天然气管道轮式超声波壁厚测量系统的研制

Wheeled ultrasonic wall thickness measurement system develop for natural gas pipeline

天然气管道内部缺少耦合介质,无法使用常规压电超声测量管道壁厚信息,为此研制了一种轮式超声波壁厚测量系统。轮式超声波壁厚测量系统由轮式测厚探头、超声波激励、接收电路、数据分析存储单元和其他接口电路组成。该系统采用轮式超声波探头对管段壁厚值进行测量,将压电超声换能器安装于轮毂上,轮毂外浇铸弹性材料,通过轮面与被检测试件紧密贴合来实现超声波的声场耦合。牵拉试验的测试结果表明:该系统工作稳定,轮式超声波探头与管壁耦合效果良好,能够分辨出全部壁厚值,测量精度达到0.1 mm。该系统可以集成在管道变形、腐蚀及裂纹检测器上使用。

Conventional piezoelectric ultrasonic technique can not be used to measure the wall thickness of natural gas pipeline, in which there is no coupling medium. In this regard, a wheeled ultrasonic wall thickness measurement system is developed. This system consists of wheeled thickness measuring probe, ultrasonic excitation and receiving circuits, data analysis storage units and other interface circuits. The wheeled ultrasonic probe is adopted to measure the pipeline wall thickness. As to the system design, the piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer is mounted on wheel hub, which outside is casted with elastic materials; wheel surface and tested specimens are closely fi tted to achieve the ultrasonic sound fi eld coupling. The pull test results show that this system is stable, and the wheeled ultrasonic probe and the pipe wall are well coupled; it can discern all wall thickness values, with accuracy up to 0.1 mm. This system can be integrated into the pipe deformation, corrosion and crack detectors.