Valve Sense
Valve Sense is a mobile acoustic emission inspection system from Austrian vendor Senseven. It detects and quantifies internal leaks in industrial valves in roughly two minutes, on site, using AI analysis on a hardened smartphone and automated reporting.
What is Valve Sense?
Valve Sense is a mobile inspection system for industrial valves, built by Senseven GmbH in Vienna. It answers a narrow but expensive question: is a closed valve leaking internally, and by how much? The usual ways of finding out mean shutting down the process, dismantling the valve, or bringing in a certified non-destructive testing specialist.
The method is acoustic emission testing. When pressurised media escape past a closed valve seat, they generate high-frequency stress waves in the valve body. A sensor placed on the outside of the valve picks up those signals while the plant keeps running. Senseven's AI model interprets the signal on the spot, reporting whether the valve is tight or leaking and estimating the leak rate in real time, with no manual interpretation required.
Valve Sense is not software you download. It ships as a complete kit in a rugged transport case: acoustic emission sensors, measuring electronics, a waveguide for hot and cold surfaces, and an i.safe MOBILE smartphone running the Senseven app. Two configurations exist, the IS540.1 for ATEX Ex Zone 1/21 and IECEx hazardous areas and the IS540.RG for standard industrial environments. Operators cannot substitute their own phone.
A guided inspection takes roughly two minutes. The operator identifies the valve by NFC tag or ID, follows the prompted measurement points, reads the verdict on screen, and the record syncs to the Senseven Backoffice, a browser-based platform for filtering inspections, tracking a valve fleet and producing ISO-compliant PDF reports in one click. Synchronisation is deferred, so no network connection is needed in the field. An Expert Suite exposes raw signal data, live amplitude and RMS readings and trends over time for advanced diagnostics.
The system covers gate, globe, ball, butterfly, control, safety relief and check valves in all sizes, using several measurement points above DN 100. Senseven states its own limits plainly: grey cast iron and glass valves dampen the signal, the valve must be fully closed with at least 1 bar of differential pressure, and very small leaks in very large valves are harder to catch. A second application inspects steam traps.
What it does
- Detect internal leaks in closed industrial valves without stopping production
- Quantify the leak rate on site through an AI estimate shown within seconds
- Inspect valves inside ATEX Ex Zone 1/21 and IECEx hazardous areas
- Generate ISO-compliant PDF inspection reports in one click
- Prioritise maintenance across a valve fleet from real leak data
- Inspect steam traps for malfunctions before they waste energy
- Track and filter every past inspection from any browser
When to use Valve Sense / When not to
A quick filter to help you decide if Valve Sense is the right fit.
When to use Valve Sense
- Maintenance and reliability teams in process plants that run hundreds or thousands of valves and need to prioritise repairs on real leak data
- Oil, gas, petrochemical and chemical operators inspecting valves inside ATEX Ex Zone 1/21 areas where conventional equipment is not admitted
- Power generation, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, pulp and paper and steel plants chasing steam and product losses
- HSE and process safety engineers who need documented evidence that shut-off valves actually hold
- Sustainability and emissions teams targeting methane leakage and energy waste from passing valves
When not to use Valve Sense
- Individuals and consumers: the terms cover business-to-business supply to business customers only
- Anyone hoping to use the software on their own phone or without the hardware, which the terms describe as outside intended use
- Teams needing to inspect valves that are open or carry less than 1 bar of differential pressure, or that are made of grey cast iron or glass
- Buyers who need a published price or a self-service sign-up before talking to sales
- Anyone looking for external leak detection, general asset monitoring or a broad predictive maintenance suite
How to use Valve Sense
A typical end-to-end flow, from setup to results.
- Request the live demo or a quotation through the contact form, or go through a Senseven sales partner
- Agree an offer and buy or rent the kit; the software is licensed separately under an end-user licence agreement
- Receive the transport case with sensors, measuring electronics, waveguide and the i.safe MOBILE smartphone
- Complete the short online product introduction and the operator certification test, around an hour
- On site, confirm the valve is fully closed and carries at least 1 bar of differential pressure
- Remove insulation or arrange direct access to the valve body or pipe
- Identify the valve by scanning its NFC tag or entering the valve ID in the app
- Select the medium and enter the valve size, then follow the guided measurement points
- Read the verdict and the estimated leak rate on the smartphone screen within seconds
- Let the record sync to the Senseven Backoffice and generate the PDF report from any browser
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Around two minutes per valve, with the result on site in seconds and no production shutdown or dismantling
- Quantifies the leak rate rather than only flagging a leak
- Usable in ATEX Ex Zone 1/21 thanks to intrinsically safe hardware
- About an hour of online training, with no separate NDT certification required
- Inspections are documented automatically and reports are audit-ready
- ISO 9001:2015 certificate issued to Senseven GmbH itself, with a registration number and expiry date
- European vendor, platform hosted on AWS in Frankfurt, subprocessors named individually
Cons
- No public pricing at all: no pricing page, no figure in the terms, quotation only
- The hardware is mandatory and imposed; operators cannot use their own smartphone
- Hardware is manufactured by a third party, i.safe MOBILE GmbH, and Senseven gives no warranty of its own beyond the statutory and manufacturer terms
- Contracts carry a minimum term, renew automatically each year and need three months' notice
- Physical limits acknowledged by the vendor: grey cast iron, glass, and small leaks in very large valves
- Liability for the software, its errors and the measurement results is disclaimed as far as the law allows
- The customer portal and partner hub are password-protected, so little can be verified before buying
Pricing & Plans
Senseven publishes no price for Valve Sense. The site has no pricing page, the general terms and conditions contain no figure, and there is no permanent free plan: hardware is sold or rented under an individual offer and the software is licensed separately under an end-user licence agreement. Prices are quoted net of value-added tax and any customs duties, invoices fall due within fourteen days, and title to the hardware remains with Senseven until payment has been made in full. Software licences and recurring services run for a contractually agreed minimum term and renew automatically for further one-year periods unless terminated with three months' notice. Prospective buyers must therefore request a quotation through the contact form or a sales partner. The only monetary figure published on the site, namely energy losses of up to EUR 30,000 a year caused by a single leaking steam valve, describes a cost the customer avoids and is in no sense the price of the product.
Data, GDPR & hosting
A consolidated view of how Valve Sense handles your data.
GDPR overview
GDPR implementation is documented in detail rather than merely asserted. The privacy notice, version 1.0 dated 6 March 2026, names Senseven GmbH in Vienna as controller, splits the vendor's role between processor and independent controller, and sets out purposes and legal bases article by article under Article 6. A Data Processing Agreement under Article 28 governs the processing relationship, security measures are framed against Article 32, and transfers outside the EEA rely on Standard Contractual Clauses or adequacy decisions under Chapter V. Subprocessors are named individually. Data subject rights are listed in full. The terms state that Senseven processes personal data in accordance with the GDPR. No Article 27 representative is designated, which is consistent: the company is established in Austria. No DPO is named.
Who owns the data?
The general terms and conditions are explicit: the customer retains ownership of all data generated through the software and all rights attached to it, and Senseven acquires no ownership or usage rights beyond what is strictly necessary to operate the software and perform the contract. Senseven undertakes not to use that data for its own commercial purposes. Where data sits on the Senseven cloud platform, the vendor may access it technically for operation, maintenance, security, error analysis and support. Under the privacy notice the customer is the controller for inspection content and Senseven acts as processor under Article 28 GDPR. On termination the customer may request export or deletion.
Reuse rights
Customers may reuse their own inspection data freely: they own it, and Senseven claims no licence over it beyond running the service. Reports are designed to be exported as ISO-compliant PDFs and handed to maintenance teams, auditors or clients without asking permission. In the other direction, Senseven restricts itself. It processes personal data to provide the software, manage accounts, run support, secure the platform and handle billing, on the contractual, legitimate-interest and legal-obligation bases of Article 6 GDPR, and it states that the software involves no automated decision-making or profiling within the meaning of Article 22. Nowhere on the site or in the two legal PDFs is the training of AI models on customer data mentioned, in either direction, so no opt-out is described and none is refused.
Data retention & training
Hosting summary
Personal data is generally stored and processed within the European Economic Area. The privacy notice publishes a named subprocessor table: Amazon Web Services hosts the Senseven platform, databases and application infrastructure in Europe (Frankfurt); Cloudflare provides network infrastructure and DDoS protection globally; Sentry, operated by Functional Software Inc., handles application monitoring and error tracking in the United States; and Mixpanel Inc. provides product analytics, also in the United States. A footnote adds that these locations can change on request for customer-specific projects. The two American entries are monitoring and analytics subprocessors, not the platform's hosting location. Where data does leave the EEA, Senseven relies on Standard Contractual Clauses, adequacy decisions or additional safeguards under Chapter V of the GDPR, and states that all subprocessors are bound by Article 28 agreements with appropriate technical and organisational measures. The list may be updated, with customers informed of material changes.
Things to keep in mind
Risks and trade-offs to weigh before adopting Valve Sense.
- Measurement results are advisory, not guaranteed: Senseven disclaims liability for the software and its measurement results as far as the law permits, and states that decisions taken on the basis of its evaluations are the customer's own responsibility
- A clean reading is not proof of a tight valve; the vendor acknowledges that unforeseen process conditions can produce incorrect results and that extremely small leaks may generate no detectable signal
- Automation bias is a real risk here: the workflow is designed so that operators no longer interpret signals themselves, which makes it tempting to stop questioning an implausible result
- The ATEX, IECEx, NEC500 and KCs approvals apply to the hardware configuration, not to Senseven as a company; only the ISO 9001:2015 certificate is issued in the vendor's own name
- The headline figures on the homepage, such as 40+ countries, 20,000+ valves inspected and 95% of inspection time saved, are vendor claims without published sources or audit
- The EUR 30,000 a year attributed to one leaking steam valve is an illustrative avoided cost, and should not be read as a guaranteed saving or as a price
- Inspection records and photographs uploaded by users can incidentally contain personal data, and the terms place responsibility for the lawfulness of that content on the customer, not on Senseven
Setup & Integrations
Technical difficulty
Low for the operator, heavier for the organisation. The kit arrives ready to use in a transport case, the non-Ex version in minutes, and the Backoffice needs nothing more than a browser. Operators complete a short online product introduction and a test to be certified, about an hour, with no classroom NDT qualification. The project side is where the effort sits: buying or renting hardware, having every end user accept the licence agreement, optionally integrating with asset management systems, and signing a contract with a minimum term. In the field, insulation must be removed or direct access to the valve body arranged.
Deployment
Behind Valve Sense
Fundraising
Social
Resources
All the official URLs gathered for verification and reference.
Frequently asked questions
What is acoustic emission testing, and why does it suit valves?
How long does one inspection take?
Can it be used in ATEX hazardous areas?
Can I install the app on my own phone?
What conditions must a valve meet before inspection?
Which valves and materials are covered, and what are the limits?
What does Valve Sense cost?
Where is the data hosted and who owns it?
Should you pick Valve Sense?
Valve Sense is a narrow tool, and that is its strength. It does one thing, telling a plant whether a closed valve is leaking internally and roughly how much, and it does it in about two minutes without stopping production or dismantling anything. The AI here is doing real work rather than decorating a brochure: it interprets the acoustic signal and estimates the leak rate, which is precisely the step that used to demand a trained specialist.
The evidence around the vendor is unusually solid for a young company. Senseven GmbH was entered in the Austrian commercial register on 3 July 2021, holds an ISO 9001:2015 certificate issued in its own name by Quality Austria, names its subprocessors individually, and has an industrial strategic investor in i.safe MOBILE, which also manufactures the handsets the system runs on. Customer references are named rather than anonymous.
Two things should shape expectations. First, this is not software you can evaluate on your own: the product is inseparable from hardware that is sold or rented, the smartphone is imposed, and the contract carries a minimum term with automatic annual renewal. Second, nothing is priced publicly, so a comparison requires a quotation. Senseven is also candid about physical limits, and disclaims liability for measurement results very broadly, which is worth reading before relying on the output for a safety decision.
For a process plant with hundreds of valves, documentation obligations and hazardous areas, it is a serious proposition. For anyone looking for a self-service AI application, it is the wrong shape entirely.
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
- Opens in a new window.