Development and testing of a low-cost ultrasonic leak detector

Abstract

This study focuses on the development of an ultrasonic leak detection system utilizing the Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense Rev2 board. The research aimed to create a compact and cost-effective solution for identifying leaks in high-pressure pipes. We developed algorithms to enable lossless recording (without buffer overflow or dropped samples) and processing of sound data captured by the onboard Micro Electronic Mechanical Systems (MEMS) microphone. Key signal processing techniques, including the implementation of an Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) high-pass filter and Root-Mean-Square (RMS) calculation, are employed to detect ultrasonic frequencies associated with leaks. We tested the system on a pressurized pipe setup, demonstrating its ability to accurately identify leaks via a distinct 26 kHz ultrasonic peak within an effective range of 20 cm.