【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Engineering Equipment】2498–2024: China’s first internal inspection device for thick-walled pipes with a diameter of 273 millimeters successfully completed its pulling test

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Let’s give praise and support to the achievements made in China’s chemical engineering technology and equipment; your participation in discussions is the greatest encouragement. **********************【Ten Years of Progress in Chemical Engineering Equipment】Regular updates and summaries are available – feel free to join the discussions: https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3576046-1-1.html ***************** On May 22, 2024, the first domestic internal inspection device for thick-walled pipes with a diameter of 273 millimeters, developed by Southwest Oil and Gas Field Company, successfully completed its pull-testing. The test results were satisfactory, with accuracy meeting the design specifications, thereby filling a technical gap in this field in China. This newly developed inspection device is designed specifically for injection and production pipelines in gas storage facilities with a wall thickness of 20 millimeters. To meet the requirements of efficient gas injection and extraction in a short period of time, the injection and production pipes in gas storage facilities are typically designed as metal pipes with small diameters, thick wall thicknesses, and high pressure resistance. As the wall thickness of the pipe increases, the inner diameter of the pipe further decreases, posing higher demands on inspection technologies for use within such pipes. Existing general-purpose equipment, due to the need to arrange probes, steel brushes, rubber seals, etc. in a space smaller than that of conventional pipes, suffers from issues such as poor passability, insufficient magnetization strength of the pipes, and low accuracy in defect detection and quantification. To effectively address the practical difficulties encountered in production, the Research Institute for Safety, Environmental Protection, and Technical Supervision of Southwest Oil and Gas Field Company has conducted extensive research on magnetic flux leakage internal inspection technology for high-pressure, thick-walled pipelines in gas storage facilities. Using simulation techniques for magnetic flux leakage signal intensity and detector passability, researchers developed simulation models of the inner detector under different magnetization strengths and detector configurations. After continuously adjusting and optimizing the design, the custom fabrication and assembly of the inner detector were completed, which was subsequently tested through on-site pulling tests. The successful development of the interior detector for thick-walled pipes with a diameter of 273 millimeters not only filled a technical gap in China but also laid the foundation for ensuring the intrinsic safety of high-pressure thick-walled pipes in gas storage facilities.