Trip Avoidance X-ray inspection
J R McNab
Nucleonic level control instrumentation (‘nucleonics’) are widely used in oil & gas and other industrial sectors to monitor product levels in pressure vessels and equipment, essential for optimising production and ensuring safe operations.
Nucleonics typically include a radiation source(s) placed on one side of a pressure vessel and sensitive detectors placed opposite; the intensity of the radiation dose impinging on the detector is directly affected by the internal fluids rising and falling.
Conventional radiography exposures in the vicinity of nucleonics can interact with the detectors and cause unplanned process upsets, normally called plant and equipment ‘trips’. These unplanned outages result in substantial lost revenue for operators, as well as an increased safety risk from interrupted process monitoring and plant start-up.
This paper describes an innovative solution to an age-old production problem, reducing a historic need for deferrals while increasing inspection coverage, by combining an understanding of the technology and management of the oil & gas production process, specialised pulsed X-ray systems and the strict requirements of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017.
The result is a unique solution called the Trip Avoidance X-ray Inspection (TAXI) system, which eliminates the effects of radiography operations on nucleonics, allowing essential integrity evaluation of process pipework while in-service.
Nucleonics typically include a radiation source(s) placed on one side of a pressure vessel and sensitive detectors placed opposite; the intensity of the radiation dose impinging on the detector is directly affected by the internal fluids rising and falling.
Conventional radiography exposures in the vicinity of nucleonics can interact with the detectors and cause unplanned process upsets, normally called plant and equipment ‘trips’. These unplanned outages result in substantial lost revenue for operators, as well as an increased safety risk from interrupted process monitoring and plant start-up.
This paper describes an innovative solution to an age-old production problem, reducing a historic need for deferrals while increasing inspection coverage, by combining an understanding of the technology and management of the oil & gas production process, specialised pulsed X-ray systems and the strict requirements of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017.
The result is a unique solution called the Trip Avoidance X-ray Inspection (TAXI) system, which eliminates the effects of radiography operations on nucleonics, allowing essential integrity evaluation of process pipework while in-service.
