Dual Purpose PIG for Cleaning and Internal Integrity Assessment for Hazardous Liquid Pipelines

Overview

Main Objective

This project will deliver a ready-to-commercial product and the associated software package which can be applied to transfer a cleaning pig into a dual-purpose pig for simultaneous cleaning and pipeline internal integrity assessment.

Public Abstract

Cleaning pigs such as mandrel pigs have been popularly and frequently applied as cost-effective tools for removing accumulated liquids, separating dissimilar fluids, and dewatering. On the other hand, inline inspection (ILI) pigs are occasionally used to assess pipeline integrity with a much higher cost, a potential longer shut-down time, and the needs for special technical backgrounds to use, limiting their frequent applications. The cleaning and inspection services are especially important for hazardous liquid pipelines as the failures of these pipelines would induce catastrophic consequences to the environments and society. The objective of this project is to develop a cost-effective and easy-to-install attachment set that transfers existing cleaning pigs into a dual-purpose pig for simultaneous cleaning and internal integrity assessment for hazardous liquid pipelines. The tool set will take the advantages of computer vision which can be attached to the cleaning pig to collect internal conditions of the pipelines. Based on the collected videos, a software package will be developed to transfer the detected videos into useful digital twin which can be easily used by the operators to assess the pipeline internal integrity. Such a tool set, although cannot eliminate the needs of ILI pigs, it will significantly reduce the frequency for the needs of ILI pigs and enhance the safety for the hazardous liquid pipelines to support the decision-making of pipeline operators to better manage limited resources for more efficient use.

Anticipated Results: This project will deliver a commercially-ready product and the associated software package which can be applied to transfer a cleaning pig into a dual-purpose pig for simultaneous cleaning and pipeline internal integrity assessment.

Potential Impact on Safety: The cost-effectiveness, ease to install and use of the proposed tool and associate software will provide operators an affordable solution for alternative in-house inspection tools that can be integrated into existing cleaning pig services. Such a tool set will significantly improve the management efficiency of the hazardous liquid pipelines and other pipelines and enhance the safety of these pipeline with reduced needs in using ILI services to accommodate the safety needs with limited budget. Its cost-effectiveness and ease to install and use will provide operators an affordable solution for alternative in-house inspection tools that can be integrated into existing cleaning pig services

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