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Contenido archivado el 2022-12-27

TEST OF PROTOTYPE OF A SELF-FRAGMENTING INSTRUMENTED VEHICLE DESTINED FOR THE CONTROL OF PIPELINES

Objetivo

The instrumented vehicle developed by SYMINEX enables the measurements of corrosion in hydrocarbon pipelines.
The risk of PIG permanently jamming in the pipe is eliminated by a sytem of automatic fragmentation.
The object of the project was the construction of the vehicle with integration of the thickness measurement system and the realization of tests on a pipeline in operation.
Calibration tests were performed on a pipe test whose defects were know, a phase shift of 5 degrees represented an attack of 3% of pipe wall for general surface pitting.
Tests on site were performed to compare the machine with an industrial environment.
The measurements at different speeds (20 cm/s to 40 cm/s) corresponded well. There was a phase shift in some tubes of 30 degrees corresponding to a 20% reduction in wall thickness.
These measurements were compared to those obtained from tests using an ultrasonic thickness transducer.
Wall thickness was controlled at 500 points per tube, areas of corrosion detected by the PIG corresponded to decrease in wall thickness.
The reliability of the system was established. Further improvements have been performed on electronics offering metal loss treshold detection of 2 % in volume with a reference log.
The dynamic measurements have been evaluated from 15 cm/s to 50 cm /s, speed increase has been afforded by a doubled sampling rate (twicethe frequency of the alternative emitted field).
No extension of interest has been made by oil companies so we do not engage an industrialization of the prototype.
After studying the various features linked with fragmentation, the use of syntactic foam for the body of the instrument seemed to be the best solution.
The vehicle length is 0.9 m, its weight with the electronic components is 25 kg.
It is propelled along the pipe by the fluid flow by means of two urethane cups at speeds of up to 0. 5 m/s.
Fragmentation of the vehicle takes place with the explosion of a pyrotechnical transmission cord embedded in the body of the vehicle.
Corrosion phenomena are monitored from the measurements of the quantity of metal in a section of pipe. The operational principle is based on the deformation undergone by an alternating magnetic field traversing a conducting surface.
Microprocessor circuits integrated into the equipment enable the measurement of the phase shift at each period with storage of the results in RAM CMOS.
The sensor/acquisition unit assembly requires little energy and allows complete autonomy via a distance of 20 Km.

Convocatoria de propuestas

Data not available

Régimen de financiación

DEM - Demonstration contracts

Coordinador

Syminex SA
Aportación de la UE
Sin datos
Dirección
2 boulevard de l'Océan
13009 Marseille
Francia

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Coste total
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