Pergam Group Develops SELMA MPB2

Pergam's new SELMA MPB2 is a compact bumper-mounted laser methane detector that finds leaks down to 0.03 ppm while driving at 50–60 km/h.

SELMA MPB2: Microleak Methane Detection at Road Speed

Pergam Group has developed the SELMA MPB2, a compact vehicle bumper-mounted laser methane detector that finds leaks as small as 0.03 ppm while the car drives at 50–60 km/h. The instrument reads each air sample in 0.04 seconds, so a single operator can survey kilometers of urban gas network in one shift without slowing traffic.

That sensitivity sets the MPB2 apart.
Detecting methane at 0.03 parts per million — three hundredths of one part in a million — lets inspectors catch a leak long before it grows into a hazard. Few detectors reach this level on a moving vehicle, and the MPB2 does it continuously, leak after leak, at survey speed.

How it finds the smallest leaks

The MPB2 uses TDLAS, or tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy. A bumper-mounted intake draws ambient air through a pump that the operator can adjust up to 700 liters per minute, filters it, and delivers it to a sealed optical cell in about one second. That high, adjustable flow matters at speed: the faster the car moves, the faster a leak's plume dilutes, so pulling in more air per second keeps a faint trace detectable. Inside a 300 mm multi-pass cell, a 1.65 μm laser beam reflects 88 times between two mirrors, building an effective light path of 26.4 meters. Methane absorbs light at this exact wavelength, so the amount of light the gas absorbs reveals its concentration directly.

This approach gives the MPB2 two advantages that matter on a city street. First, the laser locks to methane's own absorption line, so exhaust fumes and the hydrocarbon haze of dense traffic do not trigger false readings. Second, a built-in reference cell holds the calibration, so the instrument needs no field recalibration and shows no drift over time.

Built for daily inspection work

Designed with Gas Distribution Companies

Pergam Group designed the MPB2 with gas distribution companies and tested it under everyday conditions, not just in the lab. The result is a tool that fits routine network maintenance. The driver simply follows the inspection route; the system handles sampling, analysis, alarms, and logging. Visual and audible alarms fire the moment methane appears, and onboard GPS pins each detection to within half a meter. Internal memory stores the route, and the integrated software produces a complete report — full traceability for every survey.

Compact and Lightweight

The unit is small and light — 560 × 190 × 190 mm and 25 kg — so it bolts to the bumper of almost any vehicle without filling the trunk or adding a roof mast. It runs on 12 V DC, starts up in five minutes, operates from -10 °C to +50 °C, and the laser carries a guaranteed life of 10,000 hours.

Extremely Fast

Speed is where the MPB2 stands out. It already surveys reliably at 50–60 km/h, and Pergam Group will soon test it on Italian and Swiss roads at up to 100 km/h. The engineering team expects the detector to keep catching leaks even at that speed, thanks to the fast 0.04 s response and the high-flow pump — though that figure awaits confirmation in the field.

For wider coverage, the MPB2 works alongside Pergam's roof-mounted remote detectors. The bumper unit scans the road directly ahead; add the SELMA Dome or SELMA Mini laser detectors on the roof, and the same vehicle covers the full width of the street — pavements and verges included — in a single pass.

How the MPB2 compares

Two systems dominate vehicle-based methane surveys: Picarro and Esders. Each takes a different path. Picarro uses cavity ring-down spectroscopy and reaches an extremely low noise floor — but only by averaging readings over minutes at a tiny sample flow, and the analyzer rides in the trunk under a roof mast. Esders uses the same laser technology as the MPB2; its own published research found 15–30 km/h to be the suitable working speed.

The MPB2 is built for the moving vehicle. Its 0.04 s response is far quicker than rivals read in real time, its adjustable pump moves far more air, and it surveys at 50–60 km/h — roughly twice the speed Esders recommends. Among bumper-mounted laser detectors of its class, none combines this sensitivity, this response, and this survey speed. Picarro can resolve a lower concentration in still air given time; the MPB2 is designed to find the leak first, at road speed.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas; it traps far more heat than carbon dioxide. A small underground leak left unfound can grow, threaten public safety, and add steadily to emissions. Regular drive-by surveys catch these leaks early, when repair is cheap and the risk is low. The MPB2 turns that survey into a fast, automated, repeatable routine — which is exactly what modern, cost-conscious network operators need.

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Pergam Group Develops SELMA MPB2

SELMA MPB2: Microleak Methane Detection at Road Speed

How it finds the smallest leaks

Built for daily inspection work

Designed with Gas Distribution Companies

Compact and Lightweight

Extremely Fast

How the MPB2 compares