-
Categories
-
Pharmaceutical Intermediates
-
Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients
-
Food Additives
- Industrial Coatings
- Agrochemicals
- Dyes and Pigments
- Surfactant
- Flavors and Fragrances
- Chemical Reagents
- Catalyst and Auxiliary
- Natural Products
- Inorganic Chemistry
-
Organic Chemistry
-
Biochemical Engineering
- Analytical Chemistry
-
Cosmetic Ingredient
- Water Treatment Chemical
-
Pharmaceutical Intermediates
Promotion
ECHEMI Mall
Wholesale
Weekly Price
Exhibition
News
-
Trade Service
Hydro Safety is an engineering company based in the small town of Merano, Italy, that has been focusing on the planning, control, evaluation and operation of
hydropower plants for almost a decade.
Engineer Armin Kager has been working in large hydropower plants for many years and understands the requirements of this area and the demands of
his customers.
He works with partners from the engineering office to perform visual inspections, including the use of inspection cameras, non-destructive testing (MT, UT, RT, hardness testing, etc.
), laboratory testing, and other inspections to check the condition of
pipelines, turbines, feeder systems, and other infrastructure.
The special morphology of the Alps often means that inspections and tests must be carried out on very demanding terrain, or inspectors have to climb steep slopes before they can inspect
infrastructure.
Inspection of a 100-year-old pressure pipe
Hydro Safety was commissioned by a power plant operator to evaluate
the remaining service life of the plant infrastructure.
The license for the plant expires in a few months, so whether the plant can be safely operated for the remaining term of the license is a matter of great concern to operators
.
To do this, they had to determine the degree of wear to an area of
a nearly 100-year-old pressure pipe that was affected by wear and corrosion inside the pipe.
The inspection process is challenging because the inlet area of the pressure pipe is filled with water and mud (more than 2.
5 feet deep), and inspectors must overcome these challenges
without damaging the equipment.
In addition, the limited inner diameter (4 feet) and, most importantly, the inclination of the pipe (about 80 percent) posed a significant challenge
for the inspection team.
A series of combined problems, such as the meandering of the site and the change of the slope of the mountain shape, brought additional difficulties
to the protection of the tether.
The measurements were carried out
in two wall areas that were particularly vulnerable due to wear and corrosion.
For each measurement, an area of approximately 16 inches x 16 inches is cleaned with a steel brush, then cleaned and dried with a water gun jet, and finally measured using the portable 3D scanner HandySCAN 3D and pipe integrity assessment software Pipecheck
.
The measurement accuracy should be within
0.
05mm.
Inspection area before peeling off the coating and after cleaning the surface
The biggest challenge is using 3D laser scanners, tablets and computers in these narrow and very steep environments, as well as protecting them from damage
caused by water, dirt or careless drops.
This is achieved through careful planning and preparation of the inspection and the use of a mobile phone with a large display instead of a tablet, which is attached to
the forearm of one of the inspectors (two of them) via an arm loop.
The high-performance computer comes in a special backpack that also contains HandySCAN 3D
.
Once they arrived at the site, they cleaned, marked and measured
the surface.
02
The advantages of the combination of HandySCAN 3D and Pipecheck
The combination of the portable laser 3D scanner HandySCAN 3D, pipe integrity assessment software Pipecheck and ultrasonic reference wall thickness measurement was ideal
for this project.
According to Hydro Safety Engineering, the system provides an ideal assessment
of corrosion or residual wall thickness.
This method stands out
for its significantly higher accuracy and data density than conventional measuring systems.
They purchased 3D scanners and pipe integrity assessment software to improve accuracy in measuring and evaluating corrosion degradation rates, as well as to quickly analyze data and calculate expected burst pressures
.
After evaluation using Pipecheck and in-house software
Prior to the purchase of Creaform's system equipment, the measurement of pipe wall thickness was carried out both internally and externally, as well as through the use of corrosion templates, so-called profilers
.
This leads to more laborious and inaccurate project work such as estimating and evaluating corrosion degradation rates, and data densities many times
lower.
An assessment of the average degree of corrosion or wear, as well as a comprehensive assessment of this phenomenon, is simply impossible
.
Hydro Safety Engineering
Armin Kager, owner and lead engineer, said
The introduction of HandySCAN 3D and Pipecheck software sets new standards
for wear and corrosion inspection work.
We can't wait to use our devices for other possible applications! For example, we will soon be using a 3D scanner to measure the impeller of a new and used bucket turbine to draw conclusions
about its wear.
