Title :
3E-5 Wavelet-Based Method for Fouling Detection Using Ultrasonic Guided Waves
Author :
Silva, J.J. ; Silva, K.M. ; Lima, A.M.N. ; Neto, J. S Rocha
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng., Campina Grande Fed. Univ.
Abstract :
Fouling detection is a relevant problem for chemical, oil, food and pharmaceutical industries. Fouling consists of the deposition of heavy organic materials and other dissolved solids or in suspension in fluid transport system. The ultrasonic guided waves present specific characteristics and have demonstrated good results in detection of flaws in pipelines. In this paper, the application of wavelet transform to analyze ultrasonic signals in order to detect fouling in pipelines is presented. A platform of tests has been used to emulate the fouling problem. The pipelines were used as a medium to guide ultrasonic waves and weekly measurements were used to observe the fouling process. The Daubechies 4 and Haar wavelets were applied to each measurement set. The results reveal that the variations of the energy-spectrum of the wavelet detail coefficients may provide an appropriate way to detect fouling, since it was observed that the increase of the fouling causes a notable reduction in the energy values
Keywords :
acoustic signal processing; chemical industry; flaw detection; food processing industry; petroleum industry; pharmaceutical industry; pipelines; ultrasonic materials testing; ultrasonic measurement; ultrasonic waves; wavelet transforms; Daubechies 4 wavelets; Haar wavelets; chemical industries; flaw detection; fluid transport system.; food industries; fouling detection; fouling process; oil industries; organic materials; pharmaceutical industries; pipelines; ultrasonic guided waves; ultrasonic signals; wavelet transform; wavelet-based method; Chemical industry; Food industry; Organic materials; Petroleum; Pharmaceuticals; Pipelines; Solids; Ultrasonic variables measurement; Wavelet analysis; Wavelet transforms;
Conference_Titel :
Ultrasonics Symposium, 2006. IEEE
Conference_Location :
Vancouver, BC
Print_ISBN :
1-4244-0201-8
Electronic_ISBN :
1051-0117
DOI :
10.1109/ULTSYM.2006.97