News about pndt from around the world.

Applus+ RTD strengthens its strategic position with the takeover of PNDT

Barcelona, 13 July 2007. Applus+ RTD, which specializes in non-destructive testing and inspections, took over the Australian company PNDT this month of July. Applus+ RTD is a division of Applus+, the leading Spanish multinational in certification and technological services chaired by Ernesto Mata. PNDT is also specialized in the field of asset integrity management, inspection and non-destructive testing (NDT) in the petrochemical and energy sector in the sphere of oil and gas upstream, production and distribution, in which it has widespread experience. This takeover fits in with Applus RTD's growth strategy, which is aimed at strengthening its position as market leader.

The company, PNDT, which has offices in Australia, provides innovative NDT services and develops new inspection tools for their clients. PNDT focuses on risk based inspection and in-service testing on process plant and structures, distribution pipes and pipelines, and its clients therefore include the main companies from the petrochemical and resources sector, as well as companies from the public sector.

Co-founder and director of PNDT, Matt Callanan, will now hold the position of Business Unit Manager Australia Applus RTD, to lead the expansion of the company in that region.

In April 2006 Applus+ acquired 100% of the Dutch group Röntgen Technische Dienst (RTD), the European leader in petrochemical sector inspections, for 193 million euros.

Applus+ RTD has offices in Europe, Africa, Asia and America and its business is focused on the inspection and maintenance of industrial facilities. It is specialized in performing non-destructive tests and inspections to secure the quality and integrity of technical facilities.

Applus+ RTD, leader in non-destructive testing

Applus+ RTD is the division of Applus+ specialized in inspections and NDTs (non-destructive tests), which allow inspection and certification work to be performed in the petrochemical sector. RTD also provides specialized services in the areas of development of probes, radiation safety and protection, and training. Applus+ RTD operates with oil extraction companies – through both offshore and onshore oil rigs – and with companies from the gas, petrochemical, chemical, energy (including nuclear power stations), pipelines and constructions sectors.

Applus+ RTD makes a contribution to securing the quality and integrity of the technical systems and optimizing its clients' infrastructure maintenance programmes. The aim of this is to increase the life cycle of the systems and infrastructures.

Applus+ RTD is established in Holland, Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, Canada, the United States, Australia, Singapore and Nigeria. As well as its presence in these countries, Applus RTD has a broad network of agents and collaborators on different projects and joint ventures in many other countries of the world.

Applus+, a global certification company

Applus+ (www.appluscorp.com) is a leading company in certification and technological services in the global sense, including Certification, Inspection, Calibration, Testing, Homologation, Technical Assistance, Training, Management, Optimization, Technology Transfer and RDI.

Applus+ is present in over 25 industrial sectors – food and agriculture, automobile, construction, transport, energy, environment and telecommunications, among others – and on all five continents: Europe (Germany, Andorra, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Slovakia, Finland, France, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal and Czech Republic), America (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Guatemala, Ecuador, United States, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama), Africa (Nigeria), Asia (China, Korea, India, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore) and Oceania (Australia). It has offices in Barcelona, Madrid and A Coruña. Its subsidiaries for business development in America and Asia are located in Chicago (USA) and Shanghai (China).

PNDT has developed a high speed video inspection system that is currently being utilized for the on-line inspection of conveyor belts. This system collects high quality (1.4 MPixels) digital still images of conveyor belts running at full operating speed.

The system operates with mechanically triggered digital video cameras (two can be used concurrently) to ensure 100% still image coverage of the belt’s surface independent of belt speed.

The mechanical trigger wheel, which runs on the belt, allows for an accurate distance survey of splices /features and enables defects in the belt to be located.

Images are collected and stored in a high specification, robust PC generally powered from the on site vehicle.

For details contact Mr Andy Garswood on andy.garswood@pndt.com.au

PNDT now offer combined ultrasonic Phased Array and TOFD services for the inspection of welds and components.

The simultaneous data collection of both Phased Array and TOFD ensures complete inspection coverage along with reduced inspection times, and hard copyable permanent records of inspection.

For more details please contact Cameron Waters on cameronw@pndt.com.au

PNDT has recently completed the design, manufacture and supply of portable remote access video inspection equipment for Woodside Energy Limited, offshore facilities.

These remote access video systems allow inspectors to carry out visual inspections on areas of equipment that would have previously been impossible to inspect without the provision of additional access such as scaffolding.

The battery operated equipment is completely self contained and can store up to 4 hours of high resolution video and still images.

With an optical zoom of 22X and axillary lighting the system allows for the details inspection of areas meters away from the operator.

For further details contact Mr Andy Garswood on andy.garswood@pndt.com.au

pndt has recently developed laser profiling systems to accurately measure external wear, such as on conveyor belts, and to detect and quantify internal erosion/corrosion in piping, etc. Obviously, our Engineering Design department can design further systems for Laser Profiling – please contact Cameron Waters or Andy Garswood if you require more information or have in mind a particular application

CONVEYOR BELT MEASUREMENTS

The aim of this system is to allow the derivation of belt thickness, measurable within limits of belt shape. That is, the system can measure the thickness of the belt at places were access is available, while the belt is stationary, without requiring that the belt be perfectly flat on one side.

Using a non-contact laser based measurement system, resolution of better than +/- 0.05 mm can be achieved to accurately monitor and trend belt wear. The laser units, mechanically coupled, calibrated and aligned on platens on the device, traverse the belt and automatically generate a thickness profile within the control and data acquisition software.

PIPING INTERNAL EROSION / CORROSION

The process is independent of material type and allows the accurate measurement of internal surface erosion or corrosion.

After insertion of the system into the pipe the laser beam impinges on the surface under investigation and receives a reflected response. This reflected beam strikes a sensor within a transducer and the unit outputs a signal that is processed in a data acquisition unit (DAQ) and presented as both a colour map, referenced to axial and radial position, and spreadsheet data.

The DAQ module provides all controls and data recording devices to operate the vehicle within the pipe. The unit is based on a laptop computer and LABVIEW software custom written for this application.

February 2006 sees PNDT, Celebrating 25 years of providing services to industry.

Formerly trading as Pilbara NDT, PNDT was founded in 1981 in Port Hedland, Western Australia, to provide services to the iron ore industry in the Pilbara region.

The company’s dynamic outlook, service focus and problem solving enabled rapid growth and contact with other major industry users of technical services.

PNDT now offer Asset Integrity Management, Inspection, and Engineering Design services resources, oil and gas, power generation,

railroad and construction sectors throughout the world.

ULTRASONIC PHASED ARRAYS

Ultrasonic phased arrays are an innovative technique for generating and receiving ultrasound. Instead of a single transducer and beam, phased arrays use multiple ultrasonic elements and electronic time delays to create beams by constructive and destructive interference.

Phased arrays offer significant technical advantages for weld testing over conventional ultrasonics. The phased array beams can be steered, scanned, swept and focused electronically. Beam steering permits the selected beam angles to be optimized ultrasonically by orienting them perpendicular to the predicted discontinuities, for example lack of fusion in automated welds.

Electronic scanning permits very rapid coverage of the components, typically an order of magnitude faster than a single transducer mechanical system. Beam steering (usually called sectorial or azimuthal scanning) can be used for mapping components at appropriate angles to optimize the probability of detection of discontinuities.

Sectorial scanning is also useful when only a minimal footprint is possible. Electronic focusing permits optimizing the beam shape and size at the expected discontinuity location, as well as optimizing the probability of detection.

Overall, the use of phased arrays permits optimizing discontinuity detection while minimizing inspection time.

APPLICATIONS

Listed below are a dozen portable phased array unit applications. This list is far from exhaustive and new applications are arriving regularly. However, this provides a cross section of typical uses and covers a wide variety of industries:, petrochemical, defence, manufacturing and aerospace.

• Detection and Sizing of Stress Corrosion Cracking in Turbine Roots.

• Small Diameter Austenitic Pipe Weld Testing.

• In Service Testing of Pipe for Stress Corrosion Cracking

• Butt Weld Testing

• T-weld Testing of Bridge Structures

• Hydrogen Induced Cracking

• Flange Corrosion under Gasket

• Nozzle Testing

• Thread Testing

• Spindle/Shaft Testing

• Testing of Bridge Bolts

• Landing Gear Testing

• Laser Weld Testing

• Composites

pndt's was recently assessed by BP as a part of their 2005 Contractor Accreditation Program and as a result of this assessment received an award for "Recognition of Service Excellence" for the management of Health, Safety, Security and Environmental management systems. This award was presented to pndt as a result of achieving the highest score of some 130 companies contracting to BP.

pndt's Engineering Design team has extended its range of subsea inspection tools and designed and developed a sub-sea corrosion mapping system called "Sea-Map".

The system has already been successfully used to survey specific areas of concern on a number of sub-sea pipelines.

The sub-sea corrosion-mapping tool "Sea-Map" is a diver manipulated scanning system, suitable for pipe diameters of 3" and above, that collects ultrasonic thickness data over a given area.

Through a custom designed software package "Sea-Map" presents in real time the ultrasonic thickness data in a colour-contoured map of the area of concern.

"Sea-Map" is ideally suited for confirmation surveys of intelligent pigging data, as well as periodic condition assessment surveys to determine corrosion rates.

"Sea-Map" adds to other pndt subsea inspection techniques such as TOFD, A scan, and Pulsed Eddy Current.

For further details contact Mr Cameron Waters on cameronw@pndt.com.au

pndt's Engineering Design team has successfully designed, developed, and carried out a sub-sea ultrasonic thickness survey on an offshore facility where such inspections were once thought impossible.

An inspection tool was required to provide wall thickness measurements and digital video recording of the casing that separates adjacent annulus on a production drilling well.

The area requiring inspection was subsea at a depth of 20m with access topside from a 2" port

The tool was based around a custom designed ultrasonic immersion device that uses an electromagnet to secure the probe assembly to the casing.

Coupled to the ultrasonic head is a marinised miniature video camera utilised in the positioning of the ultrasonic probe, and to provide a permanent visual record of the inspections.

Once in position at the required depth, the electromagnet is activated to position the ultrasonic probe on the casing wall with any reductions in wall thickness due to corrosion on the opposite side of the casing easily determined.

For further details contact Mr Cameron Waters on cameronw@pndt.com.au

pndt was recently commissioned to develop a method of inspecting the wall thickness at and around the sub-sea welds of caissons from the deck of an offshore production platform without the need to shut down (a requirement if diver deployed inspection techniques were used). The tool had to be of simple design, capable of being deployed to a depth of -8m and able to test weld condition without the need to remove marine growth or paint coatings. Under a very tight schedule (due to the approaching cyclone season), and the limited availability of work windows on the platform, RADIT (Rope Access Deployed Inspection Tool) was developed to complete the task.

The tool is made up of a number of triangular frame sections that are attached via a rotatable clamping device to a tracking assembly fitted to the above water section of the caisson. Deployed with an INCOTEST probe (a pulsed eddy current device which can measure remaining wall thickness through marine growth) and video camera, the frame sections are positioned over the underwater welds by rope access personnel.

The project confirmed the integrity of the underwater section of the caisson and that it was fit for service through the cyclone season. The major advantage of the RADIT tool (to our knowledge no similar tool has been used anywhere around the world) was that the inspection was conducted without the need to shut down the facility and the costs were around one tenth of those expected if divers were used for the inspection.

RADIT can also be deployed with other inspection tools such as ultrasonic thickness and Time of Flight Diffraction techniques, or subsea gamma radiography cameras. Cameron Waters

pndt offers the WAVEMAKER system as a fast and effective solution for scanning pipework. The system is particularly suitable for handling long lengths of pipework in difficult to access areas. WAVEMAKER utilises lightweight transducer rings which can send guided ultrasonic waves up to 50 metres in each direction along the pipe.

The system is ideally suited for elevated pipework, corrosion under insulation (minimal insulation removal is required), jetty lines, wall penetrations, and any straight runs of pipe requiring 100% inspection.

Recent trials have been successful in inspecting piping with an external surface temperature of 190 degree C.

For further details contact Mr Cameron Waters on cameronw@pndt.com.au

Considered one of the most significant breakthroughs in x-ray imaging in the last 25 years pndt's has added the latest Computed Digital Radiography system to its suite of inspection technologies.

Rather than using film, computed radiography uses an imaging plate that contains photostimulable storage phosphors, which retain the latent image. A reader scans the plate by means of a laser beam. The laser energy releases the trapped electrons, causing visible light to be emitted. This light is captured and converted into a digital bit stream that encodes the digital image.

Images can be sent electronically wherever they are needed. Because the images are digital, multiple copies of the image data are always identical; with post inspection digital enhancement of the image greatly improving inspection flexibility.

The storage phosphors on the Digital Imaging Plate have an extremely wide dynamic range, giving a high tolerance for varying exposure conditions, that give the operator far more flexibility with regard to under or over exposed radiographs and, as a consequence, the need for retakes is drastically reduced.

Digital Radiography systems are designed to improve inspection efficiency on two levels. Firstly, they provide an opportunity for a more rapid inspection flow due to reduced exposure times (typically between 10% and 20% of that of conventional X-Ray Film,immediate "development" of the captured image and, secondly, through the post inspection digital enhancement, portability, and storage of the images.

Also, compared to conventional methods of developing radiographs, the use of digital radiography is beneficial to the environment as chemicals are not required to process the radiographic image.

pndt now issues inspection and test reports via its website. Clients are able to access all of their reports through this facility and will be able to use it as a search engine, archive and database. Previous reports, going back several years, have been converted to pdf format and uploaded to each client's site.