The Power-Gen International conference and trade show will be held this year December 14-16 at the Orange County Convention Center. Once again Nuclear Power International will be co-located with Power-Gen International. If you’re doing business in the nuclear or fossil power sector, this is where you need to be.

This year several exhibitors will have a wide variety of borescopes, videoscopes, pipe inspection cameras and thermal cameras available for attendees to try out and review. The Power-Gen show will be a perfect opportunity for power plants from around the world to view the latest remote visual inspection technology and products. Anyone that has on going need in interest for borescopes, videoscopes, pipe inspection cameras and thermal cameras should attend the Power-Gen Show in Orlando, Florida this year. Anyone with a remote visual inspection application will be able to visit with several manufacturers and discuss their application all under one roof.

Advanced Inspection Technologies inc. (AIT) is proud to be exhibiting at the Power-Gen show this year and will have a large selection of remote visual inspection equipment on display. AIT plans to exhibit their wide selection of borescopes, videoscopes, pipe cameras, infrared and thermal cameras as well as foreign object retrieval tools. Advanced Inspection Technologies will be located at booth # 4076 and is looking forward to demonstrating their products and discussing applications with customers.

Attendees that are looking for borescopes will be pleased with the large selection and choices that all the vendors will have available for demonstration. AIT plans to have several new borescope instruments available for customers to review. AIT’s economy borescopes will be show specials and offered at special discounts if ordered during the conference. The borescopes will include the Video Pro Scope and the Cobra-Scope. These borescopes will be perfect for quick inspections with easier access where a large capital budget does not exist for the more advanced borescope instruments.

Videoscopes or video borescopes are becoming a more common sight at the Power Gen Conference. A videoscope uses a small camera at the tip of the flexible scope to view remote areas. The image is typically displayed on a LCD monitor and an inspector is able to capture digital images during the videoscope inspection. AIT will be displaying the latest version of the iTool Videoscope. The iTool Videoscope is an advanced industrial instrument designed to inspect inside turbines, boiler tubes, heat exchangers and other industrial systems. The iTool Videoscope is available in a variety of lengths and diameters to suite multiple applications. The Videoscope is extremely portable and very affordable.

Pipe inspection cameras are typically used to inspect long lengths of industrial lines for scale, rust, corrosion, cracking, pitting and other defects. AIT will be displaying the Pilit pipe inspection camera. The Pilit pipe inspection camera is the first push rod type camera systems that is designed specifically for industrial applications. The Pilit pipe inspection camera is perfect for inspecting boiler tubes, heat exchangers, steam lines, headers and a variety of industrial lines. The Pilit pipe inspecton camera is able to navigate distances up to 200 ft (30 Meters) and through pipe as small as 1 in. (25mm) in diameter. The Pilit pipe inspection camera constructed completely of stainless steel to resist corrosion and contamination. the system is also designed to be completey self contained with a built in LCD flip up monitor and 65 GB hard drive to record video.

The Power Gen Conference will also provide an opportunity for attendees to see the latest infrared and thermal cameras. Thermal cameras are used to see temperature diffences that are otherwise not visible. A thermal camera is very helpful to see electrical problems, issues with motors and pumps and viewing tank levels. AIT will be showing the VisIR and Testo Thermal Cameras. The VisIR thermal camera is the most advanced and high resolution system available. Features of this advanced thermal camera include a 640 x 480 resolution and advanced route planning for thermal surveys. The Testo thermal cameras will be available for demonstration also. The Testo 881 is the most powerful thermal camera in its class and price range.

Finally, one of the more interesting aspects of remote visual inspection is the retrieval of foreign objects discovered in an industrial system during an inspection. Foreign object search and retrieval tool or foreign material exclusion will be on exhibit only at the Advanced Inspection Technologies’ booth. AIT has the largest selection of FME retrieval tools in the industry and all these instruments will be available for demonstration at the Power-Gen Conference.

The Power-Gen conference promises to be an exciting and information event for the remote visual inspection industry in 2010. Attendees can be certain that their requirements for borescopes, videoscopes, pipe cameras and thermal cameras will be well served this year.

Bottling Gripper

A 6 millimeter Video borescope was used to inspect a Krones bottling machine. This particular Krones machine rotates at a maximum speed of 800 bottles per/minute. It bottles the sports drink powerade. The clearance between the base of the machine and the rotating section is approximately six millimeters.The Initial problem was discovered when metal shavings were found inside one the port holes due to an imbalance. The video borescope was inserted inside one of the port holes to find the point of contact. Still images were captured along with video of the borescope inspection.

New Cobra-Scope™ Fits in Your Pocket

The new portable hand held video borescopes can weigh in at only 1 pound (.5 Kg) and can snake through incredible small accesses as small as 4.5mm (.177 inch). Video borescopes are now breaking barriers of such portability while offering a true high-resolution image and advanced features. The smaller, more affordable and feature rich video borescopes will be a welcome tool for remote visual inspection professionals across a wide range of industries.

The new video borescopes offers users a variety of useful features: A tough aluminum molded hand piece offers a durable system, high resolution 1/18″ CMOS imager for the clearest images, water proof probe length is constructed from flexible stainless steel and PVC goose-neck for durability, a brilliant adjustable LED light illuminates the area being inspected, still images and up to one hour of video can be recorded on the removable SD memory card, law enforcement will be able to take advantage of the motion sensor that automatically starts recording and the internal battery can be recharged for 4 hours of continuous operation.

Video borescopes are designed for industrial remote visual inspection at power generation, petrochemical, process, food and pharmaceutical plants. Law enforcement officials and other professionals will also find the portability and features of the new video borescope useful. Applications include: HVAC, industrial and commercial pipes, rotating machinery, aircraft, castings, quality control, law enforcement and drug traffic interdiction.

Rigid Borescopes

• Rigid Borescopes

A borescope is not flexible, generally inexpensive and provides a superior image. A rigid borescope, Boroscope or bore scope is an industrial tool best suited to inspection of automotive cylinders, aircraft turbine engine or a rifle bore. A borescope may be used with a video camera to record digital images and video. AIT also offers borescope rentals.

Micro Borescope

• Micro Borescopes

A micro borescope is typically flexible or semi-rigid; these mini borescope instruments are super thin and designed for the absolute smallest inspection access.  Micro borescopes can be as small as 0.35 mm in diameter. A micro borescope or mini boroscope is best suited to inspection of small manufactured components such as castings, turbine cooling holes and other Parts with very limited access.

Fiberscope

• Fiberscopes

A fiberscope is a flexible fiber optic bundle with an eyepiece and a lens. A fiberscope, flexible borescope, or fiber optic borescope flexes around tight corners and the fiberscope has the ability to articulate the distal end. High fiber optic content in a flexible fiberscope is critical to provide the highest possible resolution to the viewer. AIT also offers Fiberscope Rentals.

Videoscope

• Videoscopes

A Videoscope or Video Borescope is an advanced type of flexible borescope that houses a very small CCD in the end of the video scope. Image quality of a videoscope or video probe is excellent. A videoscope is normally 4.0 to 8.0 mm or in diameter and comes in lengths up to 50 ft. A videoscope, video borescope, videoprobe, video scope or video probe offers digital image capture or recording. Other advanced features may also be included with a videoscope. AIT also offers Videoscope Rentals.

Pipe Camera

• Pipe Inspection Cameras

A pipe inspection camera, push camera or push rod camera is a straight view video camera at the end of a semi-rigid push rod. A push camera or pipe camera easily inspects 30 mm diameter pipes and larger up to 200 feet. A push rod camera or pipe camera head contains adjustable LED lights and a flexible “goose-neck” for getting around corners. Push cameras or pipe cameras are typically used to inspect long industrial lines or pipes that can be hundreds of feet long. Push & pipe cameras typically have the capability to record digital images for later review of inspections. AIT also offers Pipe Camera Rentals.

Thermal Camera

• Thermal Cameras

Thermography is the use of an infrared camera to view thermal energy emitted from an object. Infrared thermal cameras allow us to see infrared or “heat” radiation and provide precise non-contact temperature measurement capabilities. Practically, all industrial systems get hot before they fail and a thermal camera or infrared camera allows inspectors to see problems before they occur. A thermal imaging camera is an extremely cost-effective diagnostic tool for many industrial applications. Infrared cameras help the predictive maintenance industry improve manufacturing efficiency, manage energy, improve product quality, and improve worker safety. AIT also offers Thermal Camera Rentals.

Motorized Alligator Jaws

• Foreign Material Exclusion

Industrial plants on the cutting edge of technology use foreign material search and retrieval to ensure a safe start up. A good Foreign Material Exclusion (FME) program not only prevents but is also prepared to locate and retrieve foreign material from your industrial system.



ASNT Lists Remote Visual Inspection Vendors

The American Society of Non Destructive Testing (ASNT) website offers a list of remote visual inspection vendors that provide borescopes, videoscopes and fiberscopes. The online NDT Buyers guide lists 18 categories for visual and optical testing. Dozens of remote visual inspection vendors can be found from around the world. The ASNT is an excellent source to find the best vendors for equipment such as borescopes, fiberscopes and videoscopes. A quick visit will place end users in touch with a wide variety of remote visual inspection choices.

Industrial Videoscopes Inspect Offshore Oil Rigs

Remote visual inspection is a critical part of ensure that an offshore oil rig is operating safely and efficiently. An offshore oil rig is constructed with miles of industrial pipe line, motors, valves, turbines, diesel engines and rotating machinery. It is critical that these and other operating systems on these platforms are inspected routinely for condition. Industrial videoscopes or video borescopes are the best method to inspect the various components.

Videoscopes are typically used to inspect the internal condition of pipes. Engineers will look for pitting, cracking corrosion, scale and other defects with an industrial videoscope. Turbines and other rotating machinery can be inspected for condition using a videoscope to snake into the small accesses. Valves can be inspected with a videoscope for internal condition and and defect that may impair safe and efficient operation. Safety and efficiency are both improved greatly on offshore oil rigs with the use of videoscopes.

Satellites Need Videoscope Inspections

Without videoscope inspection of these critical areas defect may go unnoticed and foreign debris may be inadvertently left inside the critical components of the satellite. A small defect such as a hairline crack could easily cause system failure. Foreign debris such as a small tie wrap needs to be removed or the object may “float” in zero gravity and cause a short between electronic components. Videoscopes are available in a range of length, diameters and directions of view to meet multiple applications.

Before a satellite is packed and launched into space manufacturers ensure that they have completed a thorough remote visual inspection of the entire system using the most modern videoscopes available.

This industry has evolved quickly over the past 10 years as products have evolved and more users across more industries started to use the equipment.  This has happened for two big reasons:

1. The price of the instruments have come down as more suppliers have entered the market, and
2. Corporate/business practices have dictated that more efficient means of maximizing plant output be achieved.

Push Camera

As example, a rolling mill, be it aluminum or steel, could have hundreds of large gear boxes on their rolling lines.  These gear boxes are large and expensive.  The rolling process is not easily stopped and started.  If there is suspicion that one of the gear boxes might have some problems, the maintenance or production group used to have limited options (hope it works until next scheduled outage/shutdown.  By using RVI, it is possible to take a quick look inside the equipment to assess how bad any damage may be.  This is called Predictive Maintenance, or Preventive Maintenance (PPM).

RVI is one tool in the PPM professional’s tool box.  They may/will also use Vibration Analysis (a small probe and viewer that gives a shows a vibration signature when placed on moving equipment – ‘squiggly lines’), Infrared (IR or Thermal Imaging), Ultra Sound (UT, detects sub-surface indications, looking at ‘squiggly lines), Eddy Current (EC, picks up surface irregularities, ‘squiggly lines’).

Many people in a PPM group have a NDT, non-destructive testing background.  There are various levels I, II, III for NDT Technicians.  The technicians are often the ones using the equipment and most often use UT and EC.  RVI is kind of a complimentary tool for NDT.  As RVI gives a true image as opposed to interpretable squiggly lines, there is not much certification needed. Reliability and Inspection are other groups that may take care of the PPM program at a given process type  plant (chemical, pharmaceutic, food, refinery, etc).

At a manufacturing facility, making widgets, the QA/QC group, or often the Support Engineering group, will be the primary contacts.  For instance, Caterpillar in Lafayette IN makes large diesel compressor engines.  Their QA group only recently purchased a video scope but the Support Engineering group (going to the customer site to perform in-field inspections) has purchased several systems in the last 5 years.

The beauty about RVI is that anyone can use it.  This is a case where the picture is truly worth a thousand words.  In all but a couple of instances, there is no certification required to use RVI and interpret its results.  One exception is for purity pipe/tube welds, or high pressure lines where the visual inspection is mandated (often by the FDA, ASME standards) to be performed by a Certified Weld Inspector.  The reason for this is that for these particular weld seams color is critical as well as Penetration and Fusion and there is a fair amount judgment involved.

A very painful example: a nuclear power plant near us recently went into a 1 month unplanned outage.  Something messed up big time and they experienced a critical turbine failure.   A power plant only makes money when it sells electricity.  The electricity cannot be stored.  Utility companies will plan their outages among their fleet of power plants during times of reduced power demand, such as late fall and late winter.  That way they can meet all of their demand adequately and not ‘overproduce’.  If the plant has to go ‘offline’ during peak usage for an unplanned outage, the cost of a replacement turbine is chump change compared to the lost revenue of that plant’s electricity (could be in excess of $1,000,000/day, money that they can never earn back).

By using RVI, plants can minimize their downtime, and consequently start earning money again.  Another big driver for remote visual inspection (RVI) use is personnel safety.  It is much safer, quicker, and cheaper to stick a camera into a confined space (tank, vessel, well, sump, etc.) than a person.  Personnel costs are one of the highest costs of most plants, and every plant strives for ‘Zero Incidents’ (safety related work time loss).

Key Definitions:

• DoF:  Depth of Field, focal range of a given optic
• DoV:  Direction of View, from the handpiece (could be direct, 90º, 180º, etc.)
• FoV:  Field of View, the viewing angle off the distal optic how wide is your view (60º, 90º, etc.)
• Insertion Tube:  the working length of the scope, usually the flexible scopes
• Distal Tip:  the inspection end of the scope
• Bending Neck:  last few inches of an articulating scope, where the vertebrae is
• Articulation:  the ability to mechanically move the distal end of the probe
• Probe:  Probe/Scope/Insertion Tube are often used interchangeably

• Borescopes – Rigid Borescopes were some of the first RVI instruments.  Simply a tube (usually stainless steel, with a series of lenses, or lens train, inside.  The ‘distal’ tip is the inspection end of the scope, the ocular end is where the eyepiece is) with optics, light guide, and eyepiece.  Connect a light guide to a remote light source, the light guide sends light down to the distal tip of scope to illuminate the inspection area, and then look through the eyepiece.  A camera, either video or still, can be attached to the eyepiece to either record the inspection of view on a larger monitor.  Rigid, limited use.  Low price, $500-$4000, different lengths, diameters, DoV, FoV, and DoF.  Almost disposable.

• Fiberscopes – next generation.  A fiberscope uses a flexible optical quality coherent fiber optic image bundle to convey image. ‘Pix-elated’ image (a pixel is a ‘picture element’).  Fiberscopes can have from 5000-3000 pixels in their image.  Has integral light guide with remote light source, eyepiece for viewing image.  Camera can be mounted on eyepiece.  Flexible, more uses.  These used to be the cat’s meow and very expensive.  Russian image bundles ‘commercialized’ this market.  Medium to low price, $3000-$12000.  High repair costs.

• Video Scopes – Current.  Videoscope imaging technology has advanced the use of video scopes.  Rather than using a fiber optic bundle to convey images, the video scope uses a CCD (charge coupled device, similar to digital camera chips) to send the video signal to the controller (either in hand-piece, the iTool, or a stand alone processor, GE, Olympus, Storz) and then to the viewer/monitor.  Pix-elated image, 180,000-420,000 pixels in a video scope image.  The more pixels, the smaller the gaps between the pixels and hence the higher resolution.

• Resolution:  virtually all of the video scopes on the market use the same CCD imageing, but not all 420,000 1/10 imagers provide the same quality image.

• CMOS (correlated metal oxide semiconductor).  This is anther type of imaging chip.  Much lower price than the CCD.  CMOS imagers are in most of the security cameras, and other low cost imaging systems.

• Push Camera – a very simple camera system used to inspect larger diameter and longer runs.  Lower price, under $10,000.  Distal tip is 1” or larger, lengths of 100’ or 200’.  Easy to use, low repair costs. Push cameras have many applications at industrial plants.

• Vessel Camera – a quick and easy way to inspect tanks and vessels.  Zoom capability and great integral lighting.

Applications:

• Turbine, aviation and power, looking for FOD, corrosion, cracks, dents, and dings
• Castings/Foundries, internal passages looking for views, burn in, obstruction
• Heat exchangers (tubes), scale build up, pitting, heat stress, FAC (flow accelerated corrosion), holes (fish mouth)
• Tanks, cleaning validation, steady bearings, glass lined (integrity), mixers
• Vessels, see Tanks
• Gear boxes, gear/teeth wear, ‘chatter’
• Headers, where boiler/chiller tubes come together, general condition, ligament cracking
• Cleaning validation of process equipment
• Floor drains, clear/obstructed  – source of bacteria build up
• Motors, stators/windings
• Recip. Engines, cylinder condition (cross hatch), valves
• Purity Welds, weld integrity and color

Industries:

• Aviation
• Power Gen.
• Process (Food, Chemical, Refinery, Pharmaceutical)
• Service (Industrial Cleaning, Inspection Companies)
• Foundry
• Manufacturing
• Interdiction (SWAT, Border Patrol)

A borescope that has the optimum diameter for your application will not only result the best borescope inspection images but will be easy to use and and resist damage. A thorough understanding of your borescope application will give you confidence that the borescope instrument selected will perform the remote visual inspection requirements in the most efficient manner.