Pipeline Inspection Equipment (AKA PIG)
Problem
The high cost and harsh environment of pipeline inspection demands an extremely durable storage system to ensure the successful recording and retrieval of the highly valued data. The cost of running a PIG through a pipeline and repeating the inspection due to an equipment failure can cost up to one million dollars. Expenses associated with these tests include the equipment and crew to load and unload the PIG, reduced revenues from slowing the volume of product (oil, gas, petroleum), and data processing and analysis costs.
Application
Pipeline inspection equipment floats through a pipeline, measuring defects, damage, and corrosion that if left uncorrected could cause a pipeline leak. This harsh environment includes characteristics of high vibration, shock, rotation, and wide temperatures ranges with fast temperature gradients. Hard disk and DAT drives do not operate reliably in this environment. Storage capacities vary with the length of the pipeline and the diameter of the pipe during an inspection, from 5GBytes to 100GBytes. The SCSI architecture supports one to seven drives on a single SCSI bus, allowing storage of 100GBytes when using Adtron 14.3Gbyte SCSI flash drives.
Solution
Adtron SCSI flash drives meet the durability requirements of this challenging environment through the use of solid-state memory instead of rotating disks or magnetic tape. Based on the shock, vibration and temperature profile from our customer for this specific environment, Adtron employed an independent laboratory to verify the operation of SCSI flash drives to these limits. The tests confirmed the Adtron SCSI flash drives met the durability requirements for operation in pipeline inspection equipment.
Benefits
The use of durable SCSI flash drives in the pipeline inspection equipment eliminates second or third runs through the pipe, eliminating the expense of the crew, transportation to remote locations in the desert or ocean-based drilling platform, equipment, and lost production revenues. These savings result in immediate financial returns and increased customer satisfaction from every successful pipeline inspection.
Adtron Product
S35PC -- SCSI flash drive
