Nuclear Industry
Check Valve Owners Group
AE Leak Detection
Utilizing Midas Meter®
Score - Atlanta
June 14th 2011
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Robert Greenlees
Presentation Outline
Introduction
Acoustics overview / historical Use Of AE
Midas Meter® Development
Software & PDA
Case Studies
Use & Benefits
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Score - Group Plc.
UK Headquarters
Global Presence
> 1,400 Valve Service Professionals
UK x8
Norway x2
Denmark
Sweden
Italy
Azerbaijan
Kazakhstan
UAE
Malaysia x2
Indonesia
Nigeria
Canada x3
Australia x2
Trinidad &
Tobago
Brazil
Venezuela
Mexico
50+ years nuclear service & product
development experience
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US Locations
Houston Tx
Atlanta Ga
Sanford NC
Score Atlanta Inc.
• Field Service & Engineering
• Score Dunegan AE Products
• V-Map On Line Valve
Monitoring
• MIDAS Meter ®
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Parallel Initiatives
Utah State Water Research Lab
Portable Diagnostic Systems
Disc Impacts
Hand-held Ultrasonic Tools
Oil & Gas Research
BP AE Research
Built database of Leakage Correlations
Leakage Quantification
Led to On Line Systems
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Typical frequency ranges
Human
Dog
Mice
Dolphin
Bat
Whale
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=>
=>
=>
=>
20 – 20,000Hz
40 – 60,000Hz
1,000 – 90,000 Hz
2,000 – 110,000 Hz
20 – 120,000 Hz
16 – 150,000 Hz
Midas Meter ® => 60,ooo – 600,000Hz
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Rotating equipment frequencies
 Equipment Shaft Rotation Frequency – (SRF) = RPM / 60
• Equipment Shaft Rotation - 400 to 3600 RPM - 6.7
to 60 Hz
 Blade Passage Frequency – (BPF) = # of blades x RPM / 60
• Blade Passage - 1600 to 21,600 BPM - 26.7
to 360 Hz
 Motor Rotation Frequency (MRF) = RPM / 60
• Motor Rotation - 870 to 3600 RPM, 14.6
8
to 60 Hz
General purpose ultrasonic devices
Ultraprobe
SDT 120
Insp 400
Sonic 3000
Leaktector
Exair 9061
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=>
=>
=>
=>
=>
20,000 – 100,000 Hz (100kHz)
40,000 Hz
20 – 120,000 Hz
30,000 – 50,000 Hz
40,000 Hz
35,000 – 45,000 Hz
Midas Meter ® => 60,ooo – 600,000Hz
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Score Atlanta design and manufacture
application specific sensors
Sensor calibration demonstrating peak
sensitivity for a given sensor design
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Picking a leak detection tool
 By sampling at higher frequencies the Midas meter ®
will see small leaks general purpose devices wont see,
while ignoring low frequency “interference noise”.
 Eventually when the leak
magnitude increases to a
certain level the low
frequency device will
pick up this flow noise,
(along with all the other
low frequency noises
discussed preciously)
No Leak
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Midas Meter® Sensor Calibration
AE Sensor Calibration Certificate
Avg Sensitivity 100-1000kHz:
-70.2 dB
09/0035
Peak Sensitivity:
-63.0 dB
R. Zhou
Peak Frequency:
345.5 kHz
Sensor Type:
HD-1000
Sensor S/N:
Calibrated By:
Calibration Date:
July 30 2010
-60
Sensitivity (dB ref 1V/µBar)
-65
-70
-75
-80
-85
-90
-95
-100
0
100
200
300
400
500
Frequency (kHz)
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600
700
800
900
1000
Portable leak detection
•Proprietary Sensor
•Proprietary Electronics
•Portable - Hand-Held
•Stand alone instant results
•Data base
•Data Storage
•Leak rate calculation
•Trending
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System Hardware
Score Manufactured
wireless sensor
Score Manufactured
acoustic signal
transducer / sensor
Digital dB Display
Score Manufactured
Software
Wireless PDA
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System Software
•Score functional software design and programming
• Windows mobile platform
• Intuitive and simple to use
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Wireless communication
Bluetooth
Predictive maintenance!
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Specifications
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Completely portable and easy to use
Non Intrusive
Integral display for use stand alone
Battery Powered (rechargeable)
Bluetooth communications from sensor to PDA
PDA for data logging and quantification analysis of leak
detection survey
Data download and export capabilities
Midas Meter® Ambient temperature range: -20ºC to +80ºC
Sensor face high temperature limit +125ºC, above this wave
guides are used
Detects leaks as low as 0.1 litre per minute
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Case studies – Non Nuclear
1. Detection of erosion damage in the body and trim of a
bypass valve avoided the potentially catastrophic loss
of containment of hazardous fluid on an offshore
platform which would have led to emergency
shutdown and consequential loss of production.
Shutdown Avoided
2. A leak detection survey reduced the required scope of
an offshore shutdown campaign and saved an
estimated $100,000.
Work Scope Reduction
3. Survey of 61 Pressure Safety Valves and Blowdown
Valves found that 7 were leaking to flare with an
estimated loss of 85 tonnes/year of gas.
Improved Production
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Eroded bypass valve
Progress Energy - Brunswick Station
Containment atmospheric control (CAC) test
•
•
•
•
Scope 3 x 20” Fisher® Posi-Seal™ butterfly valves
Unable to easily identify the leaking valve
Conservative approach taken
WO’s created for all 3 valves
In parallel - Contacted Score
• Performed 2 hr training session
• Performed test the following day
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Brunswick CAC test Results
 Findings
• Midas meter® readings at all three butterfly valve were the
same as background
• Solenoid valve V160 was identified as leaking
 Results
• Upon disassembly butterfly valves showed no sign of leakage
• Solenoid valve was replaced / retest was successful
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Conclusion
 Without Midas Meter®
• The butterfly valves would have been worked
• The as left test would still have failed
• The plant would have to react to scope growth and
schedule delays, possibly expediting parts etc.
• Both solenoids would have to be replaced because it
would not be possible to isolate the leaker
 Resulting Savings in
• Time – Material - schedule – exposure – stress
• One solenoid valve work order only required using Midas Meter®
• Three butterfly work orders and 2 replacement solenoids without
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Energy Northwest Columbia Station
 Two 20” reactor feedwater valves
 900# Velan pressure seal gate valves
 SMB 4 Actuators
 Installed upside down
 Work Scope
• As found LLRT
• Refurbish actuators in situ
• Post maintenance test
• Teledyne Quiklook MOV diagnostic test
• As left LLRT
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Traditional MOV thrust PMT Results
As found thrust at CST
As found total thrust
As found unseating thrust
RFW -V-65A
111,668
201,739
103,942
RFW-V-65B
98,075
205,526
93,461
<800 sccm
As left thrust at CST
As left total thrust
As found unseating thrust
110,321
196,706
66,339
98,749
186,766
64,511
23,000 sccm
123,809
203,132
72,541
6000 sccm
As left thrust at CST (#2) (increased TS setting on RFW-V-65B)
As left total thrust (#2)
As found unseating thrust (#2)
Leak Rate
 From the MOV thrust data available V65B was targeted as
the problem valve
 Midas Meter on loan from Susquehanna arrived
 AE Survey clearly indicated
• V65B was leak tight with AE levels of 22dB at the seat
• V65A was leaking with AE levels of 33dB at the seat
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Customer contacted Score
 Requested help interpreting results
 Requested site support
 Score provided phone support
• Provided suggestions on margin loss
• Recommended course of action
• Customer followed Score recommendations
 Valves passed as left test with better than as found
leak rate numbers
 Costly (and unnecessary) disassembly avoided
resulting in considerable savings in personnel
exposure, costs and schedule hours
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PPL Susquehanna Station
Purchased the first Midas Meter®
Spent a morning in the training center
familiarizing technicians and engineers
Performed desk top and flow loop demos
Left them to it………
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HV20640
LV20641
FW
B
HV20603C
RFP C
HV20603B
RFP B
 SE-259- 026-T3
Test Sketch
HV20603A
RFP A
249017
249801
LRW
249014
249802
HV249F022
249018
RCIC
241013
HV249F013
HV249F012
249F034
249006
249F035
249007
249020
241012
241025A
241023A
249009
241022A
241024A
249008
X-9A
241818A
HV241F032A
241026A
HV20569
241027A
HV24182A
241F010A
HV241F011A
TEST
CONN
241F095A
241F082A
241003
241F096A
241F083A
241004
241030
241031
241021A
RWCU
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Summary of benefits
 Troubleshoot test boundaries
 Major Safety, Production and Cost Savings
 Move beyond PM’s to condition based and predictive maintenance
 Non intrusive scope evaluation / qualification
 Accurate and Consistent Assessment and Reporting
 Rapid and Reliable Data Acquisition
 Certified and calibrated equipment
 Optimized Maintenance Planning
 Improved process control
 Reduction in valve failures in-service
 Reduction of unplanned shutdowns
 Retrieval of lost Megawatts
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The Score Group remains the largest independent valve
engineering company providing Intelligent Valve
Management solutions to oil, gas, and energy industry
customers worldwide
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