Inspection Case of FOTRIC Acoustic Thermographic Imager in Western Oil and Gas Fields

Can natural gas extracted from oil and gas fields be directly used as an energy source?

No! Because the extracted natural gas usually contains certain impurities (such as water, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, etc.). These impurities must undergo treatment processes like dehydration, desulfurization, and decarbonization (removal of carbon dioxide) to ensure the natural gas is pure before it can be delivered to the pipeline network or used as an energy source.

This complete production process involves important equipment including heating furnaces (to prevent liquid freezing), gravity separators (for gas-liquid-solid separation), cyclone separators, triethylene glycol dehydration units (for natural gas dehydration), and compressors, as well as various pipelines, valves, and instruments.

Turn on the AC Acoustic Imaging Mode to detect natural gas leakage faults

The FOTRIC 858MiX Acoustic-Thermal Imager integrates two professional technologies: acoustic imaging and infrared imaging. When the AC Acoustic Imaging Mode is activated, it enables the acoustic imaging technology to detect natural gas leakage faults.

Leak Point 1:

At a long distance, the 858MiX Acoustic-Thermal Imager detected a suspected leak point. After tracking the leak point, as the distance shortened, the leak point was stably located on the instrument valve. The inspection personnel have confirmed that the leak point is real.

 Leak Point 2:

A leak in the sampling valve of the instrument pipeline was detected, and has been verified as true by the inspection personnel.

Leak Point 3:

A leak in the pig relief valve was detected, and has been verified as confirmed by the inspection personnel.

Turn on the IR Thermal Imaging Mode to detect equipment overheating faults

When the FOTRIC 858MiX Acoustic-Thermal Imager is switched to the IR Thermal Imaging Mode, it can detect equipment overheating faults.

The ingress of liquid into a compressor can lead to temperature rise and equipment damage. Therefore, accurately monitoring the temperature is a key aspect that must be focused on during the inspection process.

For the fully loaded compressor below, the FOTRIC 858MiX Acoustic-Thermal Imager has measured that the temperature of its cylinder valve has exceeded 100℃. Since the standard requires the temperature to be controlled below 120℃, inspection personnel need to remain highly vigilant.。

To detect the temperature distribution of motors and heating furnaces, the FOTRIC 858MiX Acoustic-Thermal Imager, equipped with 640×480 infrared pixels, delivers high-definition imaging. By adding analytical tools such as rectangles and temperature measurement points, the temperature conditions of different areas can be visually analyzed directly on the device. The FOTRIC 858MiX Acoustic-Thermal Imager integrates acoustic imaging technology and infrared imaging technology, combining these two advanced technologies into one. It possesses multiple basic capabilities including leak detection, partial discharge diagnosis, infrared temperature measurement, infrared imaging, and vibration localization.

When using the acoustic-thermal imager at the detection site, simply switching the detection mode allows it to perform the functions of a professional infrared thermal imager and a professional acoustic imager. There is no need to carry an extra set of instruments on-site, nor to spend additional costs on another set of instruments.