Page 10 - Alabama 811 Magazine 2019 Issue 1

D t h 1 gy ‘t’
h f th ° 1' ° (1 t g
By Arms Mm seen
an Magazines
hen it eomes to leak
deteetion, Heath
consultants is a
company that knows
what it's doing one reason this
company has been in liusiness for the
past 25 years is they are constantly on
the lookout tor new and innovative
teohnology to biing to their elients
Paul wehnert, senior vice president
of sales and marketing says, "Each
— V — teohnology has to be at least as good
3 ' — I as the one that eame beiore." so you
x — —— _ can bet that when Heath began to use
:-— I » uAvs (unmanned aerial vzhiclza) or
- ,1 f 3 ;,\ _ V ”dmnes", they had been thoroughly
-I’ F: =— " i’-’ :"“' " tested and thenumbershad been
W I at
. About four years ago, l-leatli
— consultants and pliysieal seienees,
Inc were awarded a Department
V of Energy grant meant to develop
‘~{ innovative technology to reduee
Q greenhouse gas emissions. The
C . obluct was to find new uses for
- , existing teohnology so the eompanies
- ‘F-{""‘ set to work to ereate a new way uf
_ .— ’ , inspeeting pipeline rights-oi-way for
_ ' ' t leaks and damage.
. ' _ ‘ " combining Heath consultants’
- , portable leak deteetion hardware
‘ ‘_ ’ Q. ‘ - ' with Physlczll seienees, lnexs lnstant
‘ Eye teohnology and mounting them
- on a deelassiiied military drone

proved to tie a winning eombination
”W2 were able to minianirize the
teohnology and put it on a drone to
do inspections via the air along R-0-
ws, piimanly with natural gas."

but leaks are not the only thing these
drones are handy for. Accordlng

,, -' ' ‘ to Paul, ‘They ran deteet leaks
- -~ ' W" “ on the line, but at the same time,

with the rameras, you ran monitor
eonsrruetion or eneroaohments

by landowners or conslrucliun
Companies " This teature saves
manpower that would otherwise be
required to walk the entire length of
a pipeline

I’rev|uu~'ly, teehnieians equipped
with gas deteetion deviees on their
persons would have walked the line

8 . Allsbamxsll 2019 issae i