How An Electromagnetic Utility Locator Works
As technology has evolved over the years, numerous industries have been given new and innovative ways to perform their jobs. This is especially true in the field of utility locating, which plays an important role in the field of construction and many related areas. Because more and more utilities such as phone or electrical lines are now buried underground, it’s vital to have technology available that can accurately and reliably locate these lines. While many different technologies exist for utility locating, the most popular and most effective is electromagnetic technology.
What is Electromagnetic Technology?
The basics of electromagnetic technology revolve around using equipment that can detect a strong or weak magnetic field around various types of utility systems, which is produced by a radio frequency. To do so, technicians use advanced electronics that consist of a transmitter and receiver. The transmitter, which is used to place a specific signal onto a nearby utility line, works in conjunction with the receiver, which is used by a technician to hunt down the signal from the utility line. In many ways, the process is thought of as a high-tech way of tuning a radio to find a specific station. Once a signal is placed onto a specific utility line, the radio waves emit along the path of the line, enabling a technician using the transmitter to mark its location.
How to Find a Specific Line
Since it’s likely multiple utility lines will be in close proximity to one another, the biggest challenge to a technician using electromagnetic technology is to recognize the signal from a specific line for which they may be searching. To do so, a technician can change the frequency if needed, which will enable them to control the signal so that it picks up only one line, or multiple lines if necessary. In most cases, a process called common bonding comes into play. In this scenario, a common bond is a point where multiple lines come together, such as with a house. Once a signal is located indicating the presence of utility lines, the next step is to keep the signal from bleeding off onto other lines. To keep this from happening, a safety sweep of the area is conducted, which enables workers to connect to a known utility, then look for bleed-off signals that may indicate abandoned utilities, lines that don’t have access points, or other unusual circumstances.
Active Utility Locating
When using active locating, a utility technician will apply a controlled radio frequency to the utility system. Once this is done, the technician can then control such things as the application method, connection point, frequency, and ground location. Considered a very reliable method of utility locating, this procedure is very effective at making positive identifications of specific utility lines.
Benefits of Active Locating
Because this method is considered to be so accurate and reliable, there are a number of additional benefits in relying on active locating. These include having the ability to adjust the frequency used for locating from low, medium, or high, depending on the type of utility to be located. Along with this, the power output of the transmitter can be adjusted, making it much easier for a technician to locate hard-to-find signals. In addition to these important benefits, active locating also allows for greater control over the grounding location of the transmitter, as well as the connection point of the transmitter.
Additional Details
Along with the benefits and specific details regarding electromagnetic locating technology, there are additional details that should not be forgotten. For example, even with this advanced technology, try to always have a printed record of the site’s layout over the years, which can give clues as to where previous utilities may have been located. Along with this, always have a well-defined work area in which to search, since with even the best technology, utility locating is often a process of elimination. By keeping these points in mind, chances are quite good that once the search begins, the combination of electromagnetic technology and common sense will result in success.
