US 2026/0140089 A1 · METHOD FOR THE INTERNAL INSPECTION OF STORAGE TANKS

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for internal inspection of storage tanks containing a large volume of residual product and having a very short maintenance window, being applicable mainly in the inspection and maintenance activity of fixed-roof and floating-roof storage tanks, by any refinery or process plant that has a tank storage area (for example, refineries, terminals and petrochemical plants). The aforementioned method comprises installing a stainless-steel cylinder (1) within the storage tank to delimit a confined area inside the equipment, said area being cleaned and decontaminated so that it may subsequently undergo non-destructive thickness measurement and magnetic particle testing to determine the thickness of the bottom plates and to detect possible cracks in the weld seams of the bottom plates.

Claims5

Dependent claims

A method for internal inspection of a storage tank containing a large volume of residual product and having a very short maintenance window, wherein the method comprises the following steps:

(a) installing a stainless-steel cylinder (1) inside the storage tank (2), after it has been opened and still containing the residual product, wherein said cylinder is placed on top of an oil sludge and pressed until it touches a bottom plate;
(b) cleaning the residual product contained inside the cylinder until the bottom plate delimited by the cylinder is revealed, followed by full decontamination from hydrocarbons of the delimited area;
and
(c) carrying out a non-destructive thickness measurement and a magnetic particle testing to measure the thickness of the bottom plates and check for possible cracks in weld seams of the bottom plates.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method for the internal inspection of storage tanks

Life of this patent

Method for the internal inspection of storage tanks

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims5