Calvin Silver and Scott Hansen, GeoCorr, USA, explain the results from a push for ‘smarter’ caliper technology by industry-leading transmission companies that propelled the steps to better data.
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eometry inspections continue to lead the way when initiating your baseline integrity assessments. While thousands of runs are conducted over the global market, evolving technology continues to drive this industry forward. While we become smarter at earlier stages within the pipeline’s life, this helps protect these assets, address anomalies, and improve integrity decision-making. GeoCorr’s new TCII HiRes Caliper with IMU is a step up in your tool kit, whether at pre-commissioning of a pipeline or for geohazard and dent strain assessments on in-service lines.
System design and architecture Tackling the new high-resolution market, the TCII HiRes caliper system was designed to accommodate two caliper arms per dia. in. (Figure 1). Every tool diameter, 3 in. through 56 in. would see this new standard. The inline inspection system would serve to meet the rugged expectations of new construction applications, while setting a new standard with sensitivity and detection by employing this new caliper sensor technology. The digital sensor technology has reduced the signalto-noise ratio by a factor of 10, and widened the sensor’s usable range to 100% of the available mechanical travel. This has allowed for exceptional sizing accuracy and increased confidence in low percentage features within the 0 - 2% OD range. In conjunction with the geometry sensor technology, the odometer system can be linearly sampled at user-selected
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1 - 4 mm based on application requirements. With resolution more than doubling on direct wall caliper sensors, and the linear sampling more than doubling as well, confidence levels and accuracies are at an all-time high. With these expanded capabilities, the TCII has been tackling a wide range of applications: ) Early detection and identification of anomalies and mechanical damage occurring during construction. ) Dent strain analysis where better data capture on geometry/
caliper data provides a more accurate evaluation of your ASME B31.8 strain results and anomaly shape. ) Dual and multi-diameter applications – previous Dual Dia.
Technology had sensor limitations. A compromise was typically given to the larger diameter pipe with regards to sensor measurement, coverage, and accuracy. Major improvements to measurement linearity throughout both pipe diameters have been achieved in dual-diameter applications with up to a 6 in. difference in pipeline OD. Proof of concept work was executed through 2020 with in-house development and testing split between GeoCorr’s production headquarters and engineering team. During system validation, extensive calibration procedures were carried out along with in-pipe testing. Using the high-resolution digital
