A. M. Kobzar', and M. I. KremerUDC 621.515:620. I79The operation of compressor plants, vessels, apparatus, and industrial pipelines requires focused attention to safety problems, since the failure of this class of equipment may result in heavy consequences that threaten the ecological situation, health and lives of people. The problem is particularly urgent now, when a significant portion of the equipment has already seen long service. For their safe operation, compressor plants, vessels, apparatus, and industrial pipelines should be subjected to periodic diagnostiks in accordance with special procedures.Technical diagnostics and determination of the remaining service life of compressor plants, vessels, apparatus, and industrial pipelines are conducted in the following cases: the equipment has exhausted its service life established by technical documentation or by the manufacturer;, the equipment has been in service for 20 years and longer; and, in the opinion of the owner, the equipment requires an evaluation of remaining service life.For execution of these tasks, specialists of the Scientific-Diagnostics Center, Scientific-Industrial Firm Russian Laboratory have developed "Procedure for the technical diagnosis and determination of remaining service life, and also service maintenance of compressor plants, vessels, apparatus, and industrial pipelines," which has been approved by Gosgortekhnadzor of Russia. The procedure has been compiled in conformity with Methodical instructions for determination of the remaining service life of potentially dangerous objects under the control of Gosgortekhnadzor of Russia. Specialists of the Scientific-Diagnostics Center, Scientific-Industrial Firm Russian Laboratory and the Scientific-Industrial Center (SIC) "Lubrication-Free Compressors" Gosgortekhnadzor of Russia and the Administration of the Northwestern Region, which is under the control of Gosgortekhnadzor, have participated in its development.The procedure describes a set of tasks involving evaluation of equipment service life: 9 analysis of technical documentation; 9 field inspection, including external and internal inspection of compressors, vessels, apparatus, and industrial pipelines; determination of dimensions to ascertain deviations from geometric shape and mutual positioning of components and subassemblies; thickness measurements of structural components; measurements of metal hardness with a portable hardness tester; nondestructive monitoring of welded joints and potentially dangerous sections by methods of ultrasonic flaw detection, and optical, magnetic-particle, and acoustic-emission methods; diagnostiks based on thermogasdynamic parameters of the compressors; measurement and spectral analysis of the noise and vibration generated by a compressor; measurement of gas-pressure fluctuations and vibration of service lines; 9 laboratory investigations of the physicomechanical properties of metal and its chemical state and structure in specimens formed from the metal of control cutouts; 9 evaluation of the actual ext...
