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InfoSense – One of Top 50 Fastest Growing Companies in Charlotte Three Years in a Row

InfoSense Team on October 18, 2017

The Charlotte Business Journal unveiled that InfoSense, Inc. is a 2017 Fast 50 Awards winner, making InfoSense a three-time recipient of this honor given to the 50 fastest-growing private companies in the Charlotte region.

The Fast 50 winners were selected and ranked by average revenue growth over a three year period (2014 to 2016). To qualify, companies had to have at least $1 million in revenue in 2016 and be based in the Charlotte area. The numbers were analyzed and verified by CliftonLarsonAllen, a Fast 50 title sponsor.  Read More …

CityWorks Integration with SL-RAT in Augusta, GA

InfoSense Team on July 31, 2017

The Spring Edition of CityWorks’ InPrint publication highlights Augusta GA’s ability to streamline work processes through pairing two technologies. By integrating SL-RAT acoustic data with CityWorks software, they have established an automated system that allows for easy understanding and transparency of workflow. Creating such a process has allowed for improved response time to potential causes of SSOs.

“The response time was the biggest benefit for us. We had SL-RAT crews out in the field, and when they found blockages, they routed their inspection work order directly to their cleaning crews.”

– Jerry Philpot, IT & Technical Support Manager for Augusta, GA

Read Full InPrint Article

SL-RAT Acoustic Inspection Standard Released by ASTM

InfoSense Team on June 29, 2017

The American Society for Testing Materials or ASTM has recently released a new standard based on InfoSense’s Sewer Line Rapid Assessment Tool or SL-RAT® technology for inspecting gravity sewers.  The ASTM standard F3220-17, titled “Standard Practice for Prioritizing Sewer Pipe Cleaning Operations by Using Transmissive Acoustic Inspection”, provides a new basis for municipal collection system operators, consulting engineers, and their associated contractors to work from when developing specifications for sewer cleaning and maintenance programs.

From the Significance & Uses Section of the ASTM standard F3220-17 – “Standard Practice for Prioritizing Sewer Pipe Cleaning Operations by Using Transmissive Acoustic Inspection” (Reproduced from the Public Information located at https://www.astm.org/Standards/F3220.htm)

4.1 Significance: 

4.1.1 Collection system maintenance requires allocating cleaning resources to the right place prior to system failure (sanitary sewer overflows, mainline blockages, and building backups). Transmissive acoustic inspection provides a tool to assist in allocating cleaning resources by prioritizing pipe segments based on their blockage assessment and thereby facilitating efficient cleaning resource allocation.

4.1.2 This standard practice provides minimum requirements and suggested practices regarding the transmissive acoustic inspection of gravity-fed sewer line blockage assessment to meet the needs of maintenance personnel, engineers, contractors, authorities, regulatory agencies, and financing institutions.

More information on the standard can be found in the link below:

https://www.astm.org/Standards/F3220.htm

About InfoSense

InfoSense manufactures the SL-RAT® in Charlotte, NC.  The SL-RAT has inspected over 75 million feet of municipal sewer pipe with over 180 utilities around the world – reducing sewer overflows and saving customers millions of dollars in avoided cleaning costs.

If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Alex Churchill at 877-747-3245 ext. 3 or email at achurchill@infosense.com.

Gwinnett Officials Using Singing ‘RATs’ to Fight Sewage Clogs

InfoSense Team on May 31, 2017

From the Gwinnett Daily Post March 5, 2017

Gwinnett County water department officials have a simple reassuring message for residents: There are no rats in the sewer system as far as they know.

At least not the kind that scurry around on four legs and are likely to make people scream.

They do have a new piece of technology designed to help them fight clogs in the sewer system that has the dubious distinction of sharing a name with the rodent, however. It’s called the Sewer Line Rapid Assessment Tool, or SL-RAT for short … READ MORE

See the Video produced by the Gwinnett Daily Post:

New Castle Uses SL-RAT to Stretch Resources & Reduce SSOs (MSW)

InfoSense Team on December 14, 2016

New Castle County, Delaware launched an SL-RAT program and is working with regulators like the EPA to validate acoustic technology. They are now capable of using the SL-RAT to meet their 500-mile mandated annual inspection requirements. Since the SL-RAT is much faster and affordable than cleaning or CCTVing a pipe segment, acoustic inspection can help stretch resources and focus cleaning efforts.

We’ve overcome a big hurdle with the EPA and our state regulator. They now view the SL-RAT analysis as contributing to our 500-miles-per-year cleaning requirement. We’ve proven to them that the pipe is free-flowing.

-Robert Roff, Operations Services Manager

Read Full MS&W Article

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Using SL-RAT to Reduce SSOs

InfoSense Team on February 17, 2016

Lindsey Donbavand, CDM Smith and Dan Murphy, CDM Smith provide an approach and their results from a study illustrating the benefit of using acoustic inspection based https://www.buypropeciaonline.org on the SL-RAT technology for prioritizing wastewater cleaning operations in West Haven, CT. Their full presentation can be viewed at https://www.newea.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/DMurphy_NEWEA_AC16_Session30.pdf. They presented their work at the NEWEA 2016 Annual Conference & Exhibit in Boston this past January.

Article: Santa Barbara Incorporates Acoustics to Prioritize Sewer Maintenance

InfoSense Team on January 25, 2016

Santa Barbara’s collection system relies on a cleaning cycle ranging from one month to 60 months. While they have been successful at reducing SSOs through increased cleaning efforts, they looked to further enhance efforts. Santa Barbara discovered that the majority of SSO events occurred from 6-in pipes on a 60-month cleaning cycle. Based on cost, speed and simplicity, they chose the SL-RAT to acoustically screen these lines to get a quick understanding of pipe conditions and deploy resources appropriately.

“We wanted to clean or inspect more. Prior CCTV work has helped us find structural defects and generate a rehabilitation backlog. The SL-RAT allows us to inspect much more pipe now and find blockage conditions before they create an SSO.”

– Chris Toth Santa Barbara Wastewater Manager.

To view Trenchless Technology article, click here.

Paper: Implementation of Acoustic Inspection Technology at the City of Augusta, GA

InfoSense Team on May 15, 2015

Implementation of Acoustic Inspection Technology at the City of Augusta, GA was written in conjunction with a presentation given at the NASTT 2015 as a collaboration between InfoSense, Inc. and Augusta Utilities Department.

To download full paper, click here.

Abstract

The City of Augusta, GA manages 1,040 miles of gravity sanitary sewer mains over an area of 280 square miles. In February 2013, they began using the Sewer Line Rapid Assessment Tool (SL-RAT) to help prioritize cleaning operations. They have since added several devices and have worked toward incorporating the technology into their asset management program.

Currently, the SL-RAT is used by 2 person crews to perform acoustic inspections. The average rate of inspection is approximately 7,500 linear feet per day per crew. Inspection areas are planned out based on tax maps, and then the information obtained from the inspection is used to prioritize cleaning operations. Over 12,000 segments (3 million feet) have been inspected since the program started. Results from these acoustic inspections indicate that even a conservative cleaning policy guided by acoustic inspection would result in a substantial reduction in the amount of cleaning that needs to be performed. Based on these results, cleaning for the segments considered can be reduced anywhere from 60% to 85%.

Use of this device as a preliminary screening tool has resulted in substantial cost savings, while simultaneously reducing the amount of sanitary sewer overflows (SSO’s). Financial impact of using the technology, along with an evaluation of SSO reduction will be discussed. In summary, use of this technology has shown that acoustic inspections can be performed quickly and cheaply, and are an effective tool for asset management.

Thanks for attending the 2014 SESTT Trenchless Technology Seminar

InfoSense Team on April 2, 2014

Thanks for attending the 2014 SESTT Trenchless Technology Seminar!

We presented “Using Acoustic Inspection to Prioritize Sewer Cleaning” presented on March 26, 2014.

InfoSense’s Sewer Line Rapid Assessment Tool (SL-RAT) is a patented acoustic inspection device used to make blockage assessments of sanitary sewer lines in 3 minutes or less. Our technology was developed in North Carolina with UNC-Charlotte and Charlotte Mecklenburg Utilities, and has been used to inspect millions of feet of pipe. This revolutionary device was awarded the 2012 WEF Innovative Technology Award for its impact on the industry. One of our more recent customers is August, GA.