biogenic methane, the source of which is ruminant animals, manure and shallow coal and oil deposits, from thermogenic methane from natural gas.

The solution uses cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy to detect methane and ethane with a sensitivity more than 1000 times higher than conventional leak detection tools. Off-axis integrated cavity output spectroscopy (OA-ICOS) has extreme sensitivity that allows ABB to quickly identify potential methane emissions at a greater distance while flying, which is not possible with other sensors.

ABB’s analysis software automatically processes the collected methane, ethane, GPS and wind data to create a simple, easy-to-use report in either GIS compatible or PDF formats. These reports can be used to quickly identify areas in the pipeline network that potentially have leaks.

Additionally, the software features, such as the ABB Ability cloud storage tools, allow quick and efficient distribution of data and reports to all stakeholders anywhere in the world. Authorised users can view the progress of flights in real time as well as review and act on processed leak reports.

The mobile gas leak detection system is also used in urban distribution vehicles and handheld inspection devices, meaning that all three methods of gas detection can be deployed in conjunction with one another.