Method and System for Detecting and Quantifying Broken Steel Wire Wraps in Prestressed Concrete Cylinder Pipe (PCCP)
AssigneeSafenet International LLC
InventorJoseph Y. Fang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method using a pipe robot in network PCCP to carry electromagnetic detection equipment for inspection and diagnostic routines. The system is able to diagnose PCCP broken steel wire(s) and improve diagnostic speed 10× without losing accuracy. The system can be trained by data to adapt to different PCCP pipeline. The system replaces on-site professionals, greatly improves the detection speed, and is able to identify PCCP broken steel wire(s) in real time. An optimal configuration of the emitter and the receiver coil offset distance, the emitter signal frequency, and the frequency of acquisition is used in order to increase diagnostic speed.
Claims20
A method for building a database for qualitative testing of PCCP structures, the method comprising:
- a. setting up a known length of test PCCP having first and second open ends;
- b. positioning a track within the test PCCP extending between the first and second ends;
- c. moving a pipe robot back and forth along the track, the robot comprising P-wave equipment including an emitter coil for emitting a continuous signal within a PCCP structure and a detector (receiver coil) for detecting the continuous signal after being emitted into a PCCP structure;
- d. operating the P-wave equipment while the pipe robot moves back and forth on the track;
- e. detecting a signal by the P-wave equipment detector and simultaneously recording a location of the moving pipe robot within the test PCCP;
- f. storing the detected signal and the recorded location as a plurality of signal readings;
- g. associating each of the plurality of signal readings with a known structural feature of the test PCCP;
- h. storing the plurality of signal readings with the associated known structural features into a database;
- i. manipulating the test PCCP to replicate different structural conditions of PCCP;
- and
- j. repeating the steps (c) through (i) until all desired structural conditions have been replicated.
A qualitative testing system for a PCCP pipeline network, the system comprising:
- a database comprising a plurality of P-wave signal readings associated with structural features of PCCP pipe;
- a pipe robot configured with a motor to move autonomously through a PCCP pipeline network and having P-Wave equipment thereon including a transmitter and a receiver;
- a computer having memory and programming to control operation of the motor;
- and
- a navigational system program for the PCCP pipeline network stored on the memory of the computer;
- wherein the pipe robot is moved through the PCCP pipeline network by the computer-controlled motor, guided by the stored navigational system program while the P-wave equipment is continually operating to transmit and receive a signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.