In America’s biggest cities, hundreds of manholes catch fire or explode every year, with the consequences ranging from serious injury to fatality. Even in the UK, more than 50 incidents a year are reported according to statistics supplied by the UK Health and Safety Executive.

We have been working with UK engineering and design consultancy, Plextek to develop a new IoT-based system to prevent manhole explosions, primarily caused by bad weather, road salting and flooding interacting with aging underground power infrastructures.

“Plextek’s expertise in communication and sensor systems allowed us to accelerate our development and rapidly deploy Sentir into the market,” said Dr Edward Klinger, CEO of CNIguard. “Their work has enabled Sentir to include several different variations of environmental sensor with cellular capability powered by a reliable long-life battery or harvested power from underground cables themselves.”

Following the successful launch with Con Edison in New York, we are looking to work with other energy suppliers in the UK, Europe and worldwide, helping to increase the safety of city street furniture, infrastructures and networks.

To find out more about how Con Edison and it’s over 3.5 million utility customers are benefiting from CNIguard and Plextek’s technical collaboration over Sentir, read more via the media links below.

• Electrical Engineering
• Cambridge Network
• Data Centre Review
• Institution of Mechanical Engineers
• Building & Facilities Management
• RFID Journal