TPT January 2016

Inspection, testing & qual ity control

EMI inspection for OCTG industry MANY OCTG MFL (magnetic flux leakage) inspection equipment

manufacturers claim their machines detect flaws on 0.545" (13.84mm) walls and greater during the inspection process, but often these claims ignore a key component of a quality inspection – repeatability. API 5CT specifications require a minimum of 20 per cent repeatability on all inspection runs. Often the detectability specifications given by EMI vendors to the steel mills, processors or inspection companies are a reflection of the equipment manufacturer’s upper limits of detection capabilities, or best case scenarios – and they hope to address the repeatability of their equipment much later in the vendor selection process. “In our opinion, there needs to be more focus on repeatability much earlier in the technical evaluations,” said Danny Uselton, president of Scan Systems Corp. In EMI inspection, repeatability comes down to the equipment’s hardware and software capabilities to identify the signal given by an imperfection or artificial reference indicator and report those imperfections at a similar amplitude, consistently and repeatedly. The equipment must have the capability to pick up the flaw and break the alarm threshold each and every time in order to provide the level of confidence in the inspection that API requires. If the signal from a flaw falls within an area of significant noise generated from the pipe, it may stand out during one pass (detected), but get lost “in the grass”

The Pitco M-Series from Scan Systems

until much later in the selection process.” While 0.4" (10mm) pipe wall thickness has historically been the limit for existing EMI/MFL inspection equipment, Scan Systems’ Pitco M-Series with ESP upgrade can reliably detect and repeat on N5 ID notches up to 0.545" (13.84mm) wall thickness and N10 ID notches up to 0.625" (15.875mm) walls. This ability to accurately detect and repeat on these types of indications has been accomplished through the hard work and determination of the employees in the R&D department of Scan Systems Corporation.

during the next run (repeatability). Using advanced signal processing algorithms combined with proprietary sensors and cutting-edge signal detection hardware, Scan Systems’ Pitco M-Series with ESP upgrade has dramatically improved the ability to separate a flaw’s signal from the background noise, and is claimed to offer the best S:N ratio on any given pipe in the industry. Matt Rutledge, general manager/VP of Scan Systems, believes that repeatability is a top priority and something customers should ask about sooner in the vendor selection process. “Surprisingly, many steel mills, processors and third party inspection companies neglect to inquire about the inspection equipment’s capabilities in regards to repeatability

Scan Systems Corp – USA Email: mattr@scansystems.com Website: www.scansystems.com

Tubular inspection services TUBOSCOPE, a division of National Oilwell Varco, is a supplier of tubular inspection services and equipment to the petroleum and pipe manufacturing industry. Its technologies allow inspection of new and used tubular goods to demanding industry and customer specifications. The company’s systems of tubular goods worldwide, that can be employed to effectively inspect tubulars as rapidly as they are fabricated. These mill units are capable of operating at high testing speeds and can be custom- designed to production line requirements. An example of this capability within the Tuboscope product line is the Truscope A/S, which stands for Truscope-Amalog- Sonoscope. This inspection system combines the non-destructive techniques of EMI (electro-magnetic induction) and UT (ultrasonic) principles to detect, evaluate and classify, in a single pass of the pipe through the system, transverse include Amalog ® and Sonoscope ® electromagnetic inspection technologies, and Truscope ® , TruWall ® , and TruScan ® ultrasonic (UT) inspection systems. Tuboscope supplies mill inspection equipment, available to manufacturers

and longitudinal, internal and external flaws as well as wall thickness variations and laminations. The Truscope A/S system provides full-body inspection across a large range of pipe diameters. These pipes can be seamless or ERW, manufactured of ferrous or non-ferrous alloy materials, and with a variety of end conditions – saw-cut or cropped; plain-end; threaded; coupled; and upset or non-upset. NOV Wellbore Technologies – USA Fax: +1 713 799 5452 Website: www.nov.com

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J anuary 2016