The net effect of the new DNV-technology is both a big improvement in the safety of gas pipelines and substantially reduced inspection cost.

A long-standing problem for the oil and gas industry is that owners of pipelines wish to reduce the downtime or periods of reduced production flow to a minimum. The new DNV-technology makes it possible to maintain gas flows when checking pipelines for possible maintenance requirements.

 

 

 

 Preparing the Beck ARTGPS pig for launch.

 

 Beck Engineering has designed and manufactured both the central electronics and transducer unit that mounts onto the pigs, as well as one of the pigs itself. Furthermore, we have participated throughout the project with our engineering- and design competence, from the very beginning with test-rigs to the live tests performed in Q1 2009.

 

 

 

 

Cleaning of the DNV pig after a test-run.

 

From the DNV press release:
The world market for gas pipeline inspection is estimated to be in the order of USD 300 million per year, and the new method can be used both on land and offshore. Building on acoustic resonance principles, it is based on technology employed in the Second World War. DNV applied the same principle to develop a method for determining whether the tanks in the wrecked German battleship Blücher, which is located in the Oslo Fjord, contained water or oil.

So called “pigs” are devices normally used not only to clean but also to carry out condition monitoring in pipelines. Attaching a simple “necklace” to a standard cleaning pig will now make it possible to determine the condition through absolute measurements of the whole pipeline surface, a radical improvement.