Neutron Detector Probe for Water Leaks - Water and Wastewater - Water Monitoring and Testing

Every year about 30 percent of the water put into aqueducts around the world is lost; in Italy this figure exceeds 40 percent. The cause? Leaks from the pipes.
Millions of € are then invested to find these water leaks by a wide variety of methods. Finapp provides a revolutionary new way to intervene promptly.

Finapp has patented a lightweight, compact probe that can read the cosmic neutrons, that are our messengers about the water content deep in the ground and in real time.

Thanks to the unique feature of our probe such as:

1. High performance in neutron counting thanks to the modular design - patented
2. Compactness and lightness, thanks to the use of plastic and metallic materials - patented
3. Real time measurements, thanks to the total income directly estimated by our probe - patented

It is possible to install it on a moving vehicle, to investigate water content in the soil not only through time, but also through space. This allows to ore-locate water leaks along the aqueduct pipes, monitoring up to 150 km of pipeline per day in urban centers. A water leak along an aqueduct will significantly increase the humidity of the soil below, whether we are in the countryside or in the city and our probe will capture this phenomenon by showing a decrease in the number of neutrons. The presence of asphalt or cement does not interfere with our probe since these materials do not have water molecules inside them

The advantage of this approach are several:

Finapp approach allows to have evident advantages compared to traditional techniques:

1. The speed: depending on the number of probes used, it is possible to travel at up to 50km/h, thus covering 120-150km per day in the busiest urban centers and up to 300km in non-urban areas. The difference with systematic research, capable of investigating 5-10km of network per day, is therefore remarkable!
2. The performance: results show that Finapp pre-location, compared to actual excavation, correctly detects leaks in about 70% of cases.
3. The costs: pre-location has significantly lower costs than systematic digging, by about one third.
4. The ease of use: setting the probe in motion is extremely simple, does not require fixed installations, is small in size and does not need an external power supply. It is therefore not operator dependent, as is the case with electro-acoustic instrumentation (geophone).
5. The technique: non-contact, non-destructive and automatic measurement means that no intervention is necessary, no manholes need to be opened, no devices need to be installed, no maintenance is required, it can be installed on public transport, and it does not require a qualified operator.