METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TESTING A BUNDLE OF TUBULAR OBJECTS GUIDED BY A COMPUTING DEVICE

• US 20110320139A1
• Filed: 06/16/2011
• Published: 12/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arise Global Pte. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Arise Global Pte. Ltd.
• Inventors: Pechter, Tal, Barzelay, Oded, AMIR, Noam
• Granted Patent: US 9,335,299 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/39
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/044 Internal reflections (echoes), e.g. on walls or defects
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/2626 Wires, bars, rods
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/043 in the interior, e.g. by shear waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/075 by measuring or comparing phase angle measuring frequencies or phase angles per se G01R23/00, G01R25/00

Abstract

Exemplary embodiments of method and system for guiding a tester of a bundle of similar objects are disclosed. The disclosed embodiments may obtain a picture of the bundle of the similar objects. The image may be processed in order to identify the bundle of similar objects to be tested. Then, the system may determine which object of the similar objects to measure and accordingly it may instruct a tester to associate an object-measuring device with the determined object to be measured. Upon receiving a trigger signal issued by the tester, information is collected regarding the test results of the measured object and information on the location of the measured object. Then the process can proceed for additional objects in the bundle.

Claims

1. A method for guiding a tester of a bundle of similar objects, comprising:

obtaining a picture of a bundle of similar objects to be tested;

identifying in the picture the bundle of similar objects to be tested;

determining which object of the similar objects to measure;

instructing a tester to associate an object-measuring device with the determined object to be measured; and

obtaining a trigger signal issued by the tester;

wherein the trigger signal issued by the tester is associated with test results of the measured object and comprises information on the location of the measured object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location probe is embedded within the object-measuring device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein instructing the tester further comprise instructing the tester to move the object-measuring device a certain number of similar objects from the current location of the location probe.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information is obtained by using transmitting-receiving relation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of obtaining the picture further comprising processing the obtained picture into a digitized picture and associating an ID to each object in the digitized picture.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the act of processing further comprise obtaining information on the plurality of objects.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein information on the plurality of objects is the diameter of the objects and the pitch between objects.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein instructing the tester to place the object-measuring device at the determined object to be measured is by marking the current location of the location probe and marking the object to be measured on the digitized picture displayed on a screen.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

marking on the digitized picture the objects that were tested.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

processing the test results of the determined object and creating a report reflecting the condition of the object; and

associating the report with the ID of the measured object.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

making a test summary document that comprises, per each object that has been tested, the object ID and the object'"'"'s test results.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information is obtained by using mechanical-position-detection relation.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the similar objects are similar pipes.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the object-measuring device is a hand-held probe of an Acoustic pulse reflectometry (APR) system.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the tester is a person.

16. A system that guides a tester while measuring a bundle of a plurality of similar pipes, comprising:

a pipe-measuring device;

a location measuring system associated with the pipe-measuring device;

a computing-assistance device (CAD) that is configured to;

obtain information on a bundle of similar pipes;

obtain location information from the location measuring system about the location in the bundle of a pipe that is currently measured; and

obtain measurements signals from the pipe-measuring device, wherein the measurements signals reflect the condition of the pipe that is currently measured.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the computing-assistance device is further configured to report on the condition of the pipe and associate the report with the location of the pipe in the bundle.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the pipe-measuring device is a hand-held probe of an Acoustic pulse reflectometry (APR) system.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the location measuring system uses transmitting-receiving relation.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the location measuring system uses mechanical-position-detection relation.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein information on a bundle of similar pipes is obtained from a picture of the bundle.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the CAD that is further configured to:

instruct a tester to associate the pipe-measuring device to a requested-next pipe;

obtain location information from the location measuring system about the location in the bundle of an actual-next pipe that is currently measured;

obtain measurements signals from the pipe-measuring device, wherein the measurements signals reflect the condition of the actual-next pipe that is currently measured; and

report on the condition of the actual-next pipe and associate the report with the location of the actual-next pipe in the bundle.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the CAD further configured to:

determine based on the location of the actual-next pipe whether the actual-next pipe is the requested-next pipe if not then correction instruction are given to the tester to associate the pipe-measuring device with the requested-next pipe;

if the actual-next pipe is the requested-next pipe then the CAD continues measuring a plurality of pipes from the bundle and creating a report per each pipe.