Using IR on Insulated Pipe System

Insulated pipe condition is very important to the Oil & Petrochemical Industry. This paper will discuss some of the difficulties and possibilities in using IR to assist in determining the condition of insulated pipe in these industries. Pipe is insulated for a number of reasons, the primary reason usually being to prevent heat transfer between the environment and the process fluid. This paper will center primarily on the piping insulated to prevent heat loss. It is important to be able to determine three primary conditions; first, if the insulation is doing its job as designed. Second is to proactively determine any pipe corrosion problems. Pipe corrosion can occur either internally of externally. External corrosion is a problem with insulated carbon steel. The problem is known technically as UIC (Under-Insulation Corrosion). The third condition that is important is determining if a leak in the process pipe exists. There are some difficulties in using IR for insulated pipe inspections.