Method and device for testing gas carrying pipelines

• US 5,675,084 A
• Filed: 01/29/1996
• Issued: 10/07/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Pipetronix GmbH (General Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Pipetronix GmbH (General Electric Company)
• Inventors: Goedecke, Hartmut
• Primary Examiner(s): Williams, Hezron E.
• Assistant Examiner(s): FAYYAZ, NASHMIYA SAQIB
• Application Number:
  US08/593,048
• Time in Patent Office: 617 Days
• Field of Search: 73/592, 73/40.5 A, 73/40.5 R, 73/623, 73/866.5, 73/40.5 P, 73/622, 73/644, 73/865.8
• US Class Current: 73/623
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 3/246 using pigs or probes travelling in the pipe
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/106 one or more transducer arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/2636 cylindrical from inside
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/265 by moving the sensor relative to a stationary material
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/28 providing acoustic coupling , e.g. water impedance matching G10K11/02

Abstract

For reducing the coupling liquid carried along during the performance of a test run of a device for testing gas carrying pipelines, the invention provides an ultrasonic gas carrying pipeline testing method, in which an overpressure is produced in a space containing a sensor carrier with ultrasonic sensors and a coupling liquid defined by the pipeline wall and scraper sleeves. An ultrasonic gas carrying pipeline testing device with a sensor carrier and a scraper sleeve positioned upstream thereof and connected thereto is characterized in that a connecting line (24) provided with a pump (26) passes from an area upstream of the scraper sleeve (22) to an area downstream of said scraper sleeve (22).

Claims

1. Device for testing a gas-carrying pipeline by ultrasound, the device having an ultrasonic pig freely movable through the pipeline to be tested, the ultrasonic pig having a sensor carrier to move through the pipeline and at least one scraper sleeve, the sensor carrier carrying ultrasonic sensors and the at least one scraper sleeve being positioned upstream of the sensor carrier and connected with the sensor carrier, the ultrasonic pig being further provided with a liquid conducting tube having an inlet upstream of the at least one scraper sleeve within the pipeline to be tested and an outlet downstream of said at least one scraper sleeve, the device further having a pump, to move through the pipeline, and the pump is provided between the inlet and the outlet of said tube on the movable ultrasonic pig to pump liquid in the pipeline from upstream of the at least one scraper sleeve to the outlet.

2. Device according to claim 1, wherein said inlet issues below a central axis of the ultrasonic pig.

3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the sensor carrier has an axis, and wherein the ultrasonic pig further includes at least one sealing sleeve positioned behind and connected to the sensor carrier on the axis of the sensor carrier.

4. Device according to claim 3, wherein said outlet issues in an area between a rear scraper sleeve, of the at least one scraper sleeve, and a first sealing sleeve, of the at least one sealing sleeve, connected to said sensor carrier.

5. Device according to claim 3, wherein at least one structure of (1) said at least one scraper sleeve and (2) said at least one sealing sleeve is provided with liquid passages in upper areas of the at least one structure.

6. Device according to claim 5, wherein said liquid passages are formed by reduction of material thickness of the at least one structure in a circumferential area of the at least one structure.

7. Device according to claim 5, wherein said liquid passages are constituted by axial notches provided in upper circumferential areas of the at least one structure.

8. Device according to claim 3, wherein said at least one sealing sleeve is held on a carrier rod such that there is a fixed axial spacing between the sensor carrier and the at least one sealing sleeve.

9. Device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said tube passes through more than one spaced, successive scraper sleeve located upstream of the sensor carrier.

10. Device according to claim 1, wherein said pump is battery powered.

11. Device according to claim 1, wherein said pump is driven by friction wheels.

12. Device according to claim 1, wherein said inlet is positioned in such a way that the inlet remains in a position below a central axis of the ultrasonic pig even when a scraper is rotating about a longitudinal axis of the scraper.