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It’s the nightmare scenario inspectors fear. Despite your technicians’ best monitoring efforts, corrosion has eaten away at your pipes and deteriorated their wall thickness to a breaking point. What comes next is an expensive and lengthy replacement process that drains time and resources. Operations have come to an unexpected, grinding halt.
The idea of a highly accurate corrosion testing system sounds like part of a science fiction movie, right? Wrong. The future is here. Inductosense, a new non-destructive examination (NDE) technology developed in the United Kingdom, offers a cutting-edge solution that can help put any corrosion nightmares to rest.
The heart of Inductosense is a permanently installed monitoring (PIM) sensor. Many facilities use ultrasonic testing to measure the wall thickness of their piping, vessels and other equipment, but conventional UT-testing doesn’t have permanently installed sensors to allow for the accurate testing of the same locations over time. In other words, their manual UT readings will never be as accurate.
The Inductosense system consists of three components. The first is the sensor, which is a wireless, battery-free, 2-inch round “sticker” complete with a piezoelectric element and an RFID chip that is placed at a corrosion monitoring location (CML) on a pipe, tank or vessel. The second is a handheld wireless and nondestructive (WAND) reader, which is inductively coupled with the sensor — hence the name “Inductosense.” The third is a proprietary software system that allows technicians to read, store and track the corrosion rate at each CML over time. The software allows for remote analysis and workflow integration.
As the exclusive provider of Inductosense in the United States, Turner Specialty Services, a division of Turner Industries Group, can deliver four primary benefits by using this new technology. First, the monitoring system collects data that allows for an accurate corrosion rate determination on a unit without having to shut it down. Second, this data can help streamline predictive maintenance efforts to identify and target specific areas where corrosion is occurring and avoid unnecessary inspection when there is no actual corrosion. Third, it can accurately predict when a piece of equipment will reach its minimum safety thickness, or T-min, before it’s time for a replacement. Finally, the noninvasive nature of Inductosense helps decrease exposure to risk for the personnel performing corrosion monitoring and maintenance.
Let’s say a unit has 10,000 CMLs. If even 5 percent of those locations — or 500 — can be monitored using Inductosense, a wide swath may eventually become unnecessary while delivering more accurate inspections and minimizing exposure risk for personnel.
The product does come with some moderate limitations. It has a maximum temperature threshold of 300 degrees Fahrenheit and only works on pipes down to 2.5 inches in diameter and greater. If your situation meets these requirements, however, the tradeoff is clearly in favor of using Inductosense.
By using Inductosense, Turner Specialty Services can provide clients with accurate corrosion rates that can help drive better predictive maintenance decisions. With Inductosense, technicians and industry leaders alike can rest easy knowing their corrosion testing system is state of the art and always alert.
For more information email Lance Wiebeck at lwiebeck@turner-industries.com or call (225) 214-9142.
