RU49253U1 - PIPELINE DAMAGE DETECTION SYSTEM - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model relates to means of protecting and monitoring the technical condition of pipeline systems and is intended to detect the fact and localization of the place of unauthorized actions and other factors that can lead to damage to the pipeline or resulting from natural aging, as well as mechanical stress on the pipeline. The essence of the utility model: a system (a set of devices) contains acoustic sensors, each of which is connected to an amplifier and a filter, as well as a control unit, which contains n acoustic sensors for monitoring mechanical influences, sensors for monitoring the state of the pipeline and diagnostic emitters, combined into n modules of monitoring sensors made with the possibility of installation directly on the pipeline, as well as n acoustic sensors for monitoring the state of the background, made with the possibility of installation in the ground near each th module of control sensors, 3n blocks of automatic gain control, each of which is structurally combined with one amplifier and a bandpass filter to form n signal receiving modules, each of which is connected to a signal processing and decision module consisting of a microprocessor and random access memory, and each a signal processing and decision module through a data exchange module comprising at least one transceiver and two trunk amplifiers, connected to a control unit, execution ennym a remote terminal device comprising a central processor and a multiprotocol switching node. Signal receiving modules, signal processing and decision making modules, and data exchange modules are structurally combined into n signal receiving and processing blocks.

Description

The utility model relates to means of protecting and monitoring the technical condition of pipeline systems and is intended to detect the fact and localization of the place of unauthorized actions and other factors that can lead to damage to the pipeline or resulting from natural aging, as well as mechanical stress on the pipeline.

There is a method of determining the location and size of a leak in a pipeline and a device for its implementation [RF Patent No. 2221230, IPC G 01 M 3/24, s. 09/21/2001., Op. 01/10/2004.]. The method consists in the fact that the acoustic signals are received from the noise of the leak by two sensors located along the pipeline, the acoustic signals are converted into electrical signals, and after amplification, filtering, accumulation and determining the mutual spectrum of electrical signals, the presence of signs of acoustic signals is detected by the energy level of the mutual spectrum. An alarm is generated and leak points are determined by the difference in the arrival times of the acoustic signals to the two sensors. The diameter of the damage is estimated from the data on the frequency of the maximum of the reciprocal spectrum module, on the velocity of the jet, determined on the basis of information on pressures and densities of the media in the pipeline and in the environment, as well as on the speed of the product in the pipeline. For long pipelines, the proposed method includes receiving signals from acoustic sensors located parallel to the pipeline at distances d from each other, which are determined by the mathematical dependencies proposed according to the invention. In this case, the accumulation of results and cross-spectral analysis of signals is carried out between each

a pair of neighboring sensors continuously or occasionally according to a predetermined program, and when an alarm is detected, before determining the location of the leak, the emergency section of the pipeline between the pair of neighboring sensors signaling the presence of a leak is determined. A device for determining the parameters of a leak in a pipeline contains n measuring channels, each of which consists of a series-connected block of acoustic transducers, a gain block, the output of which is connected to the first input of the filtering block, an analog-to-digital conversion block, and also contains a control block. In addition, the n-channel information compression unit, the multiplex information transmission channel and the information decompression unit are additionally introduced into the device in series, while the n inputs of the n-channel information compression unit are connected to the corresponding outputs of the n analog-to-digital conversion blocks, the n-1 channel block is also introduced accumulation and analysis of mutual spectra having n inputs and n-1 outputs, with each of the n physical channels of the output of the decompression block of information being connected to the corresponding input of the n-1 channel of the second block for the accumulation and analysis of mutual spectra, the n-1 channel block for detecting the leak, the n-1 channel block for determining the location of the leak, the n-1 channel block for determining the size of the leak, the n-1 channel block for determining the filter band, the inputs of which are connected in parallel with the corresponding outputs of the n-1 channel block for the accumulation and analysis of mutual spectra, and the output n-1 of the channel block for determining the filter band is connected to the second inputs of the filter blocks, an alarm signal generating block is also input, the input of which is connected to the output Ohm n-1 channel block leak detection, with the output n-1 channel block determining the location of the leak and with the output n-1 channel block determining the size of the leak, also introduced the indicator of the location and size of the leak, the input of which is connected to the output of the block forming the alarm signal. The control unit with its control outputs and information inputs is connected to n-

3 channel information compression unit, information decompression unit, n-1 channel accumulation and analysis of mutual spectra, n-1 channel leak detection block, n-1 channel leak location block, n-1 channel leak size determination block, n-1 a channel block for determining the filtering band, a block for generating an alarm, and an indicator of the location and size of the leak.

A device for monitoring the technical condition of the pipeline [Certificate for utility model No. 33233, IPC G 01 M 3/24, z. 03/31/2003., Op. 10.10.2003.], Containing n leakage detection channels, each of which contains an acoustic sensor connected to the input of the acoustic information pre-processing device, made in the form of series-connected amplification unit, filtering unit, analog-to-digital converter unit and matching unit, also containing a multiplex information transmission channel, the output of which is connected to a demultiplexer connected in series with the acoustic information processing unit, while the acoustic sensors are updated on the pipeline at a distance d from each other, characterized in that n vibration detection channels are introduced into it, each of which consists of a vibration sensor connected to the input of the vibration information pre-processing channel and n acoustic emission channels, each of which consists of a sensor acoustic emission connected to the input of the channel for pre-processing of acoustic emission information having the structure of the channel for pre-processing of acoustic information, each i-th acoustically the sensor, the i-th vibration sensor and the i-th acoustic emission sensor, installed in close proximity to each other, are structurally combined with their information preprocessing channels and form the i-th measuring post, the outputs of all n measuring posts are connected to the corresponding inputs of the multiplexer channel information transfer, also introduced block

processing vibration information, a processing unit for acoustic emission information and a shipping monitoring unit, the inputs of which are connected to the corresponding outputs of the demultiplexer, while the input of the demultiplexer is connected to the output of the multiplex information transmission channel, a display, adjustment, documentation and control system is also introduced, the inputs of which are connected with outputs of the acoustic information processing unit, the vibration information processing unit, the acoustic emission information processing unit and the observation unit denia for shipping.

As a prototype, a device was selected for implementing a method for determining the location of a leak as a source of acoustic radiation [Patent US 4858462 A, 08/22/1989.], Containing two spaced apart acoustic leak sensors (transducers), two amplification and filtering units, two analog-to-digital converters, a processor floating threshold and differential signal, a computer that performs the functions of a control unit with display facilities.

The disadvantages of the prototype include ensuring the fixation of already existing leaks and does not imply monitoring the condition of the pipeline at earlier stages (for example, thinning of the walls of the pipeline, attempted unauthorized access, etc.).

The objective of the utility model was to ensure control over the technical condition of the pipeline, to ensure high efficiency and reliability of detecting the fact and place of unauthorized actions that could cause significant damage, and, in particular, lead to a man-made accident.

This problem is solved by a system (a set of devices) containing acoustic sensors, each of which is connected to an amplifier and a filter, as well as a control unit that contains n acoustic sensors for monitoring mechanical influences, sensors for monitoring the state of the pipeline and diagnostic emitters, combined into n modules of monitoring sensors, executed with

the ability to install directly on the pipeline, as well as n acoustic sensors for monitoring the state of the background, configured to install 3n automatic gain control units in the ground near each module of control sensors, each of which is structurally combined with one amplifier and a bandpass filter to form n signal receiving modules each of which is connected to a signal processing and decision module as part of a microprocessor and random access memory, and each si processing module signals and decision making through a data exchange module containing at least one transceiver and two main amplifiers, connected to a control unit made in the form of a remote terminal device containing a central processor, configured to implement the control, diagnostics, and signal information processing functions by means of amplitude and correlation signal processing from two adjacent modules of control sensors, and a multiprotocol switching node. Signal receiving modules, signal processing and decision making modules, and data exchange modules are structurally combined into n signal receiving and processing units with the functionality of adaptively adjusting the detection threshold, accumulating and analyzing the useful signal from the control sensor modules and minimizing external noise by analyzing and subtracting background noise recorded by background sensors.

The claimed utility model is illustrated by drawings.

Figure 1 presents a block diagram of a system for detecting damage to the pipeline. Figure 2 presents the block receiving and processing signals.

The system for detecting damage to the pipeline contains modules for monitoring sensors (MDK) 1 (installed directly on the pipeline at a distance of 300-1000 m from each other), sensors for monitoring the status of the background (DKSF) 2 (installed in the ground next to

pipeline in the immediate vicinity of the control sensors module), signal receiving and processing units (BPOS) 3, and a remote terminal device (UTU) 4. Each control sensors module includes a mechanical damage control sensor (DCMV) 5, a pipeline condition monitoring sensor (DCTC) 6, diagnostic emitter (DI) 7. Each signal receiving and processing unit contains a signal receiving module (MPS) 8 as a part of amplifiers (U) 9, 10 bandpass filters (PF) 11, 12, 13, automatic gain control devices (AGC) 14, 15, 16, processing module and signals and decision making (MOSPR) 17, as part of a microprocessor (MP) 18 and random access memory (RAM) 19 and data exchange module (MOD) 20, as part of a transceiver (PPR) 21 and trunk amplifiers (MU) 22 , 23.

The remote terminal device 4 contains a central processing unit (CPU) 24 and a multi-protocol switching unit (KU) 25. The signal receiving and processing unit 3 is installed at a distance of 5-25 meters from the pipeline, for example, control sensors 1 are connected via cables to it, the sensor for monitoring the state of the background 2, and the data exchange line 26 through which information is transmitted and control commands are received from the remote terminal device 4, and also supply power.

The system for detecting damage to the pipeline is as follows.

Acoustic signals from two adjacent sensors 5, 6 located on the pipeline closest to the place of mechanical impact, leakage, or acoustic emission source are converted into electrical signals that go through the stages of amplification, filtering, and accumulation of slowly changing background signal components in the signal receiving and processing unit 3. The excess of the signal above the background above a given threshold after comparison with

the signal from the sensor for monitoring the state of the background 2 and the corresponding processing in MOSPR 17 leads to the accumulation of signs of a useful signal in RAM 19 and the transmission of the signal to a remote terminal device 4, where, according to the results of correlation processing of signals from two adjacent corresponding sensors 5, 6, an alarm is generated and the place of exposure is determined by the difference in amplitudes and arrival times of acoustic signals to the respective sensors. The signal is transmitted to the remote terminal device 4 by polling from the UTU 4 via the RS485 physical interface in multiplex mode with a digital stream containing information about the BPOS 3 identification number, noise background, useful signal parameters, and detection threshold level. The central processor 24 processes the received information and combines the control functions, diagnostics of the device elements and the amplitude and correlation signal processing, to determine the location of damage by calculating the distance from the sensors 5, 6 S = (D + V * T) / 2, respectively, where V is the speed of sound propagation in the wall of the pipeline, T is the delay time of the signals from the sensors 5, 6. The central processor 24 transmits a warning signal and a location in the coordinates of the world positioning system (GPS) in the middle by maintaining continuous information interaction with upper-level structures through a multiprotocol switching node 25, designed to coordinate data transfer protocols. The system has a self-diagnosis mode produced by diagnostic emitters 7 modules of control sensors 1.

In general, the system provides a multi-position zone for detecting damage along the length of the pipeline, providing information to the dispatcher via the telemechanics channel about the time and place of the damage, the technical condition of the pipeline, as well as the technical condition of the system elements.

Claims (1)

A pipeline damage detection system comprising acoustic sensors, each of which is connected to an amplifier and a filter, as well as a control unit, characterized in that it contains n acoustic sensors for monitoring mechanical influences, sensors for monitoring the state of the pipeline and diagnostic emitters, combined into n modules of monitoring sensors made with the possibility of installation directly on the pipeline, as well as n acoustic sensors for monitoring the state of the background, made with the possibility of installation in the ground each module of control sensors, 3n blocks of automatic gain control, each of which is structurally combined with one amplifier and a bandpass filter to form n signal receiving modules, each of which is connected to a signal processing and decision module consisting of a microprocessor and random access memory, and each signal processing and decision module through a data exchange module comprising at least one transceiver and two trunk amplifiers is connected to a control unit I, made in the form of a remote terminal device containing a central processor, configured to implement the control, diagnostics, and signal information processing functions by means of amplitude and correlation signal processing from two adjacent control sensor modules, and a multiprotocol switching node, while the signal receiving modules, modules signal processing and decision making and data exchange modules are structurally combined into n blocks of signal reception and processing with functional awn adaptive adjustment of the detection threshold, the accumulation and analysis of the useful signal with sensors and control modules to minimize interference by external analysis and subtracting the background noise detected by sensors background.