The Problem
Degraded power lines are a major cause of exploding manholes and stray voltage. In New York City alone hundreds of manholes explode each year. In addition, stray voltage electrifies manhole covers and other street furniture – traffic signals, bus shelters, mail boxes – that can cause injury and death.
Other problems include sewer overflow, discharge or unexpected release. Security related issues include theft, tampering and terrorism linked to manhole and other subsurface structures.
The Solution
Sentir, our Manhole Monitoring System mitigates the risks from stray/contact voltage and exploding covers as well as securing manholes, boxes, chambers, vaults, cabinets, kiosks and bunkers from intrusion, theft and vandalism. In addition to security, the built-in SensorCore® platform can enable flood warning and other safety, environmental and quality monitoring.
Sentir utilizes a range of commercially available, off-the-shelf sensors to detect and prevent manhole related incidents. Signals are transmitted securely from the embedded device to a dashboard on a phone, laptop or other platform. Over-the-Air updates ensure the firmware is current as well as enabling customization of the devices. False alarms are minimized by incorporating multiple sensors and technology-based sequential verification that removes or reduces human operator fallibility in interpreting a potential alarm.