China places high importance on gas safety, making 24-hour uninterrupted gas safety control essential. Since 1995, Chongqing Qiaosong Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Qiaosong Company") has consistently engaged in close industry-academia-research cooperation with universities, adopting AI gas safety control technology to achieve uninterrupted monitoring of safety hazards. Over the past decade, it has helped more than 4 million users of Qiaosong intelligent gas meters achieve zero safety accidents.

AI Empowerment Creates a Safety Technology System

Gas explosions require two necessary conditions: first, gas concentration in air within the 5%–15% range, known as the explosion limit; second, an ignition source. When both conditions are met, destructive deflagration or explosion occurs, with 1 cubic meter of pipeline natural gas equivalent to the explosive power of 8–9kg of TNT.

How do these explosion conditions form in ordinary gas accidents? First, gas leakage is a diffusion physical phenomenon, spreading spherically from the leak point, with 100% concentration at the leak and 0% at the diffusion edge, inevitably creating 5%–15% explosive limit air-gas mixtures during diffusion. When this mixture diffuses to operating electrical equipment like refrigerators, lights, or appliance switches, explosion occurs. Ignition sources are not only electrical equipment but also static sparks from friction (e.g., shaking clothes, sliding doors/windows), heating of batteries or gas sensors exceeding natural gas ignition temperature, or radio waves from devices like mobile phones generating sparks when obstructed.

Previously, although periodic inspections and maintenance were conducted, along with large-scale checks after accidents, such gas safety remediation was periodic, reflecting only the state of pipelines, facilities, and appliances at inspection time. Conventional technical prevention means, based on "smelling" gas concentration alarms, are unclear on leak locations; if placement or quantity is insufficient, leaks go undetected, and in heavily polluted environments, oil contamination can cause failure. On the other hand, issues like rats biting pipes, unattended fires, third-party construction damaging networks, pipeline aging/corrosion with inadequate maintenance can all cause gas leaks. Without uninterrupted monitoring, these leaks may lead to accidents.

Over the past decade, Qiaosong AI gas safety control technology has provided active gas shutoff protection for private gas enterprise users in Sichuan-Chongqing region and Tianjin areas, ensuring user safety.

Uninterrupted Control Achieves Real-Time Perception

On November 27, 2024, the Chongqing Digital Urban Operation and Governance Center platform issued an alert: a Level 1 leak in a gas pipeline renovation project near a village committee in the city. Through Qiaosong Company's outdoor AI, active reporting, message pushing, and controllable shutoff were achieved, preventing an accident. This is one application scenario of Qiaosong's AI uninterrupted control.

Qiaosong Company's AI uninterrupted control plays an important role both indoors and outdoors. Outdoors, installed at any position—whether large or small pipelines, far or near, visible or invisible—it clearly knows where and when leaks occur. Indoors, whether unattended fires or fainting during cooking, regardless of heavy oil pollution environments, it can perceive gas leaks in real time.

Qiaosong AI intelligent gas meters achieve uninterrupted control thanks to incorporating new materials, new processes, and unique perception technology and algorithms. It is the first in China for perceiving dangerous gas usage behavior and actively shutting off gas, mainly monitoring large and small leaks, achieving real-time monitoring through AI gas safety control technology, perceiving leaks, and judging unsafe gas usage behavior. This achievement was awarded as one of Chongqing's Top 10 IoT Technologies and one of the Top 10 Achievements in Deep Integration of Artificial Intelligence and the Real Economy in Chongqing, with indoor leak perception never failing.

Uninterrupted monitoring is achieved through applying Qiaosong outdoor AI pipeline network terminals. The outdoor AI pipeline network terminal is a series of product achievements formed by transplanting Qiaosong's indoor AI intelligent gas meter AI gas safety control technology to outdoor pipeline node equipment. It includes AI pipeline pressure monitors, AI manhole monitors, and AI gas regulator monitors—equivalent to each node having a Qiaosong AI intelligent gas meter, clearly knowing outdoor leaks where and when. For an enterprise in Northeast China with long, complex pipeline networks and harsh winter low temperatures, after professional technical team evaluation, Qiaosong's AI solution was smoothly implemented. The project is now operating normally.

Intrinsic Safety Helps Achieve "Zero" Accidents

Qiaosong Company's AI gas safety control technology is mainly used for uninterrupted control of indoor and outdoor urban gas pipeline network safety, where intrinsic safety is crucial.

In understanding intrinsic safety, some private gas enterprises have taken detours. Previously, they believed improving facility and material quality was intrinsic safety, but this is only the basic physical requirement for safety; adding safety devices like gas concentration alarms and self-closing valves achieved intrinsic safety, but the principle of intrinsic safety is no additional safety devices; collecting physical parameters like pipeline pressure and flow in real time via network to servers was intrinsic safety, but collecting physical parameters is only the first step, not achieving automatic leak identification or sealing defect detection. Now, everyone gradually recognizes that intrinsic safety is a guaranteed safety system where misoperations do not cause accidents or automatically interrupt misoperations; when equipment or processes fail, it can temporarily operate normally or automatically shift to a safe state.

Qiaosong AI gas safety control technology truly achieves intrinsic safety. Through AI online quality detection technology, Qiaosong Company avoids quality defects from human factors; online automatic repair avoids lifespan shortening from component failure; multi-monitoring technology ensures safety monitoring coexists with gas use until decommissioning. These fault-tolerant technologies enable an 8-year free warranty; once safety hazards trigger the safety disposal process, closed-loop control ensures hazard elimination until resolved.

In operation, Qiaosong AI products use unique AI gas safety technology throughout the gas supply process from supply stations, networks, regulators to end users, with complete supporting terminal facilities and network terminal application software; template components and process components adapt to different enterprise natures and management styles; distributed and centralized architectures are highly unified; roles for employees, users, and third parties are clearly divided; event-triggered mechanisms intelligently issue work tasks with automatic closed-loop work links; compatible with third-party gas equipment access, third-party gas metering instruments, and conventional office equipment; data asset and control rights fully controlled by the enterprise. Simple operation with one key and one light facilitates user operation and safety status understanding, with complex controls automatically handled by the intelligent management platform, avoiding unsafe factors from misoperations. Qiaosong AI products do not affect safe use even in extreme, harsh environments. For Qiaosong AI products used by Chengdu Qionglai Gas in Sichuan, they were submerged in water for a week after heavy rain without interrupting control.

Since Qiaosong AI achieves intrinsic safety and sustainable uninterrupted control, it helps gas enterprises achieve "zero" accident goals, with no enterprise incurring losses to date.

Protecting User Peace of Mind Above All

Over the past decade, Qiaosong AI gas meters have adhered to a user-oriented approach, committed to "protecting homes with peace of mind above all."

Previously, measures like self-closing valves, alarms, and cutoff valves relied on "smelling," often failing to detect leaks in heavy oil/smoke polluted environments. During moxibustion or cooking without opening windows—even without leaks—alarms might falsely trigger; self-closing valves might misclose during peak usage due to unstable pressure. Facts prove that controlling gas leaks with concentration alarms and self-closing valves is not precise.

Later, government departments promoted consensus between service enterprises and citizens on "those who benefit pay," returning autonomy to users. By clarifying that courtyard and indoor pipelines are user rights, gas enterprises mainly hold operating rights, and government departments represent users in supervision, user autonomy was achieved. User right to know was further enhanced. Previously, costs like free meter replacements lacked transparency; later, government documents clarified that installation, maintenance, and update costs for safety devices are included in gas enterprise distribution costs, breaking the dilemma of low-price bidding hindering new high-quality product applications, successfully promoting Qiaosong AI gas meter adoption.

Through promoting Qiaosong AI gas meter applications, users achieve lasting peace of mind: leaks are resolved immediately upon detection, stopping losses promptly; no need for self-closing valves, alarms, or cutoff valves—undisturbed, cost-sharing minimized; one meter handles both metering and safety—simple, cost-saving, worry-free; no installation, management, or maintenance costs within 8 years, no subsequent fees within 10-year meter life, completely worry-free.

Relevant officials from Qiaosong Company stated that user peace of mind is paramount. The company will continue efforts to ensure more users' gas safety with Qiaosong AI gas meters.