Page 12 - Louisiana 811 Magazine 2019 Issue 1

D ‘L’ h 1 ‘to g
h f th . O d 1:
By Arms Mzwvs seen
an Mfigazlnu
hen it eaines to leak
rleteetnin, Heath
consultant. is a
company that knows
what it's doing one reason this
company has been in business for the
past 25 years is they are constantly on
the lookout tar new and lnnuvauvz
tenhnology to bring to their elients
Paul wehnert, senior vice president
of sales and marketing says, "Each
_ V — V — tenhnology has to be at least as good
— — I as the one that earne belore." so you
‘ — —- ‘ can bet that when Heath began to use
/1-— I » uAv. (unmanned aerial vehicles) or
- ,1 1‘ e_— ;,\ - . ’’dmnes'', they had been thoroughly
_I' F: 2 — ~ ' " tested anrl the numbers had been
_ run.
. About four years age, l-leath
— consultants and physieal seiences,
Inc were awarded a Department
V of Energy grant rneant to develop
‘~{ innnzfihve technology to z2%ce
Q gree onse gas emissions. e
C . obluct was to find new uses for
- existing technology so the eonipanies
.-u—:-—- ,
- set to work to ereate a new way uf
‘ _ .— ” , inspeetnégdpipeline rights-ol-way for
g ' t ea s an aniage.
. ' _ ‘ " combining Heath consultants’
d - , portable leak rleteenan harrlware
‘ _ ’ Q. ‘ - ' with Fhyslcill seiences, lnexs lnstant
‘ Eye tenhnology and mounting theni
- on a deelasstiied military drone
proved to be a winning combination
”W2 were able to nnnianrrize the
tenhnology and put it an a drone to
do inspections via the air along R-0-
ws, iimanl v with natural as."
P > 3
But leaks are not the only thing these
drones are handy for. Accordlng
,, _ -' ' ‘ to Paul, ‘They ran deteet leaks
- -~ ' ~ ' * ~ ’ ‘ on the line. but at the sarne tnne,

with the rarneras, you ean monitor
eon.-rruetion or eneraanhnients

by landowners or conslrucliun
Compames " This feature saves
nianpawer that would otherwise be
required to walk the entire length of
a pipeline

I’rev|uu~'ly, teehnieians equlpped
with gas deteetion deyiees on their
persons would have walkerl the line

10 . Loulsl2muE11 2o19,lssue1