Flow Meters & Metering Systems
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Case Study – SL-RAT Reduces Cleaning Costs and SSOs for Charlotte, N.C.

The Avanti Company sells only Water and Flow Products that meet the highest standards of quality and reliability. That is why we are pleased to offer a dependable metering solution like the SL-RAT, a state-of-the-art tool developed by InfoSense that is consistently found to deliver top-notch performance.

Consider the following case study involving the SL-RAT’s implementation in the City of Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the largest and fastest-growing municipalities in the southeast. With infrastructure spanning over 524 square miles – including more than 229,000 connections and 4,100 miles of sewer pipe – the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities Division (CMUD) has had a difficult time collecting reliable information and addressing any issues that crop up.

Following two years of research and a fruitful five-year partnership with InfoSense, the Sewer-Line Rapid Assessment Tool (SL-RAT) was devised as the ideal solution. With its compact size, lightweight construction, and rapid deployment capabilities, it quickly detected problems that would have lead to greater Sanitary Sewer Flows (SSOs), an issue that bedevils many Utilities across the country.

In fact, the SL-RAT’s sophisticated signal process and acoustics technology analyzed results within a mere three minutes, providing a simple but vital assessment of blockage within the pipe on a scale of zero to ten. This inspection was made even faster by the fact that the SL-RAT required no prerequisite preparation of the pipe other than opening the cover to insert the speaker and microphone components. The versatile tool was able to work in all the different pipe geometries, diameters, and materials that made up the CMUD’s vast network.

Moreover, compared to other tested alternatives – such as the commonly utilized CCTV method – the SL-RAT required no more than a two-person crew without additional support. Up to 10,000-feet of 50+ pipe segments could be inspected in just a single day, with the results of each inspection being immediately available to the field operator (for additional ease, the data could be uploaded into a computer or integrated with GIS systems).

After using two SL-RAT crews for around 10 to 12 days to perform a pre-cleaning assessment – which cost a total of approximately $15,000 – CMUD expected to save over $100,000 through the quick and focused cleaning assessment of this one project.

Such vital evidence-based performance is why the Avanti Company is proud to offer the SL-RAT. To learn more, contact 800-284-5231 or email info@avanticompany.com.

 

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