Netshield South Africa is pleased to announce the immediate availability of a new range of fuel and acid spillage rope sensors to its expanding range of IoT monitoring devices. The sensors enable users to better monitor anomalous activity around sensitive equipment in the field pertaining to, in particular, detecting leakage and spillage from fuel tanks and batteries.
Similar to the common rope sensors used to monitor the presence of water in hard to reach or remote onsite locations, the fuel and acid sensors come in a standard 1 metre length but can be cut to ordered lengths, enabling customers to deploy a fit for purpose sensor in their environment.
“Critically these sensors are able to connect to any of the Netshield Intelligent IoT enabled gateways that are able to transfer data that is related to the monitoring of the environment, in particular alerts pertaining to changes in the setting, and then provide this information back to your centralised management and event storage database systems. One such IoT enabled gateway includes the Netshield Wi-Fi IoT Multi Sensor and IO module that supports its own built in Wi-Fi and battery backup, allowing you to string multiple sensors onto the device,” states Inus Dreckmeyr, CEO at Netshield South Africa.
The sensors are designed to detect specific liquids anywhere along the length of the “rope”. When detected, the sensor will trigger an alert on the gateway to which it is connected and the event notification system will then send an alert, by either / or: IoT packet, SNMP, SMS, email or via the cloud, to indicate a triggered event. In the case of the fuel sensor, because of its design, once the event has been cleared and the sensor cleaned, it will reset for future use. As with the acid sensor, reuse will depend on the severity of the leak and whether the sensor has been compromised.
According to Dreckmeyr an example of installation for its fuel sensors is to have them installed below fuel tanks or in the proximity of backup generators where they can be fitted near, or next to, piping where they can detect fuel leaks. As for the acid sensor, customers are increasingly implementing them near large battery installations where they can sense and pick up any battery leaks. They can also be used in power monitoring environments where there are multiple battery backups or UPSs and where a battery acid leak can cause harm to sensitive equipment.
In the case of the fuel sensor, the sensor has been designed to detect the presence of petrochemicals and liquid hydrocarbon fuels, whereas the acid sensor is designed to detect changes in PH in the environment in which it is installed. Because of its rope like nature, it can detect an event along its full length.
“Critically these sensors can connect remotely to the Netshield gateways through our Netshield developed SensorPOD remote extension module as part of the Netshield IoT sensor range. Once connected to your system via any Netshield or any other solution the device can be deployed in the field, the sensor will relay information back to your physical devices, such as smart phones, tablets and Web browsers anywhere in the world with Internet access – allowing you to act quickly to fuel or acid spillages or seepage,” adds Dreckmeyr.
Furthermore, Netshield has completed the integration of the Honeywell range of seismic and vibration sensors to complement its ever-expanding range of end-to-end IoT based solutions. These sensors are able to pick up seismic activity and vibrations and are increasingly popular in security environments where they are used to detect attempted forced entry, a leading alarm and vandalism on ATM’s and security fencing as an example.
