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Summary
Maintaining banks of heat exchangers, pumps, motors,
compressors, and thousands of valves and steam traps to ensure
the integrity of a final product is a daunting task. Luckily,
ultrasonic technology is available to make the job manageable.
The challenge for plant operators is to facilitate equipment-
condition analysis, detect leaks and make repairs as quickly as
possible. In this article, we will focus on airborne/structure borne
ultrasound and leak detection methods using state-of-the-art
ultrasonic instruments.
UESystems_03002
Alan Bandes
UE Systems, Inc
8 pages
November 2003
sensitive and not "gas" specific. When a leak Inspecting for Leaks in Heat
occurs, the fluid (liquid or gas) moves from Exchangers
the high-pressure side of a leak through the
leak site to the low-pressure side where it In hydrocarbon processing facilities,
expands rapidly and produces a turbulent ultrasound inspections often are made on two
flow. This turbulence has strong ultrasonic major types of heat exchangers: straight shell-
components that ultrasonic instruments detect. in-tubes and U-tubes. Whether they are under
The intensity of the ultrasonic signal falls off pressure or in a vacuum, tubes can be easily
rapidly from the source localizing the leak inspected with ultrasonic translators. Headers
signal and enabling an inspector to isolate the are removed so inspectors have access to the
exact leak site. tube sheets. In both vacuum and pressure
conditions, inspectors listen to the tubes that
Leaks may be located while a system is under are carrying a loud rushing sound produced as
pressure in a vacuum or offline, since pressure fluid flows from the high- pressure to the low-
and vacuum leaks produce a turbulent flow, pressure side of the tube.
which has strong ultrasonic components. For
offline systems, a special tone test uses an
ultrasonic transmitter to produce an ultrasonic
sound source.
uniform ultrasound around the tube bundle. upstream points A and B are equal and the
Operators scan both ends of the tube listening first downstream test point C is louder than A
for an increase in sound level, which will and B, one can assume there is a leak. There
indicate a leak or a tube that is thinning. The may be situations in which structure-borne
preferred inspection method is pressure or ultrasounds emitted from a source just
vacuum, but the tone generator technique is a downstream of the test valve could negatively
good backup for unique situations. influence the test and produce a false positive
or incorrect diagnosis. To guard against this,
In one company where leaks in heat exchanger the D and E test points are used. If one
tubes could short circuit the gas around touches the second downstream test point D
absorption towers and pollute the and it is louder than C, this might indicate that
environment, management now relies on the valve is not leaking and the sound source
ultrasonic technology to comply with is originating further downstream. Testing the
mandatory state emissions limitations. fourth test point E further downstream will
confirm this. If E is louder, one can assume
Some of the facility’s heat exchangers have as that the sound is irrelevant to the valve and is
many as 1100 tubes. Before ultrasonics, they caused by a competing structure-borne
used to pressure-test each tube: put a plug in ultrasound.
each end and then pump air into each unit
holding the pressure to see if it bled off. Locating the Source of Pressure
Testing a series of tubes in this manner was
and Vacuum Leaks
labor intensive. Now the company uses
ultrasonics. With an ultrasonic generator, Ultrasound detection is also used to deal with
technicians surround the tube bundle with both pressure and vacuum leaks. The only
ultrasound and scan the tube sheets for the difference in detecting leaks in the systems is
tubes that carry the sound, indicating a leak. that the greatest amount of turbulence will
occur externally in a pressure leak while in a
Using ultrasonic technology translates into vacuum leak it will be produced internally.
savings, the product supervisor reports. In its Since leak scans are typically performed
largest plant, they have six heat exchangers. externally, the intensity of the sound in a
When they shut it down to pressure test 300- vacuum leak under the same flow conditions
400 tubes, it used to take 24-30 hours. Using will be less than that of a pressurized leak.
the ultrasonic instrument cuts downtime to
only four or five hours. That is a tremendous Most often, an inspector uses a standard
savings in man-hours and operating time, and scanning probe to locate a leak. The probe
in addition, the facility is complying with contains a piezoelectric transducer that when
environmental regulations. exposed to ultrasound pressure flexes and
produces an electrical charge. The airborne
Inspecting Internal Leaking leak sounds are converted from mechanical
Valves energy to electrical energy and amplified and
translated into the audible range.
To determine the condition of a valve,
inspectors employ an “A, B, C, D, and In some leak conditions, the signal may either
sometimes E” method. They touch the be difficult to reach or too subtle to detect
instrument's contact probe at two equidistant with standard scanning probes. Specialized
points upstream of the valve to create a probes have been developed to help locate
baseline reading and compare them to two leaks at a distance and to detect low-energy
equidistant points downstream. If the
© 2004 SKF Reliability Systems All Rights Reserved 4
Ultrasonic Inspection
leaks. For those leaks that are out of range, To pinpoint the source of a leak, inspectors
(high up or far away), parabolic dishes are begin by scanning an area listening for a leak
used. These probes are designed to collect far sound. By adjusting the sensitivity/volume
off sounds in the "parabola" and focus them control, they follow the sound to the loudest
into an array of transducers where the sound point until they are right on top of the leak. In
source is amplified. Depending on the size and certain cases, when employing the scanning
shape of the parabola, the focal range can be probe, inspectors may use a rubber focusing
as tight as five degrees, allowing a user to probe with a narrow opening that allows them
pinpoint the location of a leak at distances to pinpoint an exact location.
greater than hundred feet.
Chemical sniffers may be affected by any
Low-level leaks, such as a vacuum leak in a number of gasses present. But a key advantage
distillation column or leaks in pipe/flange of ultrasound is that it is not gas specific and
fittings, may be difficult to locate with may be used to locate a number of different
conventional scanning modules. A scanning types of leaks in any kind of environment
probe with an internal “horn” shape (referred even if there is a saturation of gasses.
to as a close-focus module) may be used to
scan the leak site closely. The leak sound is Testing for Faulty Steam Traps
amplified and carried via the funnel-shaped
To perform an accurate test, it is important to
collecting cone to the sensing transducer
understand the way different traps function.
enabling users to identify the leak site.
Acoustically, there are two types of traps:
For low-level pressure or vacuum leaks where continuous flow and intermittent flow. Poorly
turbulent flow is low or non-existent, a unique operating trap conditions can range from a
method that combines a liquid "bubble test" complete blow-through to leaking to plugged.
with ultrasound can be used. A bubble Plugged traps will be cool and quiet while
solution that has a low-surface tension is operating traps and leaking traps will be hot
applied to the suspect leak site. In the presence and produce sound. To be sure a trap is hot or
of a leak, bubbles form quickly and burst cold, before testing, it is recommended that
producing a detectable ultrasound. For the temperature of the trap be taken with a
pressure leaks, an inspector uses the scanning non-contact infrared thermometer.
probe. Vacuum leaks can be located similarly.
Before beginning a survey, take a trap map For example, one facility reported that their
along with you to plan your route and make ultrasonic-based steam and maintenance
sure the traps are tagged/ identified accurately. program in one location of its plant saved
If an inspector does not have an accurate map $250,799 in the first year of the program
of the traps either he should make one or take alone. This translates into 37 million pounds
photos (with a digital camera) of the trap of steam saved when compared to the previous
locations and label them. Then he should year. Another area saved $141,670, or 25
create a method of identifying all traps with million pounds of steam a year.
tags so that any problem found can be easily
referenced and located for follow up action. Monitoring Bearing Wear and
Always note the type of trap you are testing. Lubrication Issues
Using the ultrasonic instrument, touch the trap Ultrasound inspection can provide an early
on the downstream side with the instrument’s warning of bearing failure, lack of lubrication,
contact probe and adjust the sensitivity to over-lubrication, for high-speed as well as
better hear flow conditions. Listen to the trap low-speed bearings. There are two methods -
operation and observe the meter. The "overall amplitude level" and "spectrum
downstream side is used to determine leakage. analysis" - that are commonly used to monitor
First touch directly upstream of the trap and bearings.
adjust the sensitivity to a midpoint level where
flow conditions can be observed without
overloading the display. Then touch
downstream listening for the trap operation.
An intermittent trap should have an
intermittent sound; a continuous flow trap will
have a modulating “continuous” flow. If one
is not sure of the type of trap being tested,
refer to the manufacturer’s guide or check
with your local trap supplier. Some ultrasound
equipment manufacturers and steam trap
manufacturers have sound samples available.
into range if the received sound amplitudes are This approach can be used to test and analyze
either too high or too low. If frequency tuning low as well as medium and high-speed
is used, tune the instrument to 30 kHz. bearings, gears, pumps, and compressor
Compare similar bearings under the same load valves.
and RPM conditions. Most of the bearings
should be within the same range with the same
sound quality (usually a rushing noise similar
to an air leak). The bearing with the lowest
reading can be used as the baseline reading.
Another method is to take an average of the
readings and use that as the baseline.
starvation and the extreme of over lubrication. methods in general. Of course, every
Also, one has to take into account secondary hydrocarbon processing plant is unique, and
functions of the lubricant such as keeping-out inspection methodologies should be tailored to
contamination, and to absorb wear debris, the specific needs of a facility. The best advice
leading to shorter (re)lubrication intervals. In is to research the variety of preventive /
any case, to accomplish the goal of lubrication predictive instruments and accessories
optimization, one should know when (not) to available, and then talk with manufacturers
(re)lubricate and how much lubricant to add. and service providers regarding what best
suits the needs. Ultrasonic instruments have
This may be accomplished with a condition- also proven effective for the detection of valve
based lubrication strategy. Simply put, the blow-by, cavitations in pumps, corona in
condition of the bearing determines when to switchgear, and the inspection of and the
lubricate. If a bearing is working properly and integrity of seals and gaskets in tanks.
does not demonstrate any changes that warrant
lubrication, such as increased decibel levels
(over a baseline), temperature, or
contamination level, the bearing should be left
alone. Should such conditions change and a
bearing demonstrates a need for lubrication,
then a lubricant should be (re)applied.
Monitoring the lubricant as it is applied can
also help to determine how much to add and
when to stop the application.