Patent ID: 8665101

Claim:
A system for leak detection of a fluid in a pipeline network, comprising: a plurality of flow meters integrated with vibration sensors deployed at two or more locations in the pipeline network, each said flow meter integrated with said vibration sensor comprising: a wet chamber comprising the flow meter, the flow meter configured to generate a flow signal indicative of the fluid flow through the wet chamber; a dry chamber comprising a piezo membrane as a vibration sensor placed at the bottom of the dry chamber, wherein the piezo membrane is configured to generate a vibration signal, that is calibrated with vibrations in the piezo membrane, caused by the fluid flow; an interface separating the wet chamber from the dry chamber comprising an acoustically coupling material configured to conduct vibrations from the wet chamber, caused by a leak in the pipeline network and introduced by the fluid flow through the wet chamber, to the dry chamber and to the piezo membrane of the dry chamber; wherein the acoustically coupling material is compressible to allow attachment of the dry chamber to the wet chamber; a processor configured to receive and process the signals generated by the flow meter and the piezo membrane; and a transceiver configured to transmit and receive the signals to at least one remote processing unit; and the at least one remote processing unit configured to receive the flow signals and the vibration signals from each of the plurality of flow meters integrated with the vibration sensors, and perform an artifact detection and rejection algorithm for reducing vibration measurement artifacts due to noise generated by water consumption flow rather than leakage to detect and localize leaks in the pipeline network based on said flow signals and said vibration signals during leak detection.