Measurement Equipments

Leak Detector

Track down the leaks your compressors are paying for, by sound, while your plant keeps running.

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A handheld ultrasonic leak detector with a parabolic concentrator, colour screen and closed headphones

Product overview

Hear every leak, even beside a running compressor

Our ultrasonic leak detector finds leaks in your compressed air and gas systems by the sound they make. Air escaping through a crack, loose thread, worn seal or perforated hose forms a turbulent jet that radiates sound, much of it between 20 kHz and 100 kHz. The detector receives a narrow band around 40 kHz, plays it as a hiss in your headphones and shows its intensity in decibels, so you follow the rising signal straight to the source.

Motors, fans, gearboxes and conveyors make most of their noise below 10 kHz, and the 40 kHz receiver rejects it. A leak you could never hear beside a running compressor stays clear in the headphones, so you survey during production, without shutting down. A parabolic concentrator reaches overhead pipe racks from the floor, and a flexible probe reaches into machine frames and behind panels.

For each leak, the detector estimates the flow in litres per minute from the ultrasonic level, the distance and your system pressure, and converts it into annual energy consumption and cost. Every leak is tagged, photographed and logged, giving you a repair list ranked by cost.

An ultrasonic leak detector with its headphones, beside a close-up of the concentrator's sensor
  • 40 kHzReceiving band, far above plant noise
  • ±4°Reception with a 150 mm parabolic concentrator
  • 74 l/minThrough an ideal 1 mm orifice at 7 bar g
  • 20–30 %Of compressor output wasted by leaks in a typical plant

Benefits

The problems it solves

Leaks are the largest avoidable loss in a compressed air system. Here is why they go unfound, and how the detector changes that.

  • Leaks you cannot hear

    The problem

    In a plant at 80–90 dB(A), the hiss of a small leak is masked completely, and much of its energy lies above the 20 kHz limit of human hearing.

    How it solves it

    The detector listens at 40 kHz, where the leak signal dominates, so you find leaks during production with no shutdown.

  • Energy lost around the clock

    The problem

    At normal system pressure, leak flow does not fall when machines stop, so leaks set a base load your compressors supply for every hour the network stays pressurised.

    How it solves it

    Repairing the leaks you find removes that load, including through nights and weekends, and most repairs are just a fitting, seal, hose or a tightened joint.

  • Small holes, big bills

    The problem

    A real 1 mm hole at 7 bar g passes roughly 45–67 l/min of free air. At 6.5 kW per m³/min, a 60 l/min leak draws about 0.4 kW, around 3,400 kWh a year in a system that stays pressurised.

    How it solves it

    Each leak gets an estimated flow and cost, so your repair list puts the most expensive leaks first.

  • Replacing sound parts

    The problem

    On a crowded valve manifold, guessing which connection is leaking means replacing parts that were never at fault.

    How it solves it

    Directional reception traces the signal to a single fitting, thread or seal, so only the leaking part is replaced.

  • Ladders and permits

    The problem

    Leaks on ceiling headers, pipe racks and crane rails usually mean ladders, access platforms and work-at-height permits.

    How it solves it

    With the parabolic concentrator fitted, you locate overhead leaks from floor level.

  • Creeping setpoints

    The problem

    Leakage lowers pressure at the point of use, so setpoints get raised, and every additional 1 bar raises compressor energy by about 7 %.

    How it solves it

    Fixing leaks restores pressure at your machines, so your compressor setpoint can come back down.

Where it’s used

Wherever your plant runs on air

Any network under pressure can leak through its joints, couplings and seals. The detector finds those leaks wherever air and gas are used.

  • Robots welding a car body on an assembly line

    Automotive and components

    Assembly lines with thousands of pneumatic cylinders, valves and couplings, each a potential leak point.

  • Wine bottles moving along a bottling line

    Food and beverage

    Packaging, filling and conveying lines, and the nitrogen and carbon dioxide lines used for blanketing and carbonation.

  • Yellow tablets spilling from a medicine bottle

    Pharmaceuticals

    Tablet presses, coating lines and cleanroom pneumatics that run around the clock, where leaks near product add contamination risk.

  • A row of yarn winding machines in a textile mill

    Textiles

    Air-jet looms and spinning machines that consume large volumes of air through many small connections.

  • Blue plastic bottle caps in a moulded tray

    Plastics and packaging

    Blow moulding at 30–40 bar g, which raises the flow through every opening.

  • A worker pouring concrete over steel reinforcement

    Cement, glass, steel and mining

    Long distribution networks running through dusty, noisy areas where leaks cannot be heard.

Also chemicals, oil and gas (with intrinsically safe versions for hazardous areas), hospital medical gas pipelines, power generation, vacuum systems, passing steam traps and valves, energy audits under ISO 11011:2013, and gaps in door seals, cabins and cleanroom panels.

How it works

Hear it, trace it, cost it

A leak's jet gives off ultrasound far above the noise of your plant. The detector tunes in to it, turns it into a sound you can hear, and leads you to the source.

How an ultrasonic leak detector works: air escaping from a leaking coupling forms a sonic jet that radiates ultrasound between 20 kHz and 100 kHz. A parabolic concentrator focuses it onto a 40 kHz piezoelectric sensor while plant noise below 10 kHz is rejected. The detector turns the signal into an audible hiss in the headphones, shows its level in decibels to pinpoint the leak, and estimates the leak flow and cost from level, distance and pressure. dB l/min 01 Air lineLeaking coupling 313 m/s · sonic20–100 kHz Motorbelow 10 kHzRejected at 40 kHz Parabolic concentrator 40 kHz sensor Detector Headphoneshiss · 0–2 kHz 8.6 mm wave distance · pressure → l/min 12345 Compressed air in the lineUltrasound from the leakPlant noise, rejectedAudible signal to headphonesSensor, shock cells, leak tag

  1. 1. The leakAbove about 0.9 bar g, air escapes through an opening at the speed of sound, 313 m/s at the throat. The turbulent jet radiates ultrasound across a broad spectrum, much of it between 20 kHz and 100 kHz.

  2. 2. Tune out the plantMachine noise sits mostly below 10 kHz. The parabolic concentrator focuses the ultrasound onto a piezoelectric sensor that resonates near 40 kHz, so only the leak's narrow band gets through.

  3. 3. Hear itThe detector mixes the signal with a 40 kHz oscillator, turning ultrasound between 38 kHz and 42 kHz into sound between 0 and 2 kHz. A leak comes through your headphones as a steady rushing hiss.

  4. 4. PinpointAt 40 kHz the wavelength is just 8.6 mm, so the sound travels in a narrow beam and fades within metres. The level in decibels peaks when the sensor faces the leak, and a second viewing angle confirms it.

  5. 5. Cost itFrom the level, your distance to the leak and the system pressure, the detector estimates the flow in l/min and converts it into energy and cost a year. Each leak is tagged, photographed and logged.

Throat velocity and wavelength quoted for air at 20 °C.

Get the full details

Our brochure covers it in detail, and our questionnaire tells us what we need to recommend the right one for your plant.

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