TSC Subsea, a global specialist in developing advanced subsea inspection solutions for challenging situations, has designed yet another new remotely deployed tool. The ART vCaliper is designed specifically to inspect ovality and wall thickness in constricted locations.

This customized tool was designed and built by TSC Subsea’s in-house engineers in less than four weeks to meet the precise requirements of a project in the Gulf of Mexico. A client needed to perform ovality and thickness checks on a potential hot tapping location on a gas pipeline of its’ semi-submersible platform.

Access to the hot tapping inspection site was crowded with pipe work and clamps. This made it not only difficult to use standard scanners but also posed a danger to divers.

To overcome the problem, TSC Subsea developed the ART vCaliper. It’s a non-intrusive, remotely deployed advance inspection system, that uses TSC Subsea’s field proven Acoustic Resonance Technology (ART) for inspection.

The ART vCaliper is the only high-resolution inspection technology available that can actually penetrate thick subsea coating and provide highly accurate ovality and direct quantitative wall thickness measurements (to a depth sizing ± 0.2mm).

“There is nothing else like this currently on the market. ART is particularly suited to underwater inspection because it negates the need for expensive coating and marine growth removal and results in high quality data, even in challenging situations,” said David Parramore, Subsea Engineering and Operations Director.

Requiring limited surface preparation and reducing vessel time, the ART vCaliper reduces operational costs. It easily interfaces with all common ROV. It is lightweight and uses a magnetic motorless arc to fasten on the pipe. And provides full 360° coverage around the pipe with simple manipulation by an ROV.

The tool features two transducers 180°apart, that collect data simultaneously with a minimum collection of 3 readings for ovality.

The current design scope caters for inspection from 6 - 20” and it can be easily engineered to any diameters required.

The ART vCaliper was deployed in the Gulf of Mexico along with MagCrawler that uses ACFM® technology to conduct a combined caliper, wall thickness and weld inspection in a single campaign.

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: TSC Subsea