USA Consulting
Over the last 25 years, CIA Inspection Inc. (CIA) has evolved from a data collection company into a full service partner in coke drum inspection and reliability. By focusing on value-add consulting services, CIA has become the world’s leading partner for many of the world’s leading refiners including many USA based companies such as ExxonMobil, Marathon Petroleum, Shell, Tesoro, Valero, to name a few.
Integral to CIA’s consulting approach to both USA and global based refiners is the provision of the laser profiling and remote video inspection plus the following value-add services:
Enhanced Bulge Analysis - an algorithm which relies on the 2nd derivative of the curve profile to measure and identify the amount of relative “sharpness” that a coke drum experiences and in turn the regions of the drum exhibiting the highest risk and concern.
Improved Statistical Datamining – industry’s most extensive statistical/datamining exercise to track and monitor the evolution of bulge profiles across 100’s of real world examples of drum failure; including thru-wall cracking, stress cracking of the cladding and triggers for repair strategies to better predict where and when failure zones may occur based upon a historic viewpoint.
Revised Inspection Process – by combining the above solutions, CIA is now able to offer instantaneous analysis of the drum data on a real-time basis to produce a bulge sharpness map locating the most critical areas of the drum, based upon both geometrical and empirical evidence. CIA will then optimize and focus the high-definition (HD) digital camera on the areas of highest risk and likelihood of failure in order to assess for signs of bulge induced cracking.
Reliability Assessment & Maintenance Services – the combination of these services can be used as a pre-turnaround vessel assessment tool to identify potential failure areas in advance of any turnaround or maintenance period in order to optimize inspection, reliability and repair strategies. Furthermore, the need to physically enter the vessel can be postponed based upon the results of this type of inspection.
Robotic Crack Detection – the final and most important component of CIA’s comprehensive service relies on the remote application of a robotic crack detection device and ACFM sensor (Alternating Current Field Measurement) used to characterize, evaluate and size linear indications or crack-type indications in operating coke drums. Refer to the image for details on CIA’s ACFM device.
