PostedMarch 27, 2024

https://www.olympus-ims.com/en/insight/life-of-offshore-inspector-hydroform/

At Bilfinger UK’s division based in Esbjerg, Denmark, Raphael Mokri is the Advanced NDT Project Engineer. The office has around 60 employees, and Raphael’s job is to support the division in terms of any technical queries for all phased array, time-of-flight diffraction (TOFD), and other advanced NDT applications.

Bilfinger is an industrial service provider specializing in asset management for the onshore and offshore energy industry.

As part of their daily duties, Raphael and his team of inspection technicians regularly employ our HydroFORM™ phased array (PA) scanner with the OmniScan™ X3 flaw detector to acquire PA ultrasonic data. On a recent visit to Evident’s office in France, Raphael had a chance to try out the next-generation HydroFORM scanner and give us his feedback. Before delving into what Raphael thinks about the new design features, first we asked him to tell us a bit about the job of an NDT inspector on offshore rigs.

PostedMarch 27, 2024

https://www.olympus-ims.com/en/insight/investments-in-quality-training-and-equip...

Kakivik Asset Management, a leader in asset integrity management and inspection services, recently held an intro to phased array class at their Anchorage, Alaska office. The training was attended by nearly two dozen ultrasound specialists and was conducted by Shane Walton from the University of Ultrasonics. Evident provided the equipment used for the training.

The 40-hour class focused on the application of 0° phased array (PA) for corrosion mapping in the Alaskan oilfields. While North Slope UT inspections have remained largely unchanged over the years, with technicians manually scrubbing pipes of all sizes, the evolution of ultrasonic technology has paved the way for new methods of inspection.

PostedMarch 27, 2024

https://www.olympus-ims.com/en/insight/comparing-rope-access-inspection-to-a-sky...

Rope-access inspectors are a rare breed. Performing an inspection hanging from a rope several meters in the air requires not only specialized training and a capacity to work at heights but also competence in nondestructive testing (NDT) techniques such as ultrasound (UT).

While safety is a major concern with this method, so is the scarcity of skilled rope-access inspectors, efficiency, and expense. We’ve blogged in the past about the potential for drones to increase the safety of industrial inspections at heights, but it also offers an alternative that helps circumvent the shortage of skilled rope-access inspectors.

Serguei Solokhine from Skygauge Robotics joins us as a guest blogger to look at the issue from a time and cost savings perspective. Using in-service storage tank inspection as an example, he compares the rope-access method with the Skygauge drone solution, equipped with our 38DL PLUS™ UT thickness gauge and transducer technology.

PostedOctober 6, 2023

https://www.olympus-ims.com/en/applications/inspection-of-large-reciprocating-en...

Large reciprocating internal combustion engines (RICEs) are widely employed in many industries to generate electricity or drive mechanical equipment—propeller shafts and pumps, for instance. The working principle of these engines is the same as traditional automotive combustion engines, but on a much larger scale. Here, we discuss RICE condition monitoring techniques and the uses of borescopes, along with best practice guidelines and troubleshooting tips to get the most out of these types of inspections.