Inline Inspection of Dents and Corrosion Using “High Quality” Multi-Purpose Smart-Pig Inspection Data

A new generation of geometry sensor for ILI tools has been developed. This sensor provides highly accurate geometry data of the internal pipe contour. The technology uses the benefits of a touchless distance measurement in combination with the advantages of a mechanical caliper arm. The complementary interaction allow the measurement of accurate data under demanding operational conditions. The geometry sensor technology can be combined with a navigation unit and the high resolution MFL inspection technology on so called multi-purpose ILI-tools. The merging of different inspection tasks on a single tool is an economic solution to create and add to an ILI-database for integrity management. Field experience with this new technology will be discussed, based on more than 500 miles inspected pipeline. Most inspections were performed in the US and Canada. The operational performance of the sensors justified the new design.Copyright © 2006 by ASME