SGS North America (SGS) has received US Patent No 7,596,419 for a Positive Material Identification (PMI) inspection system. The original application was filed on November 18, 2005, and after an extensive examination process, the patent was published by the USPTO on September 29, 2009.
The company said that this protected inspection system was created to satisfy client requirements related to retro PMI. PMI is a critical part of many Asset Integrity Management (AIM) programs. There are obvious applications of PMI during new construction as well as for systems exposed to new and evolving demands.
The company has added that the clients use the new PMI system to determine the alloy composition of piping and vessel materials in order to verify that only the correct materials are being used for their intended service. This SGS product increases the effectiveness of the inspection process and enhances the usefulness of the collected data while ensuring higher levels of accuracy and completeness.
The company claims that the SGS system links CAD drawings, a PMI database, field load sheets, and third party commercial data loggers. It enables pre-selection of required inspection locations where PMI analysis should be conducted and uniquely identifies each of them.
In the system, the information is entered into a PMI database, which not only enables the preparation of field work packages, but also systematizes the process of loading collected measurements into the database. This optimised approach provides significant improvements for finding and reporting non-compliant materials plus performing future evaluations in response to ever-evolving fluid processing changes.
SGS said that the portable nature of the system’s equipment enables PMI to be performed by trained and skilled inspectors almost anywhere. Plants and facilities, critical process components, and even raw materials can be verified, and the resulting details can be mapped into the Mechanical Integrity Management System (MIMS) to help prevent unexpected failures, unplanned downtime, and/or extended time between maintenance.