TD Williamson has successfully developed a new 48-inch Gas Magnetic Flux Leakage (GMFL) inspection tool. The innovation was honed at the TDW facility in Salt Lake City.
The device has already undergone a field test on a 48 inch natural gas transmission line in Canada. In addition to the unit, which can pin point corrosion and pipe wall loss, TD Williamson (TDW) provides cleaning pigs and inline inspection (ILI) services using its 48 inch Kaliper® 360 tool for identifying physical anomalies and geometry in a pipeline. The Company also offers hot tapping and plugging services to assist with the repair of identified anomalies.
David Soanes, Account Manager for TDW in Southwestern Ontario remarked, “Never before have we been able to offer 48 inch high pressure, natural gas transmission inline inspection.” Furthermore, unlike conventional GMFL tools, which struggle to maintain a steady tool speed due to variations in gas pressure, the TDW high resolution GMFL device offers three combative strategies:
1. Each magnetiser ‘floats’ individually so that magnetic forces are consistent whether in a thick or thin wall, or a tight bend. By reducing the tool drag, floating magnetisers ensure more consistent velocities.
2. Secondly, the traditional MFL tool has coarse steel brushes that magnetise the pipe wall. However, in this GMFL tool, they are replaced with smooth, flat wear skid plated that glide more readily.
3. Finally, the tool’s design allows for as much as 25% bore reduction and is constructed of lighter weight materials. This means that the TDW GMFL device is approximately half the weight of other 48 inch tools. This translates as a superior ability to negotiate breadth reductions which enable more consistent velocities and consequently, better inspection accuracy.
An added bonus of the service is the ability to remove foreign liquid from a gas pipeline. Over time, liquid is sometimes introduced into the line and is not adequately removed. This subsequently collects in pools of liquid at low levels; these then reduce the throughput of the line to its optimum capacity. TDW’s Pigging Products Division (PPD) has addressed this dilemma by providing custom engineered cleaning pigs with special urethane cups and discs designed to ‘shoot out’ any liquid that has settled in the pipe.
... to continue reading you must be subscribed
