Development, Field Testing and Commercialization of a Crack and Mechanical Damage Sensor for Unpiggable Natural Gas Transmission Pipelines

This project will complete development of a crack and a mechanical damage sensor. It will undertake the technology transfer tasks necessary to integrate these sensors into the commercial offering through Pipetel Technologies, a company that provides commercial service offering for the Explorer family of robotic devices and addressing the inspection of unpiggable natural gas transmission and distribution pipelines. As part of this effort, the team will perform field demonstrations of these sensors in four different live pipelines using the Explorer 20/26 platform which was commercialized earlier this year and the result of a successful research and development (R & D) program that include previous cofunding and overall support from Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). The crack sensor is based on a combined transverse magnetic flux leakage (TMFL) and electro magnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) technology, while the mechanical damage sensor is an optical one. This work will be conducted by a team consisting of NYSEARCH, the research and development sub-organization of the Northeast Gas Association (NGA), and Invodane Engineering (IE), the developer and commercializer of this technology. This project will last (15) months.

• Record URL:
  http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/matrix/prjHome.rdm?prj=496
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Program Information: Pipeline Safety Research

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $840396.00
• Contract Numbers:

  DTPH56-13-T-000006

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

  U.S. Department of Transportation
  East Building, 2nd Floor 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Burrough, Robert

• Performing Organizations:

  Northeast Gas Association

  20 Waterview Boulevard, 4th Floor
  Parsippany, NJ  United States  07054
• Principal Investigators:

  D'Zurko, Daphne

• Start Date: 20130901
• Expected Completion Date: 20150331
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• Source Data: RiP Project 40262

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Field tests; Flaw detection; Natural gas pipelines; Robotics; Sensors
• Subject Areas: Maintenance and Preservation; Pipelines;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01572654
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: DTPH56-13-T-000006
• Files: RiP
• Created Date: Aug 12 2015 1:00AM