I.D.E.A.S’s New Plant Integrity Solution and Wireless Technology Revolutionise Maintenance Management
05 November 2008
International Design Engineering and Services (I.D.E.A.S) Ltd, a world-leading plant-integrity specialist, has launched a new technology providing remote automated-process plant integrity / health monitoring, giving critical information for inspection/maintenance teams, which could potentially increase any ageing plant’s safety and reliability.
Developed and tested over an eight-year period, Integri-Tech™ combines sophisticated analysis, measurement and fitness-for-service assessment technologies to generate continual (daily) and accurately-quantified asset integrity / safety assessments, fitness-for-service statements and inspection requirements for any critical plant or structure as a whole system, including every component, weld and fitting.
The detailed data gathered from this process predicts quantified time to failure and prescribes priority and optimised timescales for inspection and remedial action as necessary. The results can be displayed graphically, via a web portal, to a PC or laptop anywhere in the world, remotely or on-site, providing for the first time quantified remote ‘anytime-anywhere’ integrity management information.
Major advancement in predictive maintenance
Integri-Tech’s plant health and integrity monitoring technology was originally developed for the oil, gas, petroleum and chemical sectors, but the system can be applied to any type of process plant (nuclear, power, pharmaceuticals, food/drink and chemicals for example).
“We believe this is the most powerful technology currently available to address the problem of managing plant integrity and the deficiencies in asset integrity assessment. For the first time, asset management teams can have a visible view of all their integrity assets, with the latest status being provided and constantly updated,” said Bob Campbell, managing director, I.D.E.A.S.
“Integri-Tech is a technology that provides a major step forward for predictive maintenance, putting all the relevant decision making data at the fingertips of the client. Being web-based means anything can be monitored, from weld level right up to site and multi-site level, from anywhere in the world.”
He added: “We have used our 35-plus years of experience of solving complex and challenging engineering and integrity problems to build a world-beating technology solution which effectively automates the whole plant integrity/health monitoring process.” This will greatly assist asset managers to minimise shutdowns, maximise uptime, reduce OPEX and therefore maximise revenue.
The need for effective assessment and monitoring
Assessing or monitoring the integrity of static pressurised plant for age deterioration, environment, vibration, fatigue damage and corrosion, using current technology and techniques can be unsafe, misleading and can put companies and personnel at great risk.
Most companies will have good “condition monitoring systems” in their plant for machinery. However, there has been nothing available until now to adequately address the static pressurised plant health / integrity and provide the correct form of necessary, accurate and commercially affordable monitoring or assessment techniques on the pressurised systems (piping, vessels, etc), where vibration, fatigue, corrosion and damage mainly occurs.
In any name or form, the current techniques and approaches used to manage or monitor integrity/health for most deterioration mechanisms and loadings are often inadequate and can be irrelevant. Yet, the industry continues spending money (whilst still loosing millions in revenue) on these out of date and sometimes misleading approaches, leaving themselves and their plants in danger.
Integri-Tech offers the comprehensive solution
Integri-Tech is a technology that addresses many of the deficiencies in existing technology and applications. The use of this technology eliminates the time and cost wasted, and the danger to safety, using alternative techniques and services for vibration, fatigue and corrosion assessment.
When combined with I.D.E.A.S.’s new unique intrinsically safe wireless monitoring technology, then most critical plant systems can now, for the first time, be monitored using technology that quantifies integrity, plant life, and provides inspection requirements, is fully auditable, code compliant and cost effective.
The system is particularly useful for the management of corroded pipework and pressure vessels, high-energy piping, storage tanks and pipelines, vibrating piping, gas compression systems, chemical systems and structural systems, including plant systems on board platforms affected by ship motion.
Key benefits of Integri-Tech include:
- It solves one of the industries biggest problems – It can predict if the plant integrity is safe, when and where it will fail, and when and where it needs to be inspected
- Pro-actively identifies problems before they occur and become critical
- Provides confidence to allow plant operation with comfort
- Continuously monitors problems and predicts when each level of action is required
- Minimises or eliminates the incidence of human error or unquantified judgement
- Improves safety and reduces the probability of incidents/loss and shutdowns
- Provides anytime-anywhere integrity information on a continuous or periodic basis
- Provides instant data for HSE, COMAH, regulators or insurance purposes
- Provides data to make more informed decisions regarding plant integrity and asset management
- Rapid intelligent modelling technology can create accurate digital models of a plant very quickly, even from scans, CAD, and piping models
Integri-Tech is the only remote monitoring technology that generates accurate quantified plant integrity, daily FFS statements, defining inspection priorities as well as predicting:
- If the plant is safe to operate and for how long
- If it is fit for service
- The rates of damage and deterioration
- When and where it will fail
This includes code compliance, FFS certification, crack growth and rupture assessment and process limitations.
