Pipeline operators today are increasingly aware of the need to manage and maintain the integrity of their systems. Evaluating the physical condition of oil pipelines is critical in ensuring pipeline safety.

Since every pipe varies by age, product transported, type of line coating, soil condition and climate, operators are using a new generation of internal inspection tools offering case-specific sensitivity.

Internal inspections of pipelines involve the use of sophisticated technology tools known as “smart pigs.” Inserted into the pipe and propelled by the flowing liquid, these pigs detect loss of metal and other deformations. 

While great advances have been made over the past several years in the accuracy of the information smart pigs provide, they still do not provide a precise picture of all potential flaws on a pipeline system.  However, they are one of the more important tools among many that pipeline operators use to maintain the safety and reliability of their pipelines.

Sometimes pipes are affected by fatigue cracks (caused by repeated increasing and lowering of pressure) or stress corrosion cracks (caused by mechanical stress and certain environmental influences). These types of cracks are harder to identify and often cannot be recognized by the naked eye. To detect these deformations ROSEN Inspection Technologies has developed the new 16-inch Electro Magnetic Acoustic Transducer (EMAT).

This ultrasonic EMAT tool is equipped with 72 sensor channels equally distributed around the circumference of the pig. The presence of corrosion disturbs the pulse sequence, and is picked up by the receiver. Unlike in other systems, the sensors do not contain any magnetic material that could wear out over time.

Sometimes conventional in-line inspection tools can’t be used on a pipe. Valve restrictions, changing pipeline diameters, or sharp bends can make a pipe “unpiggable” because the instrument cannot physically pass through the pipe.

To combat this problem GE Energy has developed its first SmartScan™ tool. The model's flexible structure allows it to navigate through bends and pipeline diameter variations that range between 16 to 30 inches. Future generations of the SmartScan tools will be able to navigate additional larger and smaller diameter ranges.

This tool can be deployed from GE’s angled “hot tap” system, a hydraulic chute that is attached over a smaller bore-hole in the pipe. It can also enter and exit pipe sections between restricted valves, or it can utilize valve bypasses for continuous inspection over longer distances.

These advancements in internal inspection tools allow an operator to maintain a pipeline’s immediate and long-term integrity, so that oil pipelines can continue to fuel the lives of people in communities across the country by delivering products that provide energy, heat homes and contribute to the manufacture of thousands of products in daily use.