Wireless pipe inspection control system

Abstract

Reformer tube is a component used in process engineering to perform chemical reactions to produce chemical products. The process involves heating a mixture of reactant and catalyst chemical inside a tube-shaped reactor at a pressure around 20 bars to encourage rapid reactions. The service life of a reformer tube is primary ended when creep damage is determined to be excessive. Due to the high cost of reformer tubes and the combination between temperature and stress during service influencing the generation of creep damage, it is of significant benefit for process companies to monitor the condition of reformer tubes, and use condition-based assessment rather than time-based estimation to judge the retirement of reformer tubes. A research was conducted on reformer tube diametric deformation and a prototype inspection system was developed. Presented in this paper is the development of the control system that covers wireless sensing, data acquisition and system control. Test and field trials made on the prototype system showed that the system is able to reliably transmit and record the data obtained by the reformer tube internal diametrical checking device. The system has made a significant move towards real time reformer tube data acquisition and wirelessly monitoring reformer tube working condition.