Flaw Detector Is Validated

The Phasor XS flaw detector from the Inspection Technologies business of GE Energy’s Measurement & Control Solutions (USA) has been successfully used in a weld inspection procedure replacing conventional ultrasound, which has been approved by Petrobras Engineering of Brazil. The innovative procedure was developed and qualified jointly by GE’s Inspection Technologies business and Marcelo Salomão, a level 3 engineer, employed by the POLiend NDT Company of Piracicaba.

Weld inspection is a critical task to assure the quality of pressure vessels, equipment, structures and pipelines. With Phasor XS this task can be performed rapidly and accurately, increasing POD (Probability of Detection), and reducing the inspection time by 50%, compared with conventional ultrasonic inspection. With phased array, the operator can electronically multiplex a multi-element probe to achieve precise control over the angle of inspection, the amplitude and the depth of focus of each individual ultrasonic beam. The resultant inspection image is presented as a full colour, sector B-scan on the unit’s high resolution TFT screen, providing comprehensive, easy-to-understand data in real time. Any of the A-scans which make up the sector scan can be selected for separate display or for simultaneous display with the sector image to allow instant and reliable sizing. This eliminates the subjective interpretation of the conventional inspection, to allow more reliable decision-making.

As Salomão explains, “This new inspection procedure using the Phasor XS represents a significant step in improving the evaluation of defects, consolidating technological advances with the highest productivity, ensuring new knowledge on an increasing basis and assuring the satisfaction of all people concerned”.

As a spokesman of the Certification, Qualification and Inspection Department of Petrobrás-Sequi added, “Our Company is committed to new technologies and here we have validated for the first time a procedure that replaces the manual conventional ultrasound with the manual Phased Array technology. This was effected using the Phasor XS, which proved extremely efficient and easy to operate in the pipeline inspection processes”.