Site Inspection of Gas Main by Helical Tomography (SIGHT)

Historical

Invocon co-developed a system to inspect the internal and external physical condition of subsurface pipe used for natural gas distribution. Designed to measure the wall thickness of the pipe, the system formulated a tomogram image of the cross-sectional area of the pipe.

Whenever a leak is excavated for repair, the system would be able to inspect up to a thousand feet of pipe around the leak. This would allow the utility to determine whether the leak was an isolated problem or a more extensive problem that would soon produce other leaks. Inspection must occur on a fully operational main.

The inspection tool uses mechanical scanning components and ultrasonic sensors which combine to map the external surface of the pipe being inspected.