Pipeline networks for both industry and utilities face a major replacement investment over the next decennium as many of these networks are reaching their end of life. Without proper inspection techniques however, we may be replacing perfectly good pipes and leaving bad ones as we simply do not know their state.
Industrial mixing tanks are heavily used in the process industry and are a major energy user in plants as larger masses have to be brought into motion. Optimizing this process could improve the quality of the mixing process and lower the energy usage.
Both cases would benefit from enhanced inspection methods and the floats from the H2020 Phoenix project, now called smarbles, are already making their way to these systems. Within the SMarble we want to show that these inspections can benefit from more technologies from Phoenix. Smarbles are inserted in operational pipelines and tanks and measure their own interal movement and other sensordata. After extraction, this data is analyzed and the results can be used for obtaining information about both the process and the environment through which the smarbles move. The smarbles have no propulsion or steering and thus essentially operate while the system is in normal operation.
In the Phoenix project two additional technologies have been developed, ultrasound measurement for both ranging between smarbles and to environment walls, and, based on the ultrasound measurements, modelling of the environment. In the SMarble we want to create and show the business case for Phoenix technology and bringing these technologies to market. Through two pilots and market analyses we want to assess the technology and its economic and societal potential.
