And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Sunday, December 18, 2022
Pipeline Inspection Guage (PIG) TC Energy Corporation, Alberta, Canada
Used to be a big rubber ball, not some new-fangled robot.
That ball pushed out the gloop when sent through to pipeline under pressure and was suitable for stealing and throwing off high rise balconies to see how far and high it would bounce.
Buddy worked at an American manufacturer of pigs. Gave me a foam 2 inch od sample. Showed me theirs like above. That thing takes pipe wall integrity as well as many other electronic measurements. Pretty amazing how far pigs have come.
We (I work for a big pipeline company doing electrical things) still use the big rubber balls and various cylindro-conical bodies with various cups and brushes added. Those are to clean or to move liquids that accumulate in a gas pipeline, or sludge in a liquid pipeline.
I am a controls tech for a nat gas pipeline company. Several years ago we got a 16 inch smart pig stuck, so they thought it would be smart to lower the downstream pressure and raise the upstream pressure. Yeah, it exploded into a million pieces. Those things are not cheap
What they like to call an 'intelligent' pig, used on a regular basis to evaluate welds, wall thickness, progression of corrosion, general condition. More or less annually for most operations. They still use the balls operationally in conditions where the produced fluids have a liquid component. They may start with a smaller one and then work their way up to full size to push the slug out to the other end. Having a slug sitting in a low spot can really affect throughput rate for a gas line.
Used to be a big rubber ball, not some new-fangled robot.
ReplyDeleteThat ball pushed out the gloop when sent through to pipeline under pressure and was suitable for stealing and throwing off high rise balconies to see how far and high it would bounce.
High and far, alcohol was involved.
Buddy worked at an American manufacturer of pigs. Gave me a foam 2 inch od sample. Showed me theirs like above. That thing takes pipe wall integrity as well as many other electronic measurements. Pretty amazing how far pigs have come.
ReplyDeleteBear Claw
Interesting that they spell 'gauge' differently in Canada.
ReplyDeleteIt's a misspelling.
DeleteWe (I work for a big pipeline company doing electrical things) still use the big rubber balls and various cylindro-conical bodies with various cups and brushes added. Those are to clean or to move liquids that accumulate in a gas pipeline, or sludge in a liquid pipeline.
ReplyDeleteThe picture above is a 'smart' pig.
I am a controls tech for a nat gas pipeline company. Several years ago we got a 16 inch smart pig stuck, so they thought it would be smart to lower the downstream pressure and raise the upstream pressure. Yeah, it exploded into a million pieces. Those things are not cheap
DeleteThat'll do, PIG.
ReplyDeleteSomeone had to say it.
--generic
What they like to call an 'intelligent' pig, used on a regular basis to evaluate welds, wall thickness, progression of corrosion, general condition. More or less annually for most operations. They still use the balls operationally in conditions where the produced fluids have a liquid component. They may start with a smaller one and then work their way up to full size to push the slug out to the other end. Having a slug sitting in a low spot can really affect throughput rate for a gas line.
ReplyDelete