Affordable and Wireless Transducer Network to Detect Fouling in Pipes

Abstract

Localizing fouling in industrial pipes by AIenhanced ultrasonic means shows promising results. However, the existing methods require large quantities of data measured from multiple locations and thus are either costly due to the number of transducers required or are hampered by readout uncertainties due to reattachment of the sensors. We present a wireless and affordable network of custom-built clamp-on transducers with drive electronics, in which transducers can be used as both transmitters and receivers. The network was used to generate and characterize propagating waves in pipes with and without fouling. The transducers and their driving electronics generate signals with sufficient signal-to-noise ratio in a repeatable manner and are sensitive enough to detect the signal change caused by fouling on a steel pipe.

Wireless and battery-operatable IoT platform for cost-effective detection of fouling in industrial equipment

“…As a drawback, this solution requires moving a pair of transducers, or using two arrays of transducers to find defects, which increases manual work and system cost, respectively. To avoid these drawbacks, one can utilize the helical propagation paths to increase the coverage of a transducer pair 23 . With appropriate data analysis and transducer positioning, adequate signal quality can be achieved, and comparative results can be obtained with reduced hardware.…”

“…The sensor unit (Figs. 1 and 3) is based on the ESP32-WROOM-32E (Espressif, Shanghai, China) microcontroller module, which enables wireless communication (IEEE 802.11n) between a host computer and the sensor unit for configuration and data transfer 23 . To facilitate measurements, the sensor unit has an ultrasound transceiver for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic signals.…”

“…We build upon our previous work 23 , by redesigning the signal generation and acquisition circuits for improved performance, as well as including a wireless triggering method. We present details on the individual sensor units as well as the network they form.…”