Leak detection on industrial supply systems for compressed air and industrial gases for the purpose of energy saving and plant safety is by far the most common application of ultrasonic technology. This is because compressed air is one of the most expensive energy sources and is responsible for 10% of industrial energy costs. It is estimated that around 30% of this expensive energy is lost simply due to leaks in compressed air systems. This makes detecting and eliminating leaks worthwhile as part of a plant wide energy management program.

Earlier ultrasonic detectors use piezoceramic probes, which are resonant in a very small frequency range around 40 kHz. Because leaks emit broadband ultrasound, it is possible to find them with a 40kHz detector. However, Sonotec says the 40kHz probes can also pick up a great deal of interfering ultrasonic signals. New broadband sensors with very sensitive ultrasonic microphones and high sampling rates improve and simplify leak detection for the user. In challenging, loud environments, the spectrogram of the display on the Sonaphone immediately informs the user if there is an interfering ultrasound and at what frequency the interference is present. Using the touchscreen, the user can simply move the frequency that they want to hear out of the range of the interfering ultrasound signals, enabling them to accurately detect leaks in these challenging environments. 

After the leak has been detected, the broadband sensors offer another advantage. They enable the leak not only to be found, but also to be automatically analysed. To correctly evaluate the leak, the user enters the system pressure and the type of gas into the device and runs the LeakExpert analysis application. With just the touch of a button, the service engineer initiates the measurement and automatic analysis of the leak, and the loss in volume per minute is displayed to them immediately. Additionally, the device will rank the leak in a class from 1 to 5 (1 = small leak, minor loss [green]; 5 = large leak, very high loss [red]).

The extensive documentation support embedded in the new Sonaphone is another advantage. Upon completion of the measurements, a full report including photos can be generated and exported by the user.