Acoustic Pulse Reflectometry
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Acoustic Pulse Reflectometry

TCR Advanced Engineering uses the Acoustic Pulse Reflectometry (APR), a breakthrough, non-invasive solution for today's hard-to-inspect tubes. It enables ultra-fast, accurate inspection of boilers, fin fans and other heat exchangers, regardless of the tube shape or the type of material.

The inspection is fast (10 seconds per tube, up to 2000 tubes inspection in one shift of 12 hours), non-invasive and provides inbuilt computerized signal analysis tools to quickly identify tube faults (e.g. pitting / wall loss, erosions, holes / leakage, blockage, bulging) in heat exchangers / condensers / boilers / chillers / reactor tubes. With its simple operation, there is far less dependency on operator expertise, providing reliable inspection of even the most challenging tube sizes and configurations.

Process:

  • Probe injects acoustic pulse down the tube
  • Reflected echoes are recorded and analyzed
  • A set of patented algorithms identifies and reports exact location, type, and size of inner diameter side defects

Main advantages:

  1. It can test up to 4” inner diameter in any shape or tube material
  2. Ultrafast, non-invasive, inspection in less than 10 seconds, 5 seconds for less than 6m tube – it is ideal for inspections and in emergency situations.
  3. It can detect blockages apart from pitting or punctures- useful for detecting the extent of cleaning, to increase the efficiency of the heat exchanger
  4. Non-Traversing NDT system with no moving parts
  5. Fast inspection of tubes- the time taken for each tube irrespective of the length is 10 seconds for inspection
  6. Tube wall material can be used for tubes of any material
  7. Tube configuration independent (fin tubes, U-tubes, multi bends, 90 deg turns)
  8. Extremely accurate results
  9. Self Analyzing special software does automatic analysis using Matlab and C++
  10. Automatic report Generation (in PDF/HTML format)
  11. Can be used for tubes from 7 mm ID to 70 mm ID

User benefits:

  1. Fast and accurate detection of tube faults and type, position/ location and size/extent of faults
  2. Resultant time-saving in taking corrective actions on tubes with defects
  3. Faster turn-around of equipment contributing to faster unit/plant startup

APR Tube

The technology offers many advantages over other defect detection tools. Most inspection equipment require the tube system to be physically scanned by some form of the probe (magnetic, electrical, ultrasound). It can prove difficult or impossible in many applications where tubes are inaccessible, like underground, buried in an aircraft wing, in a heat exchanger, etc. No hazardous radiation is emitted like in X-ray systems and there is a problem of waste disposal to deal with, as in using fluorescent dyes.

APT Tube