Intelligent Tools for Pipeline Diagnostics

Inertial Measuring System for Surveying Pipelines (Pipeline Surveying SINS).
Pipeline Surveying, Pipeline inspection tools, Pipeline maintenance.

For maintenance purposes pipelines have to be checked on a regular basis with the help of inspection tools, searching for damage such as deformation, corrosion or leaks. During this inspection it is especially important to determine the exact location of the inspection tools in the pipeline, as this can significantly reduce the scope of necessary repairs. With the help of high precise Strapdown Inertial Navigation System (SINS) the position of a pipeline inspection tool in a pipeline can be exactly determined. Our SINS consists of three laser gyroscopes, three quartz accelerometers, odometers (optional) and an electronics for signal processing. All data are processed using a filter which also integrates additional available aiding information for navigation algorithm.

SINS contains ring laser gyroscopes. Depending on the environmental requirements, the available diameter and the length can be designed customer specific. The accelerometers used to have measuring ranges up to 20 g with 1 μg resolution.

SINS with three ring laser gyroscopes and three accelerometers (resolution 1 μg).

Size: min diameter 130 mm, min L=320 mm (other housing optionally available),

• connection for up to 3 odometers,
• accuracy: < 1 m over 2...10 km aiding.

Pipeline enter hole (marked as red cross) corresponds to zero of coordinate axises. Each turn has its own color, and all five tracks look very tight to each other. Finally, the resulting position error of INS per 2.5 kilometers of passed way is 6 meters (0.24%). Resulting maximum height error after five turns is not more than 1 meter.