A pipe wear monitoring system and method of use thereof

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method for monitoring wear in pipes, particularly irregular wear in pipelines transporting abrasive fluids. The system includes a plurality of wear sensors spaced along a length of a pipe. Each wear sensor is configured to detect wear in a wall of the pipe. The system further includes at least one remotely accessible server operatively connected to the sensors for receiving and monitoring data output from said sensors. The server is configured to alert an operator when said data received from any one of the plurality of sensors is indicative of irregular wear in the wall of the pipe.

1 . A pipe wear monitoring system including:
 at least one base station;   a plurality of wear sensors spaced along a length of a pipe and operatively connected to the at least one base station, each wear sensor configured to detect wear in a wall of the pipe; and   at least one remotely accessible server operatively connected to the base station for receiving and monitoring data output from said sensors via said at least one base station, said server configured to generate an alert when said data received from any one of the plurality of wear sensors is indicative of irregular wear in the wall of the pipe.   
     
     
         2 . A pipe wear monitoring system including:
 at least one base station;   a plurality of sensor nodes operatively connected to the at least one base station, each sensor node operatively associated with at least one wear sensor spaced along a length of a pipe and configured to detect wear in a wall of the pipe; and   at least one remotely accessible server operatively connected to the base station for receiving and monitoring data output from said sensors via said sensor nodes, said server configured to generate an alert when said data received from any one of the plurality of wear sensors is indicative of irregular wear in the wall of the pipe.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of wear sensors or the at least one wear sensor is fitted or installed to a sidewall of the pipe to detect wear in an inner surface of the sidewall of the pipe. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the wear sensors are spaced at regular intervals along a length of the pipe. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the wear sensors are each at least partially received in a sensor inlet port defined in an outer surface of a sidewall of the pipe. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the sensor inlet port includes an opening defined in the outer surface of the sidewall of the pipe and extends at least partially towards an inner surface of the sidewall of the pipe. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the wear sensors are electric sensors configured to generate an electronic signal when a sidewall of the pipe thins to a predetermined thickness. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the wear sensors are sacrificial wear sensors including a sacrificial probe configured to be at least partially destroyed in response to wear in a sidewall of the pipe, partial destruction of the probe being indicative of said wear being detected. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the probe is an electronic sacrificial probe configured to generate an electronic signal or the absence of an electronic signal as a result of the probe being at least partially destroyed. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the sacrificial probe includes a board having at least one electrical circuit defined thereon, said board and said at least one circuit configured to be at least partially destroyed in response to wear in a sidewall of the pipe. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the sacrificial probe includes a board having a plurality of electrical circuits defined thereon, each individual circuit of the plurality and the board configured to be sequentially at least partially destroyed in response to wear in a sidewall of the pipe, wherein sequential at least partially destruction of each said individual circuit enables wear in the sidewall to be incrementally monitored and a wear rate to be determined. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the at least one electrical circuit or the plurality of circuits are continuously or periodically polled by the system and wherein when the circuit or one of the plurality of circuits is intact, the circuit generates an electrical signal when polled indicative of an absence of irregular wear on the sidewall. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one base station includes a communications module for connecting the plurality of sensor or sensor nodes and the at least one remotely accessible server. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the communications module is a modem enabling the at least one base station to connect to the at least one remotely accessible server via a wireless network. 
     
     
         15 . A wear sensor for use in detecting irregular wear in a wall of a pipe, said sensor including:
 a sacrificial probe configured to be at least partially inserted into an opening defined in an outer surface of a sidewall of a pipe and be at least partially destroyed in response to irregular wear on an inner surface of the pipe, the destruction of the probe being indicative of irregular wear being detected.   
     
     
         16 . The wear sensor of  claim 15 , wherein the sacrificial probe includes a board and a plurality of electrical circuits defined on the board, each individual circuit of the plurality and the board configured to be sequentially at least partially destroyed in response to wear in the sidewall of the pipe, and wherein the sequential at least partially destruction of circuits enables the wear in the sidewall of the pipe to be incrementally monitored and/or a wear rate to be determined. 
     
     
         17 . A method of monitoring pipe wear including:
 providing a plurality of wear sensors at spaced intervals along a length of a pipe, each sensor being configured to detect wear in a wall of the pipe; and   receiving and monitoring data corresponding to data output from said sensors and generating an alert when data is received from any one of the plurality of wear sensors indicative of irregular wear in the wall of the pipe.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein responsive to identifying data indicative of irregular wear, the alert is generated and transmitted to a computing or mobile device of an operator or the like. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the alert is an electronic notification and is effected by way of SMS protocol, USSD protocol, over a secure internet connection or by way of data communication enabled by a software application installed on the computing device. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the receiving and monitoring data includes periodically or continually addressing each wear sensor and wherein the absence of a response is indicative of partially destruction of the sensor and thus irregular wear on a portion of the pipe.