In this post, we will examing pipeline inspection, importance, methods, Nondestructive Testing and the Benefits of Utilizing Inspection Management Software.
INTRODUCTION
Finding the right pipeline inspection service improves safety and productivity of Pipelines are among the largest pieces of physical infrastructure incumbent to the oil and gas industry. Snaking across every continent except Antarctica, pipelines carry oil and gas from wells to refineries. Once installed, pipelines significantly reduce transport costs, enhancing profitability margins.
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However, their size, ubiquity, and exposure to various elements also make pipelines risky, as a problem could occur at any point along their massive lengths. Keeping pipelines safe requires frequent attention. Metal swells, shrinks, vibrates, and corrodes. Welds can lose their structure and strength. External damage from wind, flood, earthquake, tree, and fire can diminish pipeline integrity. Over millions of miles and dozens of years, anything that can happen to a pipeline, will. When a pipeline ruptures, it can cause severe economic and environmental damage.
Oil and gas companies mitigate these risks by regularly performing rigorous pipeline inspections. In most cases the pipeline is inspected regularly. The pipeline safety regulations require that the operator shall insure that a pipeline is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair. The pipeline inspection includes external inspection and internal inspection. In this chapter, the metal loss inspection techniques are discussed.
The subsea pipeline internal inspection is normally carried out through non-destructive testing techniques and technologies by intelligent pigs, such as magnetic-flux leakage technology inn axial and circumferential, ultrasound technologies, eddy-current technologies and other technologies. The repair methods are different for shallow and deep-water subsea pipelines. The conventional repair methods are used for shallow water pipeline, but diverless repair and intelligent plus are good for deepwater pipeline repair.
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WHAT IS PIPELINE INSPECTION?
Pipeline inspection is a part of the pipeline integrity management for keeping the pipeline in good condition. The rules governing inspection are the pipeline safety regulations. The pipeline safety regulations require that the operator shall insure that a pipeline is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair. The pipeline inspection includes external inspection and internal inspection.
IMPORTANCE OF PIPELINE INSPECTION?
Inspections are critical to ensure consistent product quality, primarily when relying on third-party suppliers or manufacturers for raw materials. Some businesses often consider inspection as a final quality check before the product gets delivered to the customer. If you have a similar approach, you may experience an increased number of product recalls. It is time you should have a fresh take on it.
You must conduct inspections at every stage of production that starts right from raw materials coming from the suppliers or vendors. You will be surprised to see – how many products recalls and resource wastage you would have avoided. It also saves time you used to invest in managing product recalls. Most importantly, it lowers the chances of workplace injuries. Realizing the worth and potential of inspections is just the first step.
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- Documenting product quality standards to be referenced at the time of Inspections: Documentation is an essential part of quality management processes. It guides your quality teams, suppliers, and auditors through the product quality standards that need to be followed during quality checks, inspections, and audits. Documenting all the quality management activities also demonstrates your organization’s commitment to best practices and quality culture.
- Developing easy-to-understand and follow inspections workflows: Inspection workflows should be simple so that your inspection team requires minimal training. You can get Inspection Management Software with configurable workflows. The simplicity of the inspection workflow will significantly improve your team’s productivity and reduce the inspection process cycle time.
- Defining the containment procedures for products quality issues that can be fixed by reworking: Not every product recall requires extensive efforts. Some of the product quality issues can be easily fixed by reworking. It will help you avoid wastage of resources. All you need to do is define the containment procedures for such products. You can also categorize quality issues for easy segregation. Wouldn’t you be interested in preventing unnecessary wastage of resources and money?
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- Calibrating the inspection equipment and devices at regular intervals to ensure error-free inspections: Just like the production equipment, you must calibrate the inspection equipment. It will help maintain the accuracy and efficiency of the equipment. It will eventually help maintain consistency in product quality. Next time when you schedule the calibration activity, make sure you have included the inspection equipment in the list.
- Streamlining inspection process at source to reduce scrap and low-quality products: As we have already discussed before, some businesses consider inspections as a final product quality check. It is high time businesses should rethink their inspection processes. Streamlining inspections right from the start can help to reduce the scrap and low-quality products. Furthermore, it will help them protect brand reputation and increased overhead expenses due to compliance lawsuits, workplace injuries, or any catastrophic event.
- Training the inspection teams on the best practices to manage production challenges: Regulatory requirements are getting stringent with time. Businesses continuously need to train their employees on these requirements to perform their job more effectively and efficiently. You can utilize cloud-based training management software to provide your team a flexible training environment even when working remotely.
- Reporting incidents and their action plan to management: You must report the incidents and the action plan implemented to the management; it will help them make informed business decisions. It will also help them streamline and modify the existing inspection processes and practices.
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- Standardizing inspections for pre, post, and inline production in adherence to compliance requirements: Standardizing inspections for every stage of production in adherence to applicable regulatory standards ensures minimal compliance issues. It also fosters a culture of quality and continuous improvements in the organization, enabling you to attain business goals efficiently.
- Ensuring the inspection process changes have minimal or no impact on production cycle time: Establishing inspection processes is not a one-time job. It requires continuous improvements even in the processes to ensure the best quality outcomes. However, the changes are not easy to implement. You can leverage the next-generation change management software to make change implementation efficient and straightforward. The software can help you standardize the change process, so there is a minimal or no impact on the ongoing operations.
METHODS OF PIPELINE INSPECTION
The purpose of this article is to outline 5 popular methods:
- Visual inspection
- Ultrasonic techniques
- Radiography
- Thermography
- Acoustic emissions
NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING
Some pipeline issues can be detected with a simple visual inspection. A fallen tree, a damp patch of rust, or a twisted support joist are all relatively easy to spot. But while visual inspection can be useful, it doesn’t do enough to identify emerging pipeline issues before they become visible to the naked eye. Often, emerging problems lie in the interior of the pipeline’s walls or welds, and are invisible without special equipment.
To identify these emerging problems, companies rely on nondestructive testing (NDT) techniques. For pipelines, ultrasonic scanning is typically the preferred method. Ultrasonic scanning equipment transmits high-frequency sound waves into a solid object. By analyzing the reflectance or transmittance of these sound waves, the instrument is able to identify any flaws or irregularities in the substrate. Such flaws and irregularities are indicators of emerging problems, and once identified, can be corrected.
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THE BENEFITS OF UTILIZING INSPECTION MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE.
- You can quickly identify and segregate the defective raw materials before they are processed for production.
- You can easily detect the production issues with inline inspections before it leads to product failure or any catastrophic event.
- You can inform the management of product failures in time to take necessary corrective and preventive actions.
- You can prevent the low-quality or substandard products from reaching the customers, which will reduce the complaints.
- You can maintain a good brand reputation for ensuring the quality, safety, and reliability of the products.
- You can build a closed-loop system to connect all the quality processes and gain more control over product quality.
- You can leverage more visibility and traceability of product quality trends to make informed decisions.
- You can collaborate with your teams in real-time to conduct inspections really quick.
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- You can help improve supplier quality and performance by sharing key insights into product quality.
- You can use Severity based sampling plan for more stringent inspection.
- You can generate NC for the samples that failed the inspection criteria.
- You can evaluate the material reinspection needs.