The search for water leaks is now more efficient, thanks to cosmic rays
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Web Content Article · written-by Mario Egidio on-date May 26, 2024 12:32 PM
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Web Content Article on-date Nov 9, 2021 12:04 PM
On 2 December Hera Group will take part in the fourth edition of the “Southern European Infrastructure Conference”, organized by Mediobanca in Australia. This year's edition will be virtual. ...
Tipologia Evento: Fairs and conventions -
Web Content Article on-date Oct 21, 2021 9:45 AM
From 26 to 29 October 2021, Ecomondo, the leading event in Europe regarding technological and industrial innovation in environmental services and the green economy (especially waste and resources,...
Tipologia Evento: Fairs and conventions -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 29, 2019 9:39 AM
Hera Group will participate this year at Career Day with a stand to meet the students. The initiative will be held on 10 October 2019 from 9.00 to 17.30 at the UniMORE (Modena Fiera). Marco...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 29, 2019 10:23 AM
Hera Group will participate this year at Career Day with a stand to meet the students. The initiative will be held on 5 June 2019 from 9.00 to 13.00 at the Unife Scientific and Technological Pole...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 29, 2019 10:34 AM
Hera Group will attend IMT to meet students and future candidates. The initiative will be held on 17 May 2019 from 9.00 to 12.30 (Stadio Dallara). For more information: go to the website Career Day...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 29, 2019 11:04 AM
Also this year, Hera Group will participate with its own stand at the Career Day in Bologna, an initiative organized by the University, aimed at the meeting between graduates and companies. The...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 29, 2019 11:11 AM
Hera Group will participate this year at the Recruiting Day to meet students and future candidates. The initiative will be held on 6-7 November 2018 from 9.00 to 17.30 (Plesso Battiferro). For more...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 29, 2019 11:47 AM
Hera Group will participate this year at Career Day with a stand to meet the students. The initiative will be held on 2 October 2018 from 9.00 to 17.30 at the UniMORE (Modena Fiera). For more...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 29, 2018 3:41 PM
Hera Group will participate this year at Career Day with a stand to meet the students. The initiative will be held on Thursday 7 June 2018 from 9.00 to 17.30 at the Unife Scientific and...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 29, 2018 3:38 PM
Also this year, Hera Group has organized two orientation meetings for the world of work this year: one is aimed at the children of the employees, the other one is aimed at the young "neet". During...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 29, 2018 3:34 PM
Hera Group will participate this year at the initiative of the University of Bologna - Department of Computer Science and Engineering for students / new graduates of the courses of studies in...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 29, 2018 3:29 PM
Hera Group will participate this year at the initiative of the University of Milan promoted by the MIP - International Polytechnic Master. The initiative will be held Friday, April 13, 2018 from...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 29, 2018 3:14 PM
Hera Group will take part in the initiative to be held on Friday 23 March 2018 from 9.00 to 17.30 at the University of Ferrara. For more information: go to the website of the University of Ferrara...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 29, 2018 3:10 PM
Hera Group will take part in the initiative to be held on Friday 16 March 2018 from 9.00 to 17.30 at the University of Bologna. For more information: go to the website of the University of Bologna...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 29, 2018 2:48 PM
Also this year, Hera Group will participate with its own stand at the Career Day in Bologna, an initiative organized by the University, aimed at the meeting between graduates and companies. The...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 29, 2018 2:42 PM
Also this year, Hera Group will participate with its own stand at the Recruiting Day in Bologna, an initiative organized by the University, aimed at the meeting between graduates and companies. The...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 29, 2018 2:33 PM
Hera Group will participate this year with its own stand at the Career Day in Modena, an initiative aimed at students of the Faculty of Chemistry-Pharmaceutical Geo-biological Scientific Economic...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Sep 1, 2017 11:55 AM
Herambiente's Decontamination division will, once again this year, play a pivotal role at the Ferrara-based fair - Italy's most specialised event on decontamination of polluted sites and...
Tipologia Evento: Fairs and conventions -
Web Content Article on-date Sep 1, 2017 11:55 AM
Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th September 2017 will see the fifth edition of FARETE take place at the Bologna trade fair centre. This initiative has been organised by Unindustria Bologna to promote...
Tipologia Evento: Fairs and conventions -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 9, 2017 4:15 PM
Also this year, Hera Group will partecipate with its own stand at the Career Day in Ferrara, an initiative organised by the Departments of Engineering, Economics, Mathematics and Computer Science,...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 9, 2017 4:05 PM
This year again, the Hera Group will have its own stand at Career Day organisedby the University of Trieste, an event aimed at creating a meeting point between undergraduates and businesses. The...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 9, 2017 3:44 PM
This year too, Hera Group will have its own stand at Career Day in Bologna, an event aimed at bringing together graduates and businesses. The initiative, organised by the University of Bologna, in...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Oct 28, 2016 4:08 PM
Once again it is time for Ecomondo, the much anticipated meeting that brings together national and international operators in the industry revolving around the world of environmental services and...
Tipologia Evento: Fairs and conventions -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 26, 2016 10:20 AM
From 21 to 23 September 2016, Herambiente's Reclamation division will once again take centre stage with an updated stand at the Ferrara trade fair during the Italian event specialised in the...
Tipologia Evento: Fairs and conventions -
Web Content Article on-date Aug 26, 2016 10:10 AM
On 5 and 6 September 2016, the fifth edition of FARETE will be held at the Bologna trade fair. This initiative is organised by Unindustria Bologna to promote visibility and networking opportunities...
Tipologia Evento: Fairs and conventions -
Web Content Article on-date May 5, 2016 4:11 PM
Again this year, the Hera Group will be attending with its own stand the Open University day, the event which creates networking opportunities for graduates and businesses , organised by the...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date May 5, 2016 4:09 PM
Again this year, the HERA Group will be attending with its own stand the Career Day organised by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE) in collaboration with the Regional Authority...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date May 10, 2016 12:09 PM
MIAC Recovery and Recycling 2016, the international event dedicated to paper for recycling sponsored by COMIECO, will take place from 19 to 20 May in Lucca. Herambiente will be one of the main...
Tipologia Evento: Fairs and conventions -
Web Content Article on-date May 5, 2016 4:06 PM
Again this year, the Hera Group will be attending with its own stand the Ferrara Career Day, an initiative organised by the Departments of Engineering, Economics, Mathematics and Computer Science,...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date May 5, 2016 4:01 PM
The Hera Group will be attending the Career Day organised by the Department of Computer Science, Science and Engineering (DISI) at the University of Bologna, which will be held on Wednesday 10 May...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Apr 6, 2016 9:31 AM
On 20 April, during the training seminar organised by RemTech Expo and Assoporti, Herambiente will report on "The Green Economy Decree and dredging sediment. Operational aspects of refining and...
Tipologia Evento: Fairs and conventions -
Web Content Article on-date Apr 11, 2016 2:28 PM
This year again, the Hera Group will have its own stand at Career Day organisedby the University of Trieste, an event aimed at creating a meeting point between undergraduates and businesses. The...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Mar 4, 2016 11:54 AM
The Renewable Energy Mediterranean Conference and Exhibition has reached its third edition (in Ravenna on 9 and 10 March). REM represents a link between the WTO biennial editions (The Offshore...
Tipologia Evento: Fairs and conventions -
Web Content Article on-date May 26, 2015 12:49 PM
The event will take place from 11:45 to 13:15, at the HerAcademy Learning Center (HerAcademy room), in Viale Carto Berti Pichat 2/4 in Bologna, and will mark the conclusion of the first three-year...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date May 22, 2015 11:10 AM
Genus Bononiae and the Fondazione Cassa di risparmio in Bologna are organising a conference on "Public services in local authority organisation and in the market" at the Biblioteca d'Arte e di...
Tipologia Evento: Fairs and conventions -
Web Content Article on-date Mar 12, 2015 5:22 PM
The Conference will be held at the Polytechnic University of Milan - Piacenza Campus - Room A - via Scalabrini 76 - Piacenza. The fundamental goal of MatER is to provide an in-depth portrayal of...
Tipologia Evento: Fairs and conventions -
Web Content Article on-date Apr 14, 2015 11:10 AM
The conference will take place on Thursday 23 April, at the Hotel Melià, via Masaccio 19, Milan. Tiziano Mazzoni, Hera Group Environmental Services Director, will be attending. Sign up to...
Tipologia Evento: Fairs and conventions -
Web Content Article on-date Feb 17, 2015 10:42 AM
Hera group will have its own stand at the first edition of "MOREjobs - Career Day UNIMORE", an event organised by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and aimed at bringing graduates and...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Feb 17, 2015 11:29 AM
Hera Group will have its own stand at the placement event "Job Day Ingegneria ed Economia @ Unife", organised by the University of Ferrara and aimed at bringing together businesses and students and...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Mar 5, 2015 4:46 PM
The 8-hour course will take place on Monday 9 March 2015 and has been laid on courtesy of the participation of Philips and in conjunction with the national agency for new technologies, energy and...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training -
Web Content Article on-date Feb 17, 2015 11:46 AM
This year too, Hera Group will have its own stand at Career Day in Bologna, an event aimed at bringing together graduates and businesses. The initiative, organised by the University of Bologna, in...
Tipologia Evento: Job and Training
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Hera continues experimentation of the innovative, fast and low-cost contactless system that uses space technology to detect water leaks in the network more quickly and productively
So far, the method used to find leaks in the water mains that run under our streets has been acoustic detection: technicians walk the kilometres of asphalt above the mains and use special devices to locate leakage points.
Now, however, thanks to a system that uses cosmic rays, detection can also be carried out while following the network path in a car, thus proving faster and more profitable.
Cosmic rays: what are they and how can they be used?
Cosmic rays are an innovative method for water leak detection, based on the analysis of neutrons derived from secondary cosmic rays. It follows the same principle used to test whether there is water on Mars, but it can have different applications; for example, it is used in agriculture in the US for targeted irrigation.
In short, this technology exploits non-damaging particles, the neutrons, from space. These continuously impact Earth, generating collisions between secondary beams, the energy of which decreases according to the material that is passed through. In particular, hydrogen in water interacts with neutrons by slowing them down or absorbing them. The amount of water in the ground can therefore be assessed by monitoring neutrons in the air: ground where water is present in a higher percentage will have a greater moderating/absorbing effect on cosmic rays than a drier area.
By analysing the concentration of free cosmic rays, the presence of a water leak can be determined quickly and accurately, saving considerable time compared to traditional methods of investigation. In fact, this system can control a considerably larger network area, because it can travel on any vehicle on which it is mounted.
The search can be carried out by real-time identification, i.e. simply by the passage of the device over the tube and immediate verification of the leakage as soon as the sensor signals a decrease in the number of neutrons, or by deferred search, when the sensor placed on a moving vehicle passes over the area several times and then indicates the wettest spots.
The operator will no longer need to walk the entire water network with the geophone, but can go directly to the points identified on the map.
Experimentation and results
Together with the Department of Nuclear Physics at the University of Padua, we have developed a device that, mounted on a car, allows operators to travel along the network and monitor the concentration of neutrons on the road surface.
The vehicle moves at a speed of 40-50 km/h along the road under which the water network runs and, using cosmic ray analysis, the levels of detected neutrons are shown on a display. When the concentration drops, it is a sign that the neutrons have been retained under the soil by a cluster of water. When this happens, it means that there may be a water leak in that very spot, underground, and technicians can promptly intervene for repairs.
The testing of this technology, which we have been conducting since 2021, has confirmed the scientific soundness of the method: out of several thousand kilometres investigated, the same number of ruptures were found as with the traditional acoustic method, but with the advantage that the cosmic ray method is more productive, since the operator moves around in a car rather than on foot.
With a network of some 30,000 kilometres to check, having this tool allows us to make great strides. In addition, cosmic rays are sensitive to even modest leaks, such as those from pipe joints, which are more difficult to detect accurately.
This technology, which we have implemented thanks to a partnership with the start-up Cosmic and the team at Neptune Srl, is based on an isotope of lithium, lithium-6, which is the element that allows us to detect neutrons. We will continue to use it alongside the classic acoustic method, to locate all possible leaks and increase the level of effectiveness of interventions.
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