The average yearly costs of US pipeline incidents increased to approximately $733M/yr from the period of 2016-20,  an increase over the previous five years. These hazards represent significant costs in terms of personal injury (2,000-4,000 injuries/yr in the US Oil & Gas industry), environmental damage, and monetary losses due to fines, cleanups, and system shutdowns that can approach $1M/day.

There are tremendous financial costs and hazards associated with pressure vessel failures. These risks can include damage to infrastructure, environmental cleanup, and loss of human life. Given these high costs, there is a critical need for the development of tank structural health monitoring methods that can detect excessive physical strains and damage to the vessel in real time. The data must be collected in a live and continuous manner so that the owners of the pressure vessel can be immediately warned of structural health changes to the tank while in-service.

We all know that accepted PV or tank testing methods, including hydrostatic or acoustic testing procedures can find damage or corrosion.  However, to check that damage, the tank has to be taken out of circulation in many cases- which may only happen once in as many as 15 years.  You're left with visual inspection at some points when you can.  Moreover, if it's a composite tank or PV- which are increasingly used due to strength and weight advantages- the damage may not even be noticeable in a visual inspection.  Current methods for damage monitoring of composite structures can also be problematic- especially if water is involved.

MCET Technologies is one of 12 companies selected by the U.S. DOT’s highly competitive Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program awards contracts to domestic small businesses to pursue research on and develop innovative solutions to our nation’s transportation challenges.

When it comes right down to it, almost every one of the 1.5M Achilles Heel, ACL replacement, and ankle sprains every year require some sort of insurance involvement, which inevitably requires documentation- and that insurance documentation has to be specific.  The clinic has to document things such as what patient is lacking, growth potential, and patient progress, which can be very difficult as the patient is only in the clinic for 1-2 hours a week.  Moreover, if the clinic cannot fully document these points, there is a risk that they may not be paid by insurance. At times this can be a real challenge, as there may be a documentation gap between “what is specified by patient” and what is measured in the clinic.  

There are about 345,000 Achilles Heel and over 1M ankle injuries every year.  In many of these injuries, a brace is fitted on the patient with instructions to "self monitor" the weight that they put on that joint- the "toe touch weight bearing."  Patients are often confused about "% of weight" to keep off their ankle, and there is no way for the medical professional to monitor these recommendations and inform the patient if he or she is properly adhering to these instructions. 

MCET technology can do this and both alert the patient and the medical professional if the instructions are being followed properly.

There are at least 345K Achilles heel injuries,  1M+ ankle injuries- of which 85% are sprains, and between 100-200K ACL injuries and/or replacements every year. In each of these recoveries, medical professionals have only a limited window to monitor patient progress based on one visit per week at best. No cost-effective method available to explain difference b/t “actual” movement limitations as specified by patient (outside clinic, or dynamic) and measurements you have taken at the clinic (static).  

Globally, at least 6.2 million miles of pipeline transport gas, oil, and chemicals to 700 refineries and to 24,500 power utility plants. Sixty percent of those pipelines are in the US.  Due to the nature of pipeline transport, failure results in significant consequences. Since 1986, pipeline failures alone have spilled an average of 76,000 barrels per year, or more than 3 million gallons per year. Monetary losses due to fines, cleanups, and system shutdowns can approach $1M/day.

While elaborate systems exist to monitor the entire transport system, the monitoring system overall has systemic issues at the critical components – gaskets, seals, pipelines, and pressure vessels. Physical inspection of these critical components is periodic, labor-intensive, and unreliable. Emerging technologies addressing these issues are typically prohibitively expensive, require human operation, and have a limited inspection window and/or range.