Supervisor of Iranian National Intelligent Pipeline Instrumentation Gauges (PIG)
Client: National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC)
Date: 2015
Director project: Dr. Hamid D. Taghirad
Project associate members: Dr. Ahmad Reza Tahsiri, Dr. Mohammad Ali Nekouei, Dr. S. Ali A. Moosavian, Dr. Ali Ghaffari.
Project type: Supervision
Project collaborator: K.N. Tossi University of Technology (KNTU) & Segal Pardazesh Engineering Company
Summary of project:
Pigging in the context of pipelines refers to the practice of using devices known as Pipeline Instrumentation Gauges “PIG” to perform various maintenance operations. This is done without stopping the flow of the product in the pipeline. These operations include but are not limited to cleaning and inspecting the pipeline. Pigging has been used for many years to clean large diameter pipelines in the oil industry. Today, however, the use of smaller diameter pigging systems is now increasing in many continuous and batch process plants as plant operators search for increased efficiency and reduced costs. There are four main uses for pigs:
Physical separation between different fluids flowing through the pipeline
Internal cleaning of pipelines
Inspection of the condition of pipeline walls (also known as an Inline Inspection (ILI) tool)
Capturing and recording geometric information relating to pipelines (e.g., size, position).
Since April 2015, Aras Intelligent PIG Research Group has started a collaboration with research and development department of National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) as the supervisor of Iranian national intelligent PIG project. This project is one of the ten crucial national projects that Iranian Oil ministry has focused on. Segal Tech Company is the engineering and procurement party of the project which has to design, supply all equipment and integrate them to provide three types of intelligent PIG namely High-Resolution MFL, High-Resolution TFI, and the Calliper.
Each of these intelligent PIGs consists of several major subsystems such as electronic and mechanical, signal processing and software for displaying the pipeline defects. Aras Intelligent PIG Research Group closely monitor and control the progression of this national project, as well as provides technical consultations to Segal Tech. The project has accomplished its design, manufacturing, assembly and pull through tests so far, and is in its final stage of approval.
A typical Intelligent PIG device
Iranian National MFL PIG
Iranian National TFI PIG
Iranian National Calliper (EGP) PIG