The present invention provides a way to increase the density of Hall effect sensors on a MFL inline inspection tool mounting the sensors on a first circuit board which overlies a second circuit board. Op amps for the sensors which condition and filter the analog signal from the sensors are mounted on the first circuit board. Microprocessors mounted on the second circuit board receive the analog signal from the op amp and translate it into a digital signal. Use of the stacked circuit boards doubles the amount of area to mount the sensors and their op amps and microprocessors while maintaining the same footprint. This results in being able to increase the number of Hall effect sensors in that footprint area. In other embodiments the number of layers of circuit boards may be increased beyond two.

The present invention provides a way to increase the density of Hall effect sensors on a MFL inline inspection tool mounting the sensors on a first circuit board which overlies a second circuit board. Op amps for the sensors which condition and filter the analog signal from the sensors are mounted on the first circuit board. Microprocessors mounted on the second circuit board receive the analog signal from the op amp and translate it into a digital signal. Use of the stacked circuit boards doubles the amount of area to mount the sensors and their op amps and microprocessors while maintaining the same footprint. This results in being able to increase the number of Hall effect sensors in that footprint area. In other embodiments the number of layers of circuit boards may be increased beyond two.

The eddy current flaw detection apparatus includes: a pair of detecting coils 10a, 10b arranged in coaxial and spaced relation with a specimen 3; and a bridge circuit two sides of which are constituted by the detecting coils so that magnetic fields generated by these detecting coils 10a, 10b are in opposite phases to each other. A pair of exciting coils 11a, 11b are arranged coaxially with the detecting coils 10a, 10b in a manner to sandwich the pair of detecting coils 10a, 10b therebetween. A distance D between the detecting coil and the exciting coil adjacent thereto is set to a distance where a vibrational noise signal excited in the exciting coil and detected by its adjacent detecting coil is in opposite phase to that of a vibrational noise signal excited in the detecting coil and detected by the detecting coil.

The eddy current flaw detection apparatus includes: a pair of detecting coils 10a, 10b arranged in coaxial and spaced relation with a specimen 3; and a bridge circuit two sides of which are constituted by the detecting coils so that magnetic fields generated by these detecting coils 10a, 10b are in opposite phases to each other. A pair of exciting coils 11a, 11b are arranged coaxially with the detecting coils 10a, 10b in a manner to sandwich the pair of detecting coils 10a, 10b therebetween. A distance D between the detecting coil and the exciting coil adjacent thereto is set to a distance where a vibrational noise signal excited in the exciting coil and detected by its adjacent detecting coil is in opposite phase to that of a vibrational noise signal excited in the detecting coil and detected by the detecting coil.

A robotic device and method for inspecting a pipeline to assess metal loss, the presence of defects and corrosion effects. The robotic device is an inline inspection tool that can establish a positional address in the pipeline using known positional benchmarks. The robotic device comprises flexible electronic caliper sensors measuring pipe diameter and an elastic foam body to prevent seizing within the pipeline. A removable PCB enables interchangeable operation with in-kind devices of different diameters and/or with the computers, extracting and plotting the data. The method of measurement may use data fusion between different instruments and measurement methodologies.

A robotic device and method for inspecting a pipeline to assess metal loss, the presence of defects and corrosion effects. The robotic device is an inline inspection tool that can establish a positional address in the pipeline using known positional benchmarks. The robotic device comprises flexible electronic caliper sensors measuring pipe diameter and an elastic foam body to prevent seizing within the pipeline. A removable PCB enables interchangeable operation with in-kind devices of different diameters and/or with the computers, extracting and plotting the data. The method of measurement may use data fusion between different instruments and measurement methodologies.

Electromagnetic logging tools are optimized using synthetic logs for the purpose of pre-job planning and accuracy/resolution estimation. One, two and three-dimensional forward modeling are used to generate accurate inspection tool responses. A radial one-dimensional (R1D) electromagnetic forward model is also used to compute an approximate log. By constructing non-linear mapping functions between the R1D model-based log and the 2D model-based log, and mapping the R1D synthetic log using the non-linear mapping functions, a quasi 2D log is computed. The quasi 2D log is processed using model-based inversion, thereby providing estimates of pipe parameters. By analyzing the estimates of pipe parameters, tool performance metrics are obtained and analyze to determine the performance of the tool. The tool parameters are adjusted in order to optimize the performance metrics.

Electromagnetic logging tools are optimized using synthetic logs for the purpose of pre-job planning and accuracy/resolution estimation. One, two and three-dimensional forward modeling are used to generate accurate inspection tool responses. A radial one-dimensional (R1D) electromagnetic forward model is also used to compute an approximate log. By constructing non-linear mapping functions between the R1D model-based log and the 2D model-based log, and mapping the R1D synthetic log using the non-linear mapping functions, a quasi 2D log is computed. The quasi 2D log is processed using model-based inversion, thereby providing estimates of pipe parameters. By analyzing the estimates of pipe parameters, tool performance metrics are obtained and analyze to determine the performance of the tool. The tool parameters are adjusted in order to optimize the performance metrics.

A computer-implemented method, computer program, and device for evaluating timed-based probabilities of failure of sections of a pipe network are provided. To do so, the pipe sections are clustered into classes based on structural and environmental parameters; within each class a sample of pipe sections are selected to be inspected. The scores that are obtained through the inspection are used to train a model of pipe conditions of pipes in a class, in order to estimate the pipe conditions of pipes that have not been inspected. The pipe conditions are used to parameterize a predictive model of pipe failures.

A computer-implemented method, computer program, and device for evaluating timed-based probabilities of failure of sections of a pipe network are provided. To do so, the pipe sections are clustered into classes based on structural and environmental parameters; within each class a sample of pipe sections are selected to be inspected. The scores that are obtained through the inspection are used to train a model of pipe conditions of pipes in a class, in order to estimate the pipe conditions of pipes that have not been inspected. The pipe conditions are used to parameterize a predictive model of pipe failures.