Coltraco Ultrasonic leak detector for room integrity testing

The Portascanner® is a portable, handheld tool to aid in preparing a room or compartment for integrity testing, as well as providing a rigorous maintenance program. It uses ultrasound – sound with frequencies above the range of human hearing – to identify and locate air leak sites in a room non-destructively and with minimal disruption to normal operation.

Energy Efficiency – Portascanner® can detect and locate unwanted air leaks, integrated alongside existing airtightness testing equipment ensures the success of building ventilation strategies. Energy efficient mechanical ventilation and effective air filtration must start with an airtight building, and controlled airflow within it.

INFECTION CONTROL, COVID19 – Portascanner® allows healthcare and pharmaceutical personnel to locate the leaks in hospital wards, cleanrooms, and sterilisation departments. Monitor leakage in sterilised environments where airtightness must be maintained.

Compartmentation – Portascanner® can locate the air permeability of a room or compartment, thereby ensuring enclosures are sealed effectively as specified in fire safety standards such as NFPA 2001. Also, ensuring that you will pass the Door Fan Test or the PULSE first time, reducing costs.

To ensure that airtightness standards are met, a room integrity test, such as a door fan test, must be carried out. These tests, however, have some limitations:

• They only provide limited information about the room or compartment, providing only the overall leakage rate and offering no information on where these leaks are occurring.
• They are highly disruptive, typically requiring the removal of a door to be replaced with a fan to pressurise the room and the complete evacuation of the room.
• They are typically quite costly, and it is not uncommon for a room or compartment to fail a first test. The Portascanner® can be used to help ensure a first-time pass, therefore eliminating the cost and disruption associated with repeating this test.

Locating the sources of any leakage is often done simply with the naked eye, which is incredibly difficult and time consuming. For small leaks, this can be almost impossible to do with any reasonable accuracy. However, with the aid of the Portascanner®, you can easily locate all major leak sites in your room or compartment in just minutes. The Portascanner® can be an invaluable tool at every stage of a fire suppression system installation:

• Before the installation, allowing you to conduct any repairs you may need prior to the pressurization tests, ensuring that you will pass on the first attempt.
• During the installation, to locate and repair leaks “on the fly” if additional repairs are required.
• After the installation, it is a far more thorough test than basic visual inspection, giving you peace of mind with all of your follow-up maintenance. 

Some of the key advantages of the Portascanner® and ultrasonic leak detection, when compared with other techniques:

World-Class Accuracy

The Portascanner® is the most accurate unit of its type, allowing users to pinpoint leak sites with the aid of both audio feedback and digital readings on the display. It can detect leaks as small as 0.06mm in diameter, which would be virtually invisible to the naked eye. It is the ideal tool to aid in room integrity testing.

Quick & Easy to Use

The Portascanner® is an intuitive, simple system to learn and to operate. Simply place the generator, turned on, on one side of a structure and the operator takes the receiver to the other side and begins to scan. Tests can be conducted quickly, with minimal training, by a single operator with absolutely no need to evacuate the room. This means that, unlike most integrity tests, there is no disruption to the normal operation of the facility or to its occupants.

Non-Destructive and Clean

Ultrasonic air leakage detection is a form of non-destructive testing. This means that there is absolutely no risk of damaging the structure being tested. It is also completely clean, unlike some old leak detection tests such as the smoke pencil test which may leave behind some residue. The Portasonic® is ideal for testing in sensitive environments, such as server rooms, data centres and other high value assets.