1. Overview:

The production of oil, gas, and chemical rely on the pipeline system to transport oil, gas and chemical raw materials and products. The pipeline may be invaded by many factors during operation, for example, internal and external corrosion, mechanical impact, third-party activities, resulting in pipeline rupture. In the event of a leak, the mixture of hydrocarbons and air will form a cloud of the oil-air mixture. If the lower limit of combustion explosion is reached, a fire or detonation may occur in the event of a fire source, resulting in casualties and serious property damage.

The main reason for the leakage of oil and gas pipelines:

1) Pipe corrosion and aging phenomenon

If the pipe is corroded, the pipe is prone to leaks. For the corrosion phenomenon, a lot of incentives, such as acid-base soil erosion of the pipeline corrosion, resulting in pores on the pipe wall; Corrosive medium static tensile force, leading to stress fracture; Different types of oil and gas, so that there are multiple substances within the pipeline interaction, there are different types of corrosion. At the same time, pipeline aging itself can cause leakage.

2) Flushing force generated by the fluid accelerates the corrosion of the pipe

Pipeline oil and gas flow rate exceeds a certain range, will have a scouring force, damage to the pipe wall, the final case of perforation, leading to leakage, this form of leakage is more likely to occur in the bent part of the pipe.

3) Flange leaks during transport

There are many reasons for the flange leak in the yard. For example, during the construction process, the quality of the installation is not good enough, resulting in improperly fitting of the bolts and causing the flange to leak during use. Irrational pipeline design, pipe vibration during use, resulting in instability flange bolts, resulting in leakage; Pipelines due to external forces, deformation, gasket deformation, etc., there will be flange leaks.

4) Thread leaks

Use taper pipe thread to achieve the link between the instruments in a station. If there is thread gap, it will lead to sealing problems. Therefore, use sealing tape to seal the gap, however, it still can not completely avoid the occurrence of thread leakage.

5) Third-party construction damage

The location of oil and gas pipelines is close to that of third-party construction sites. However, due to the lack of preliminary exploration during the construction, the construction often resulted in the destruction of oil and gas pipelines and resulted in leakage. In addition, natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods can destroy oil and gas pipelines, resulting in oil and gas leaks.

2. Pipeline Leak Detection Technology Development

1) Direct leak detection method

Direct leak detection method relative to the original primary, mainly for the staff to take the test method, For example, manual inspection method, by inspectors intuition, experience to determine whether there is a pipeline leak, This kind of working method is usually inefficient and ineffective. It can only detect major leakage problems and takes a long time and enormous manpower and material resources. In order to improve the detection efficiency and create a good detection result, we must adopt the modern science and technology, utilize all kinds of scientific instruments and technical methods to realize the testing automation, intelligence, and precision.

2) Handheld infrared thermal imager detection

With the continuous improvement of infrared technology, the use of gas detection with handheld infrared thermal imager gas leak detection methods are gradually being popularized. Because it allows you to see the leaking gas, quickly lock the leak. The handheld thermal imaging camera detects gas leaks based on the physical properties of the volatile gas leaks.

Figure (1) Hand-held infrared thermal imager on-site testing

Figure (2) Gas leakage images under infrared thermal camera lens

3) Infrared Thermal Imaging Intelligent Analysis Technology

However, it is necessary to pay close attention to the fact that the above two methods all have drawbacks. Whether it is direct detection method or handheld infrared thermal imager requires inspectors to visit the site, the inspectors are in close contact with or close to the target under test, Inspectors may be exposed to potentially harmful chemicals not visible to the naked eye. And many oil and gas pipelines are laid in the more remote or sparsely populated areas, in the event of problems, the relevant inspectors cannot quickly find leaks in time, and make effective countermeasures.

As video intelligence analysis technology continues to evolve, the use of infrared thermal imaging cameras to monitor gas leaks and the ability to make real-time, effective, intelligent analysis of surveillance video has matured to allow us to quickly pinpoint leaks in the event of gas leaks, Quick and effective alarm response to respond to unexpected conditions, as far as possible to avoid causing serious consequences.

4) Difference between infrared thermal imaging camera and ordinary camera image

An image rendered by an infrared thermal camera is often referred to as a "thermal image", Because different objects and even different parts of the same object radiation and their different intensity of infrared reflection, the use of objects and the background of the differences in radiation and the different parts of the radiation itself, the thermal image can show the various parts of the radiation ups and downs, which can show the characteristics of the scene.

Since the wavelength of heat or infrared light is too long for the human eye to see, an infrared thermal imaging camera can help us see objects that are invisible to the naked eye. Thermal imaging yields clear images, an excellent tool for predictive maintenance, building inspection, research and development, and automation applications, ideal for testing oil and gas pipelines. Thermal imaging is able to see the observed objects in full darkness, at night, through fog, smoke and from long distances.

Infrared thermal imaging video intelligent analysis technology is the video surveillance upgrade, deepen the video surveillance industry. Infrared imaging has its unique advantages because it has all-weather features (including dark night and sandstorm, foggy weather), strong penetrating power and temperature information, compared with visible light imaging.

Figure (3) Visible light monitoring and infrared monitoring comparison

Figure (4) Infrared thermal imaging camera

New twin-lens PTZ thermal imaging infrared surveillance cameras, the use of passive infrared detection technology to support white hot, black hot, fusion, rainbow, autumn, afternoon, iron red, amber and other thermal imaging pseudo-color adjustable, perfect Show daytime, night video images.

Figure (5) Gas leakage images under Infrared thermal imaging camera lens

Can clearly see from the image of the image taken by the thermal imaging camera, the gas leak area will be displayed as a ray of smoke to help users see the leakage of volatile gases.

3. Infrared Camera Used in the Field of Video Surveillance Gas Leak Detection

Infrared thermography is a detection technology that can be applied in many fields and has been widely used in electric power, petrochemical, steel, papermaking, scientific research, fire protection, security and other fields. Then, which industries are suitable for infrared thermography combined with video intelligent analysis of gas leak detection technology?

Petrochemical：An industry of hydrocarbons production, the raw materials from the oil refining separation process or conversion process. Using infrared thermography combined with video intelligence analysis, chemical spills used or produced in the petrochemical industry can be observed.

Chemical industry：Production of non-hydrocarbon or inorganic chemicals from base stocks. The chemical industry is usually a mass-produced and continuous process, product purity is high. Infrared thermography combined with video intelligence analysis has good responsiveness to some of the chemical leaks in the industry.

Power generation and distribution：Gas powered generation often use natural gas as fuel. Infrared thermography combined with video intelligence analysis is ideal for leak detection in this industry.

Natural gas：Natural gas production, storage, transportation, and distribution. Natural gas is mainly composed of methane and ethane, which can be clearly detected by a medium-wave infrared thermal imaging camera. Infrared thermography combined with video intelligence analysis is suitable for leak detection from all aspects of gas production to distribution networks to end-consumers.

Environmental law enforcement：In many countries, it is common for government agencies to regulate law enforcement instead of the industry itself. These agencies can use thermal imaging and video intelligence analytics to monitor industries, ensure compliance with regulations, and audit their emissions reduction performance.

4. Realization of Video Intelligent Analysis of Infrared Thermography Gas Leakage

Taichen VMS platform not only can implement a comprehensive remote network video surveillance program, but also can effectively use computer video intelligence analysis technology, the thermal image of the gas leak smoke concentration analysis, to achieve the operation of the gas pipeline State real-time monitoring, this allows regulators to deal with possible gas leaks in a timely manner.

Infrared Thermal Imaging Gas Leakage Video Intelligence Analysis is fully integrated into the monitoring server as a new alarm input type for monitoring servers that perfectly matches the proven alarm response capabilities of the monitoring server and enables rich video monitoring and alarm linkage functions reliably.

Figure (6) Gas leak video intelligent analysis settings and working conditions

Infrared thermal imaging gas leak video intelligent analysis takes full account of the ease of application, based on a large number of practical applications, the scope of parameters is optimized to the smallest, all kinds of difficult to understand options hidden in the program, users do not have to master a variety of setting options and distressed.

The intelligent search function is based on the same video intelligence analysis algorithm of real-time monitoring, the playback uses it to achieve a powerful and efficient after-the-spot supervision methods, based on strict real-time monitoring alarm, for a specific target event for fast secondary search. During the search process, you can change the search object and parameters, intelligently filter out useful video event information in the massive video data, which can greatly reduce the work intensity and improve the work efficiency.

Figure (7) Gas leak monitoring video files intelligent search function

Infrared thermal imaging gas leak monitoring Video intelligent analysis is another successful practice of video image processing technology in the field of environmental monitoring with high accuracy, strong anti-interference ability, easy installation and deployment, It is an effective tool for relevant departments to further strengthen environmental monitoring.

About the powerful Taichen VMS platform itself, please refer to our other related topics, this article will not repeat them.

5. Video Intelligence Analysis and Environmental Data Acquisition Machine

Video intelligence analysis and environmental data acquisition machine, is video intelligence analysis technology and conventional environmental monitoring technology perfect unity. In such an integrated machine, Integrated with the video recording and storage of Taichen VMS platform, remote video data access, intelligent analysis of gas leak video, standard industrial Modbus sensor data collection and status reporting module. The data acquisition module supports the HJ-212 standard, which can fully meet the requirements of information access and data sharing for various complicated environments in the field of environmental monitoring.

Figure (8) Environment monitoring data acquisition module settings and working conditions

Figure (9) The application of video intelligent analysis and environmental monitoring data acquisition machine

6. Application of Video Surveillance Management Platform in Environmental Monitoring

In addition to front-end video intelligence analysis and data acquisition integrated machine, Taichen VMS platform itself is a very versatile video surveillance software system, has been widely used in various fields of the national economy, act as the framework of various monitoring system functions in a variety of complex business needs and network environment. With the cooperation of the video intelligence analysis and data acquisition integrated machine, such a powerful monitoring and management platform will be able to play a more important role in safety supervision.