November 2009 Vol. 236 No. 11

Business Meetings & Events

ROSEN Completes Inaugural AFX Survey

ROSEN USA recently completed the first inline inspection survey to combine both Axial Flaw Detection and Extended-Resolution Geometry technology.

Area Manager Luis Espinosa worked with his client to create a customized tool combination to meet the specific needs of the client’s pipeline. The transverse flux MFL was chosen due to the client’s concerns regarding the integrity of the pipeline’s long-seem welds. A combination tool was important to the client, as it is part of their IMP philosophy to use combination tools whenever possible.

ROSEN’s modular tool design allows for the combination of several different technologies into a single inspection tool body. Combining technologies is more efficient in terms of mobilization and on-site activities, but requires smart electronics, as the combination of ILI technologies is more than purely mechanical.

To be a true combination survey, the electronics of the two separate technologies must be integrated in order to create one correlated data set. After close cooperation with the client, ROSEN’s Research and Technology Center in Lingen, Germany, the decision was made to build the tool from our existing fleet. Houston’s Maintenance department completed an impressive 3-day turnaround to deliver the inspection tool to the job-site on time, and resulted in a successful first run.