Rick Clark: About the Author
President, CIA Inspection Inc.

In the summer of 2005, as part of CIA Inspection's (CIAI) ongoing, in house, research efforts to improve inspection capabilities for coke drums, a development program was initiated to integrate ACFM (Alternating Current Field Measurement) inspection technology with a proven laser and video inspection tool for coke drums.

Delayed coker vessels experience severe loading sequences as they are routinely filled with hot liquid product (approx. 9000 F) and quenched to ambient temperature in a relatively short time period. The industry trend is to shorten the operating cycle time and increase throughput of the unit. This typically accelerates the cumulative damage/aging of the drum. Large, non-uniform shell distortion is common over time, often leading to failures which require repetitive repairs.