Research Projects

Leak detection in various industrial systems including pipelines, chemical plants, reactors, HVAC systems, and storage tanks is vital to ensuring operational safety, environmental protection, and economic efficiency. Conventional leak detection methods often rely on pressure sensors, manual inspections, or acoustic detection, which are limited by sensitivity, delay in response, and integration complexity. Capacitive sensors are well known for their linear response, low power consumption, high sensitivity, miniaturization and the possibility of non-contact measurement. Therefore, this project proposes the development of a non-contact capacitive sensor for real-time leakage detection by monitoring humidity levels or changes in the surrounding dielectric constant. The rationale of this research lies in addressing the growing threats to critical infrastructures, such as nuclear reactors and chemical storage facilities amid the present global instability. Leaks in such systems not only cause economic losses but also loss of humanity and drastically affect the natural ecosystem. In nuclear power plants, especially in pressurised and boiling water reactors, steam and water leaks compromise structural integrity and must be monitored closely. These leaks alter local humidity and dielectric properties, affecting the capacitance of nearby sensors. Therefore, capacitive sensors with high sensitivity to such changes enable detection of even trace-level leaks for early and reliable warning. To achieve this, the scientific objectives need to fulfil are i) Design and fabricate a non-contact capacitive sensor sensitive to humidity/dielectric changes during gas/fluid leak ii) Develop a signal conditioning circuit with IoT for remote monitoring iii) Calibrate the sensor response and validate humidity/dielectric calibration models under controlled lab leaks iv) Demonstrate real-time leak detection in industrial-relevant scenarios and v) Evaluate performance metrics: sensitivity, selectivity, response time, stability, and environmental robustness. The hypothesis is to build a physical model that will relate i) Capacitance (C) to ambient dielectric constant (Ɛ) and humidity during leak, and ii) Real-time leak detection through IoT. To accomplish this hypothesis the main experiments need to perform are i) FEM modelling and optimization of electrode design ii) Simulation of sensor response under controlled humidity and dielectric variations iii) Fabrication using suitable techniques iv) Circuit integration with IoT-enabled wireless communication v) Calibration and environmental testing in humidity/dielectric chambers and vi) Validation through gas/liquid leak simulations in test setups. The significance of this research is to provide i) Deeper scientific insight into leak detection through capacitive sensing ii) A scalable, low-power solution for real-time online monitoring and iii) Possible application in nuclear, chemical, HVAC, and smart infrastructure systems.