The "magic carpet" is a plastic carpet in which an array of acoustic sensors is embedded. The array is designed to detect the acoustic signal from a leak in a buried pipe.
Attached to the mat by an umbilical cable is a signal processing and display unit. When there is a leak in a pipe beneath the carpet, the display indicates the position and strength of the leak. It is usually possible to give the position of a leak accurate to within 30cm (1 foot).
The magic carpet can be operated by one man after just an hour’s training. It can be folded up for ease of storage and transport, and deployed in seconds.
The magic carpet comes ready for use on hard top surfaces such as tarmac, concrete and pavement, and gravel. Adaptors are also supplied which allow it to be used on unconsolidated surfaces such as grass verges.
The most obvious application for the carpet is to locate leaks in water pipes. There is no reason in principle why it should not be used on pipelines carrying any fluid or gas, and we are keen to explore possibilities with the oil and gas industries.
The Magic Carpet is supplied by stest Limited, who may be contacted at magic.carpet@stest.co.uk.
