Many times a year natural gas transmission and distribution companies need to make new connections to pipelines to expand or modify their existing system through hot tapping procedure. This procedure involves the installation of a new pipeline connection while the pipeline remains in service, flowing natural gas under pressure. The hot tap procedure includes attaching a branch connection and valve on the outside of an operating pipeline, and then cutting out the pipe-line wall within the branch and removing the wall section, which is called object of coupon through the valve. During the hot tapping process a critical problems occurred when a coupon fell into the mother pipeline. To overcome this problem, a gamma-ray absorption technique was chosen whereby a mapping technique will be done to detect the coupon position. The technique is non-destructive as it applies Co-60 (5mCi) as a radioisotope sealed source to emit gamma radiation and a NaI(Tl) scintillation as detector. The result provided a visible representation of density profile inside pipeline where the coupon location can be located. This paper provides the detail of the technique used and presents the result obtained.
The radiotracer injector is meant for transferring liquid radiotracer in the system for industrial radiotracer application with minimal radiation exposure to the operator. The motivation of its invention is coming from the experience of the workers who are very concern about the radiation safety while handling with the radioactive source. The idea ensuring the operation while handling the radioactive source is fast and safe without interrupting the efficiency and efficacy of the process. Thus, semi automated device assisting with pneumatic technology is applied for its invention.