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Dates: November 13, 2018 - November 14, 2018
Infrared (IR) technology is widely used in the oil and gas industry as an inspection tool for condition monitoring and predictive maintenance. It is advantageous over traditional visual inspection and other tools because infrared technology does not have to be in contact with the equipment being monitored.
IR thermography is a form of nondestructive testing that measures temperature variances of a component as heat (i.e. thermal radiation) flows through, from, or to that component. IR thermography is also generically known as IR testing, thermal testing, thermal imaging, and IR thermometry.
Thermal radiation is directly related to changes in temperature. In other words, as a component changes temperature, the amount of radiation emitted changes. Since this type of radiation is a form of electromagnetic waves that cannot be seen with the human eye, components have to be analyzed using infrared cameras. Infrared cameras are able to detect and display emitted, reflected, and transmitted infrared energy from an component. The thermal image can then be analyzed to obtain a temperature reading for the component.
The purpose of mapping temperature levels and variances of a component is to detect any hot spots where equipment may weaken or fail. IR thermography is also capable of detecting corrosion damage, delaminations, voids, inclusions, and other flaws that affect heat transfer. However, in order to detect these anomalies, there must be sufficient temperature difference between the component and its surroundings.
Emissivity refers to a material’s ability to emit infrared energy. Emissivity is expressed as a value between 0 and 1 where 0 describes a perfect mirror surface and 1 describes a blackbody. For example, a material with an emissivity value of 0.95 absorbs and emits 95% of infrared radiation and reflects 5% of the surrounding radiation.
Reflectance refers to the amount of light reflected from the surface of a material.
Transmittance is a material’s ability to transmit thermal energy (i.e. heat) from a component being tested to an infrared camera. For example, plastics are transmissive while metals are opaque and are not transmissive.
These terms are commonly used interchangeably. Although they are related, they have very distinct meanings.
Heat Transfer describes the phenomenon of thermal energy transferring from a hotter temperature region to a colder temperature region.
Heat Transfer Mechanisms — Heat can transfer in three ways:
In terms of equipment being tested, operators and inspectors should have working knowledge about the:
If infrared technology is being used to detect flaws, knowledge about the size, depth, and orientation of the anomaly must be known.
Several instrumental factors to consider when performing IR testing include:
Several IR testing techniques exist and the decision on whether and which to use depends on the the considerations listed above.
Passive Thermography involves testing the component during or after operation. The primary advantages of this method are that it does not require an external energy source and equipment doesn’t have to be taken out of service.
Active Thermography requires an external energy source that produces thermal variances in the component. The component is monitored until it has reached thermal equilibrium. This technique is useful for determining how heat flows through, from, or to a component before it is placed in service. This method is also used to locate anomalies in equipment during service.
Flash Thermography measures the changes of surface temperature after a pulse of light energy is introduced to the component. This technique is used to locate voids, inclusions, and other deflects that obstruct heat flow into the component.
Vibrothermography is a technique that utilizes acoustic waves to find cracks in a material. The acoustic energy causes friction between the two sheared surfaces of a crack, which results in the production of heat. The frictional heat is then detected using an infrared camera.
Lock-in Thermography requires that an external source of energy (e.g. light, sound, etc.) be periodically applied to the surface of a component in order to reveal a subsurface anomaly. The depth, size, and orientation of the anomaly, as well as the properties of the material, must be known in order for the method to be highly accurate. This technique is much slower than flash thermography, however, it is capable of penetrating thicker-walled components.
IR thermography is utilized in many industries and applications. In the oil and gas and chemical processing industries, for example, thermography can be used to detect piping insulation issues, fluid levels, or identify trouble spots where rotating equipment is experiencing too much friction. Furthermore, IR testing is commonly used to locate hot spots and anomalies such as voids and inclusions. The benefits of IR testing include extended equipment life, decreased unscheduled shutdowns, reduced risk of equipment failure, and increased performance.
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July/August 2017 Inspectioneering Journal
By Chris Leightell at Industrial SkyWorks
The adoption of drones for use in industry is a trend that has grown rapidly over the past few years. As the technology increases in popularity, its capabilities continue to evolve beyond basic visual imaging, boosting the list of ever-growing applications. |
September/October 2014 Inspectioneering Journal
By Tim Hill at Quest Integrity Group
For the past 30 years, infrared (IR) thermometry has been used to monitor tube metal temperatures in refining and chemical furnaces. Tracking temperature levels and variations determine performance capability limits and reliable tube life. However, the application of IR thermometry has often been characterized as highly operator dependent, which can result in less-than-optimal data accuracy as a consequence of poorly applied and interpreted results. |
July/August 2009 Inspectioneering Journal
By M.Z. Umar at Malaysian Nuclear Agency
We have been introduced to Infrared Thermography (IRT) since World War I and over the last decade the application of this technique has gained impetus. Today, the IRT application is widely used and accepted by many industries such as power generation plants, oil & gas industries, manufacturing factories, medicine, agriculture and biology etc. The technique has been recognized as a reliable tool for technical diagnostics in particular to condition monitoring and predictive maintenance. |
May/June 2008 Inspectioneering Journal
By M.Z. Umar at Malaysian Nuclear Agency, A.R. Hamzah at Malaysian Nuclear Agency, V. Vavilov at Tomsk Polytechnic University, and W. Swiderski at Military Institute of Armament Technology
The concept of pulsed thermal nondestructive testing including the simulation of finite-size defects in solid materials, optimization of test procedures and advanced data treatment has been proposed. The experimental results have been obtained on a bakelite reference sample which contains bottom-hole defect surrogates of different depth and thickness. |
March/April 2004 Inspectioneering Journal
By Mark Badrick at Bahrain Petroleum Company
The title question is often asked and more often than not, impossible to answer. This paper follows on from a previous discussion (Inspectioneering Journal Volume 4 Issue 1 Jan/Feb 1998) relating to the difficulties arising whilst attempting to carry out temperature surveys of furnace tubes using a thermal imager. The issues discussed then i.e. calculation of emissivity and ambient temperatures, reflected heat etc, are still current concerns, but since the writing of that article, an additional equally important challenge has become apparent - "how do we measure the temperature of an externally scaled or fouled tube"? Where the external scale or some other external deposit, such as refractory dust etc. may mask the true tube temperature. |
Pro-Surve Technical with subsidiaries ProSource Radiography and ProForce Industrial are an integrated inspection, NDT, reliability engineering, Data management and project controls service provider assisting clients across CapEx/OpEx budgeted projects processes. We concentrate on solutions provided by the integration of engineering and inspection.
Pro-Surve Technical with subsidiaries ProSource Radiography and ProForce Industrial are an integrated inspection, NDT, reliability engineering, Data management and project controls service provider assisting clients across CapEx/OpEx budgeted projects processes. We concentrate on solutions provided by the integration of engineering and inspection.
Pinnacle Advanced Reliability Technologies (PinnacleART) is a leader in building, implementing and maintaining comprehensive reliability programs for facilities in the oil and gas, chemical, mining, pharmaceutical, wastewater and electric power industries, to name a few. Our team consists of talented experts and engineers, who offer the highest degree of service and uncompromised reliability for every one of our projects. PinnacleART’s specialists are dedicated to delivering optimal outcomes for our clients, which results in reducing risk, ensuring compliance, optimizing costs and improving safety.
Pinnacle Advanced Reliability Technologies (PinnacleART) is a leader in building, implementing and maintaining comprehensive reliability programs for facilities in the oil and gas, chemical, mining, pharmaceutical, wastewater and electric power industries, to name a few. Our team consists of talented experts and engineers, who offer the highest degree of service and uncompromised reliability for every one of our projects. PinnacleART’s specialists are dedicated to delivering optimal outcomes for our clients, which results in reducing risk, ensuring compliance, optimizing costs and improving safety.
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Versa Integrity Group, Inc. is a full service inspection, maintenance, and engineering company serving the oil refining, chemical processing, and offshore industries. Versa possesses over 70 years of NDE inspection, engineering and rope access experience and provides its customers access to a total of more than 400 engineers, API inspectors, rope access climbers and NDE technicians. Like many companies, Versa has the tools to get the job done; what separates Versa from the rest of the pack is their commitment to professionalism, integrity, and above all else, customer service.
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Sentinel Integrity Solutions is a full service inspection company, providing a full suite of inspection support to service the Petroleum (upstream, midstream and downstream operations), Chemical, Power and Pipeline Industries. We are respected by our clients for the unsurpassed reliability, dedication and professionalism exhibited by our personnel and the customer service and responsiveness exhibited by our Management Team.
Olympus provides an industry-leading portfolio of remote visual inspection, industrial microscopy, ultrasound, phased array, eddy current, phased array, and optical metrology solutions including: ultrasonic flaw detectors and thickness gages, videoscopes, microscopes, advanced NDT systems, and X-ray fluorescence analyzers.
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PK Technology is a full-service inspection contractor, as well as, an in-house software development company specializing in the Oil and Gas industry. PK Technology is the creator of intelliSPEC, the worlds first Digital Data Management System (DDMS) which is a robust and intelligent solution designed to digitize, analyze and realize all vital data.
This webinar discusses the particular aspects involved in obtaining accurate and repeatable infrared temperature measurements of fired heater tubes, as well as a wealth of diagnostic information that may be used to evaluate the performance and reliability of major fired heater parts (e.g. tubes, tube supports, burners, refractory and structural systems).