DECEMBER 2012ISSUE 14

In-line with success: pigging test loops

28 PiPelines international | December 2012 PiPelines international | December 2012 29

Its high-specification rotating-mirror ultrasonic technology mounted on the free-swimming PigLet tools can – like a

well-known beer – reach pipeline parts that others cannot, and provide real-time analyses of the inner and outer pipe walls for all sorts of complex geometries, loading lines, dead ends, and other hard-to-access pipeline structures.

The Industrial Services (IS) division of the Netherlands’-based A.Hakpark was established in 1988, and swiftly became an important of the pipeline-industry contracting firm founded by Arie Hak in the late 1940s. At that time, the company’s founder saw the need to transport pipes and undertake excavations for the country’s rebuilding efforts after the Second World War, giving rise to the establishment of his eponymous transport and contracting company.

In 1963, Mr Hak went on to found A.Hak Pijpleidingen (A.Hak Pipelines), a new company that added pipeline construction to its activities. The company’s work was greatly expanded by contracts with Nederlandse Gasunie to transport pipes for its expanding network being constructed to transport gas from the Groningen offshore fields in the 1970s. In 1983, the company’s current owner Willem van Geenhuizen bought A.Hak Pijpleidingen from the Hak family, and has been its owner and chairman ever since.

Between then and now, A.Hak Pijpleidingen has transformed into A.Hakpark, a group of companies that offers comprehensive solutions not only for pipeline construction and specialist pipeline services, but also for the transport and distribution of electricity and data, telecommunications, lighting, and sustainable energy. A.Hakpark also owns its own drilling company, a coating company, and production facilities for installations, machinery, and masts. The company has also built on its strong foundations to be both a major pipelaying contractor as well as a provider of a wide range of specialty pipeline services ranging from welding to nitrogen services (obtained from UCISCO

after the Bhopal disaster in 1984), pipeline pre- and de-commissioning, and difficult-to-access inspections.

Tool advancementsThe first tools developed by the IS

division were the PipeCat crawler and Tailpig, devices that were operated via an umbilical, and had a range of up to 10 km. These were developed in association with the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and entered operation in 1996-7. Rapidly achieving success, the device was equipped with the early version of the company’s successful rotating-mirror ultrasonic transducer system, which allowed real-time results to be provided. Both the PipeCat and Tailpig could pass through pipeline geometries that, until that time, had been thought impossible for any online inspection tool to traverse.

In 1999, the division made another great advance with its further development of the Piglet tool that was initially applied to furnace-tube inspections where 1,80o, 1-D bends were the norm. It rapidly became modified for pipeline inspections, the first of which was a 36 inch diameter, 8 km long, loading line. Though free-swimming and pushed along by the flow in the pipeline being inspected, the Piglet inspection system is equipped with a fibre-optic umbilical cable on an on-board reel for control and data transmission. The tool’s measuring system uses ultrasonic waves for measuring the wall thickness and inner radius of the pipe via a pulse towards the pipe wall sent from a centrally-mounted transducer. The pulses generated by the transducer are reflected towards the pipe wall via a rotating mirror, which enables measurements to be taken of the complete circumference of the pipe.

Depending on the diameter of the pipeline and the area of the surface to be inspected, the travelling speed of the Piglet through the pipe can range from 200 m/hr to 1 km/hr. Data gathered by the tool is stored onboard and transmitted in real time via the fibre-optic cable back to the operator, where the

associated software gives an immediate analysis of pipe wall thickness, features, and anomalies. The data is stored for more-detailed post-run analyses, which are normally undertaken at the company’s Romanian office, and passed to the Tricht headquarters in the Netherlands before being given to the client in what is often a three-four week turn round.

When the Piglet reaches the end of its run, it is returned to the launch point by simply reversing the flow; the hair-width

With the important intention of providing an unrivalled service to inspect and assess the integrity of difficult-to-inspect (or ‘unpiggable’) pipelines, Pipelines International notes that A.Hak Industrial Services has become one of the industry’s most important companies.

Difficult-to-inspect pipelines meet their match in the netherlands

fibre-optic cable has no further use at that time, and is effectively destroyed as the pig travels back along the pipeline. These specialised inspection services are carried out by the company using its local offices around the world.

A holistic approach to inspectionAs well as its inspection equipment, what

is most impressive to the visitor about the company is its dedication to a holistic approach to pipeline inspection. This is typified in its newly-constructed multi-million new training and technology centre at its Tricht site, accompanied by three 200 m long test loops with 4, 6, and 12 inch diameters.

Opened in October 2012, this centre has flexible and well-designed training facilities for the company’s own and its client’s staff, and which are also available to outside organisations. The three test loops are water powered, and have been purpose-designed to allow spools of many different configurations of geometry and diameter to be inserted. Spools with machined or actual defects can similarly be added to allow tool performance to be verified, the company’s skilled staff to be comprehensively trained, and its clients

and others to become familiar with what can be achieved using the company’s inspection equipment.

The centre is also the place where the company’s high-tech tools are designed and assembled, and is equipped with both well-appointed design and laboratory facilities for this precision work, as well as a well-appointed storage unit for a wide range of the IS division’s pigging equipment.

Investing in the futureA.Hak Industrial Services is undoubtedly

impressive, and is clearly investing in its own and its industry’s future. While the new centre, now fully operational, certainly

typifies this, it is the company’s future plans that provide its further challenges.

IS division’s Director Hans Gruitroij defines these challenges as: developing technologies for deepwater pipeline inspections down to 3,000 m and 350 bar; how to get the tool by up to 10 km into such lines without pumping; developing crack-detection capabilities for small-diameter lines; and developing a full pipeline integrity-management service for smaller operators by bringing all inspection and analysis activities ‘under one roof’. It’s easy to see that the ‘roof’ in question is already built; undoubtedly, solutions to the remaining challenges will not be far behind.

TraininG aVaiLaBLE aT a.HaK faCiLiTy

A.Hak’s training and technology centre will be the location of the first European Practical Pigging Training course, jointly developed by Penspen, Clarion Technical Conferences and Tiratsoo Technical (a division of Great Southern Press).

Training courses will use the test loops to demonstrate safe pigging operations ranging from launching and recept of foam, cleaning, and calliper pigs, to the use of A.Hak’s own range of inspection tools. Ancillary activities such as pig tracking and data inspection will also be included.

A training course will be held from 6–10 May 2013. To register your interest in the course, email Elizabeth Foster via efoster@gs-press.com.au

The A.Hak training and technology centre pipe loop.

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