iPEC is a hand-held device for on-demand measurement of diameter and cover thickness of rebars in RCC structures. Equipped with a smartphone application, iPEC enables site engineers and supervisors to rapidly conduct non-destructive testing and inspection of RCC structures. iPEC is ideal for a variety of structural analysis applications: repairs, renovations, inspections and quality control of RCC structures.
iPEC started as a IMPRINT-2A project led by our group, with financial support from Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Government of India and Sanrachana Structural Strengthening Pvt. Ltd. Students and staff at the Wadhwani Electronics Lab (WEL) have significantly contributed to the development of iPEC.
Media highlight
Scanner to monitor the health of buildings, The Hindu Business Line, March 13, 2022
Technical specifications
- Rebar detection depth range: 40mm to 100mm ± 3mm
- Rebar detection diameter range: 12mm to 28mm ± 2mm
- Battery: Rechargeable Lithium ion: 7.4V/2.5Ah
- Battery life for non-stop operation: 3.5 hours
- Data visualization: On-device: rebar diameter and depth; Mobile app: rebar profile, scan history
- Dimensions: 13.5cm (W) x 24cm (H) x 16.5cm (D)
- Weight (with battery): 1.2kg
- Carry case: Hermetic, waterproof and dustproof case (IP55)
- Accessories: Charger, wrist strap, free mobile app
Relevant patent applications and publications
- Siddharth Tallur, Ankur Agarwal P. and Kajal Chandrakant Shivgan, “A non-invasive and handheld detector for characterizing metal objects in concrete and methods thereof,” (May 17 2023) Indian Patent Application No. 202321034534.
- Jinit Patil, Siddharth Tallur, Durgesh Tamhane and Sauvik Banerjee, “Apparatus and method for detecting corrosion of conducting material based on pulsed eddy current,” (April 28 2021) Indian Patent (granted) No. 485364.
- Ankur Agarwal, Kajal Shivgan, Supriya Ingle and Siddharth Tallur, “Live demonstration: a non-invasive and handheld detector for characterizing steel rebars in concrete,” presented at IEEE APSCON 2024, Goa, India.
- Ankur Agarwal, Kajal Shivgan, Supriya Ingle and Siddharth Tallur, “A non-invasive and handheld detector for characterizing steel rebars in concrete,” Proceedings of IEEE APSCON 2024, Goa, India, January 2024.
- Durgesh Tamhane, Jinit Patil, Sauvik Banerjee and Siddharth Tallur, “Feature engineering of time-domain signals based on principal component analysis for rebar corrosion assessment using pulse eddy current,” IEEE Sensors Journal vol. 21, no. 19, pp. 22086-22093 (2021). The Hindu Business Line, ResearchMatters article, IIT Bombay research highlight
Product development team
- Siddharth Tallur: Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay (Principal Investigator)
- Ankur Agarwal: Technical Superintendent (Lead developer)
- Vishnu R: M.Tech. Student (Product engineering)
- Collaborator:
- Prof. Sauvik Banerjee, Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay (Co-PI, Application insights)
- Past contributors:
- Durgesh Tamhane, Jinit Patil, Swaliya Ali, Kajal Shivgan, Supriya Ingle