Vibration-Sensing tech Can prevent accidents and save money
Whileseismicand vibration technologies aren’t new, sophisticated advances in the field are helping to better monitor, analyze, and predict the velocity, acceleration, and displacement of vibrations on a variety of structures.
Traditionally, vibration technology has focused on measuring high-frequency seismic activity, and has been unable to successfully measure low- frequency vibrations that occur with earthquakes or the movement of large infrastructures like bridges, buildings, and pipelines. The existing technology is also extremely costly and complex, and can’t produce the high-quality data required to accurately measure seismic activity.
Remote monitoring as a proactive safety measure
Alberta- based Symroc recognized the gap in the market for high- quality, cost- effective data in the low-frequency range — the company’s innovative technology design saves 80 percent of integrated system costs compared to existing methods. Vibration technology is also incredibly important for artificial intelligence development, as it uses sensor data to teach machines to detect and classify events happening in real time.
Initially, Symroc focused its vibration technology on monitoring earthquakes generated by oilandgas activity in BC. The company has since expanded to serving various industries, including rail transport.
“Over the past few decades, both the volume of freights and the speed of trains has increased, taking a toll on 100- year- old bridges across Canada,” says Torr Haglund, Vice President of Business Development at Symroc .“Replacing this infrastructure is extremely costly and difficult.” Symroc’s solution is to install sensors to view, monitor, and analyze stress levels, in order to repair only certain parts of the bridge rather than the entire structure.
Symroc’s technology is also used on pipelines, where sensors monitor all parts and pieces within an oil and gas facility. If there’s unusual activity, the facility can schedule a maintenance shutdown, rather than waiting for an accident to occur.
“We’re fundamentally solving the main challenge of the industry, which is gathering low- cost, high- quality data,” says Wilson Howe, President and CEO of Symroc.