• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.370-378
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• 2004

An autonomous pipeline inspection gauge system has been developed for determining position, orientation, curvature, and deformations such as dents and wrinkles of operating pipelines by Korea Gas Company and Seoul National University. The most important part of several subsystems is the Strapdown Inertial Measurement Unit (SIMU), which is integrated with velocity and distance sensors, weld detection system, and digital recording device. The Geometry Pipeline Inspection Gauge (GeoPIG) is designed to operate continuously and autonomously for a week or longer in operating gas pipelines. In this paper, the design concepts, system integration, and data processing/analysis method for the PIG will be presented. Results from the recent experiment for a 58 kilometer gas pipeline will be discussed.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.629-636
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• 2003

This paper introduces the developed geometry PIG (Pipeline Inspection Gauge), one of several ILI (In-Line Inspection) tools, which provide a full picture of the pipeline from only single pass, and has compact size of the electronic device with not only low power consumption but also rapid response of sensors such as calipers, IMU and odometer. This tool is equipped with the several sensor systems. Caliper sensors measure the pipeline internal diameter, ovality and dent size and shape with high accuracy. The IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) measures the precise trajectory of the PIG during its traverse of the pipeline. The IMU also provide three-dimensional coordination in space from measurement of inertial acceleration and angular rate. Three odometers mounted on the PIG body provide the distance moved along the line and instantaneous velocity during the PIG run. The datum measured by the sensor systems are stored in on-board solid state memory and magnetic tape devices. There is an electromagnetic transmitter at the back end of the tool, the transmitter enables the inspection operators to keep tracking the tool while it travels through the pipeline. An experiment was fulfilled in pull-rig facility and was adopted from Incheon LT (LNG Terminal) to Namdong GS (Governor Station) line, 13 km length.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06b
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• pp.253-258
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• 2001

This paper introduces a simple nonlinear adaptive control method for pipeline inspection gauge (PIG) flow in natural gas pipeline. The dynamic behavior of the PIG depends on the different pressure across its body and the bypass flow through it. The system dynamics includes: dynamics of driving gas flow behind the PIG, dynamics of expelled gas in front of the PIG, and dynamics of the PIG. The method of characteristics (MOC) and Runger-Kuta method are used to solve the dynamics of flow. The PIG velocity is controlled through the amount of bypass flow across its body. A simple nonlinear adaptive controller based on the backstepping method is introduced. To derive the controller, three system parameters should be measured: the PIG position, its velocity and the velocity of bypass flow across the PIG body. The simulation has been done with a pipeline segment in the KOGAS low pressure system, Ueijungboo-Sangye line to verify the effectiveness of the proposed controller. Three cases of interest are considered: the PIG starts to move at its launcher, the PIG arrives at its receiver and the PIG restarts after stopping in the pipeline by obstruction. The simulation results show that the proposed nonlinear adaptive controller attained good performance and can be used for controlling the PIG velocity.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.448-448
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• 2000

This paper deals with dynamic behaviour analysis for pipeline inspection gauge (PIG) flow control in natural gas pipeline. The dynamic behaviour of the PIG is depending on the different Pressure between the rear and nose parts, which is generated by injected gas flow behind PIG's tail and expelled gas flow in front of its nose. To analyze the dynamic behaviour characteristics such as gas flow in pipeline, and the PIG's position and velocity, mathematical model is derived as two types of a nonlinear hyperbolic partial differential equation for unsteady flow analysis of the PIG driving and expelled gas, and nonhomogeneous differential equation for dynamic analysis of PIG. The nonlinear equation is solved by method of characteristics (MOC) with the regular rectangular grid under appropriate initial and boundary conditions. The Runge-Kuta method is used when we solve the steady flow equations to get initial flow values and the dynamic equation of PIG. The gas upstream and downstream of PIG are divided into a number of elements of equal length. The sampling time and distance are chosen under Courant-Friedrich-Lewy (CFL) restriction. The simulation is performed with a pipeline segment in the Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) low pressure system, Ueijungboo-Sangye line. The simulation results show us that the derived mathematical model and the proposed computational scheme are effective for estimating the position and velocity of PIG with different operational conditions of pipeline.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.1302-1310
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• 2001

This paper introduces modeling and simulation results for pipeline inspection gauge (PIG) with bypass flow control in natural gas pipeline. The dynamic behaviour of the PIG depends on the different pressure across its body and the bypass flow through it. The system dynamics includes: dynamics of driving gas flow behind the PIG, dynamics of expelled gas in front of the PIG, dynamics of bypass flow, and dynamics of the PIG. The bypass flow across the PIG is treated as incompressible flow with the assumption of its Mach number smaller than 0.45. The governing nonlinear hyperbolic partial differential equations for unsteady gas flows are solved by method of characteristics (MOC) with the regular rectangular grid under appropriate initial and boundary conditions. The Runge-Kuta method is used for solving the steady flow equations to get initial flow values and the dynamic equation of the PIG. The sampling time and distance are chosen under Courant-Friedrich-Lewy (CFL) restriction. The simulation is performed with a pipeline segment in the Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) low pressure system, Ueijungboo-Sangye line. Simulation results show us that the derived mathematical model and the proposed computational scheme are effective for estimating the position and velocity of the PIG with bypass flow under given operational conditions of pipeline.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.1165-1173
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• 2001

This paper deals with dynamic analysis of Pipeline Inspection Gauge (PIG) flow control in natural gas pipelines. The dynamic behaviour of PIG depends on the pressure differential generated by injected gas flow behind the tail of the PIG and expelled gas flow in front of its nose. To analyze dynamic behaviour characteristics (e.g. gas flow, the PIG position and velocity) mathematical models are derived. Tow types of nonlinear hyperbolic partial differential equations are developed for unsteady flow analysis of the PIG driving and expelled gas. Also, a non-homogeneous differential equation for dynamic analysis of the PIG is given. The nonlinear equations are solved by method of characteristics (MOC) with a regular rectangular grid under appropriate initial and boundary conditions. Runge-Kutta method is used for solving the steady flow equations to get the initial flow values and for solving the dynamic equation of the PIG. The upstream and downstream regions are divided into a number of elements of equal length. The sampling time and distance are chosen under Courant-Friedrich-Lewy (CFL) restriction. Simulation is performed with a pipeline segment in the Korea gas corporation (KOGAS) low pressure system. Ueijungboo-Sangye line. The simulation results show that the derived mathematical models and the proposed computational scheme are effective for estimating the position and velocity of the PIG with a given operational condition of pipeline.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06b
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• pp.241-246
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• 2001

This paper introduces modeling and solution for the dynamics of pipeline inspection gauge (PIG) flow in natural gas pipeline. Without of bypass flow, the dynamic behavior of the PIG depends on the different pressure between the rear and nose parts, which is generated by injected gas flow behind the tail of the PIG and expelled gas flow in front of its nose. With bypass flow, the PIG dynamics also depends on the amount of bypass flow across its body. The mathematical model are derived for unsteady compressible flow of the PIG driving and expelled gas, and for dynamics of the PIG. The bypass flow is assumed to be incompressible with the condition of its Mach number smaller than 0.45. The method of characteristic (MOC) and the Runge-Kutta method are used to solve the system governing equations. The simulation is performed with a pipeline segment in the Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) low pressure system, Ueijungboo-Sangye line. The simulation results show that the derived mathematical model and the proposed solution are effective for estimation the dynamics of the PIG with and without bypass flow under given operational condition.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.1349-1357
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• 2003

This paper deals with verification of the theoretical model for dynamic behavior of Pipeline Inspection Gauge (PIG) traveling through high pressure natural gas pipeline. The dynamic behavior of the PIG depends on the differential pressure across its body. This differential pressure is generated by injected gas flow behind the tail of the PIG and expelled gas flow in front of its nose. To analyze the dynamic behavior characteristics such as gas flow in pipeline, and the PIG position and velocity, not only the mathematical models are derived, but also the theoretical models must be certified by actual pigging experiment. But there is not any found results of research on the experimental certification for dynamic behavior of the PIG. The reason is why the fabrication of the PIG as well as, a field application are very difficult. In this research, the effectiveness of the introduced solution using the method of characteristics (MOC) was certified through field application. In-line inspection tool, 30" geometry PIG, was fabricated and actual pigging was carried out at the pipeline segment in Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) high pressure system, Incheon LT (LNG Terminal) -Namdong GS (Governor Station) line. Pigging is fulfilled successfully. Comparison of simulation results with experimental results show that the derived mathematical models and the proposed computational schemes are effective for predicting the position and velocity of the PIG with a given operational conditions of pipeline.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.150.4-150
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• 2001

The geometry PIG provides pipeline operators with continuous measurement of pipe centerline coordinates, bend radius, displacement, and bending strain in a single pass through the pipeline. This study introduces the developed geometry PIG(Pipeline Inspection Gauge) which is used for geometry surveys. This tool is equipped with the several sensor systems. The Inertial Navigation System (INS) comprises angle rate gyros and linear accelerometers. The system measures the precise path of the PIG during its traverse of the pipeline. This system is also used to produce a detailed map of the lire, measure curvature. Odometers measure the PIG´s distance moved along the line and instantaneous speed during the PIG run. Caliper sensors measure pipeline ...

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.6 no.1 s.17
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• pp.52-58
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• 2002

The PIG(Pipeline Inspection Gauge) is inserted in the pipeline and stores data of pipeline. In order to investigate the status of pipeline, a lot of sensors such as caliper, pressure, IMU and odometer are used. In this paper, the navigation storage data system for PIG is developed. It has master/slave structure for a real time operation. The master system stores data, while the slave system acquire the data from sensors. The performance of the developed system is verified by pull rig test.