#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The Nornickel Polar Division’s diagnostic center purchased innovative devices that quickly and safely detect compressed air and gas leaks in shutoff valves and pipelines.
They are two foreign ultrasonic acoustic imaging devices: Fluke ii910 and Distran Ultra Pro. And one more unique patented equipment that measures deformations, displacements, movements and vibrations invisible to the human eye, IRIS MX from the American company RDI Tehnologies.
The innovative Fluke ii910 and Distran Ultra Pro instruments are easy to use. They incorporate sensors and a video camera to visualize the location of ultrasound emitted by leaks of all types of gases and vacuums. Leaks are displayed on the touch screen as colored circles.
“The instruments find leaks of any gases at a distance of 30 centimeters to 50 meters. A specialist can move, for example, around an oxygen station, point sensors at equipment and record gas leaks in a photo or video in real time, indicating a specific point. After the diagnostic center specialist has identified a leak, he draws up a report. And the authorities take measures to eliminate problems”, said Pavel Slipets, director of the diagnostics center at Nornickel.
According to him, before the introduction of new technologies, problem areas were diagnosed using soap suds. It was applied to the pipeline: the presence of bubbles indicated a gas leak. The equipment operation had to be stopped, while with the new devices everything happens remotely and, most importantly, safely.
The IRIS MX vibration imaging equipment is just as powerful, with a proprietary video processing algorithm that detects even the smallest movement and amplifies it to a level that is visible to the eye. This allows you to understand what is happening with the objects under study, to find the root causes of problems.
“The device for vibration visualization is yet being developed. There are no limits to its capabilities: the device can be used both for vibration diagnostics of rotating equipment, and for vibration diagnostics of buildings, structures, metal structures and pipelines”, explained the diagnostics center head.
Nornickel’s Polar Division spent more than 34 million rubles on devices for the industrial equipment condition diagnosing.
Recall that equipment diagnostics is one of the important components of a large program to improve the reliability of Nornickel’s industrial assets, in which the company is investing 3.2 billion rubles this year.
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Text: Ekaterina Elkanova, Photo: Nikolay Shchipko
