New portable unit for onshore, offshore inspection uses
The new phased array flaw-imaging Phasor XS promises to help reduce inspection times and improve probability of detection.
The company says the portable unit is particularly suited for onshore and offshore inspection of pipelines, pressure vessels, and supporting structures.
With its operating platform and easy-to-understand, menu-driven inspection instructions, the new battery-powered instrument requires little operator training. The firm says this instrument brings phased array technology to routine manual inspection, such as weld examination.
When used in phased array mode, the instrument offers as many as 64 channels, and the operator can electronically multiplex a multielement probe to achieve precise control over the angle of inspection, the amplitude, and the depth of focus of each individual ultrasonic beam. The inspection image is presented as a full color, sector B-scan on the unit’s high resolution TFT screen, providing comprehensive data in real time. Any of the A-scans that 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. Sector images and A-scans can be stored on a removable SD card for off-line data analysis and management.
A range of array probes is compatible with the new flaw detector, including dialog probes, containing probe identification data that can be transmitted back to the instrument to ensure increased inspection reliability, minimize setup errors, and assist in probe operation calculations. In conventional mode, the Phasor XS can use standard ultrasonic probes to carry out conventional inspection, including corrosion and thickness measurement.
Weighing less than 4 kg, the Phasor XS offers an entry-level phased array solution to manual volumetric inspections from the fabrication yard and onshore processing plant to the offshore production platform and pipelines in the harshest of environments.
Source: GE Inspection Technologies LP, 50 Industrial Park, Lewistown, PA 17044.