Ultrasonic Transducer Array Performance for Improved Cleaning of Pipelines in Marine and Freshwater Applications

Abstract

Fouling accumulation in pipelines is a well-known problem in industry across various applications. The build-up of fouling within a pipe can reach a detrimental state, leading to pipe blockages that, in turn, result in pipe bursts. As pipelines transport fluid up to hundreds of meters, a method to prevent and remove fouling at long distances is required to support an engineering structure without the requirement of halts for maintenance to be carried out. Underwater pipelines are currently deployed which must ensure that pipelines carrying crude oil do not reach a detrimental state which leads to pipe leaks or pipe bursts, resulting in a discharge of oil into the surrounding water. This work discusses an optimized ultrasonic cleaning transducer array which undergoes marinization. The marinized transducers are characterized for impedance and wave propagation across a fouled 6.2 m long, Schedule 40, 6-inch diameter carbon steel pipe. This study has shown that the addition of marinized material dampens the vibrational output from the High-Power Ultrasonic Transducer (HPUT) configuration. This reduction in vibration is most significant when the structure is filled with water, resulting in a marinized HPUT configuration dropping by up to 85% and a non-marinized HPUT configuration dropping by up to 80%.

A Novel Ultrasonic Cleaning Tank Developed by Harmonic Response Analysis and Computational Fluid Dynamics

“…When we compared the sizes of the cleaning area, model D had the largest cleaning area of 100.83 cm 2 , which increased up to 39.65% compared to model A which cleaning area was 72.20 cm 2 , and larger than model B as well. From Figures 7 and 8, the acoustic pressure distribution indicated that the design of the UCT and transducer position did affect acoustic pressure distribution and cleaning area, consistent to the report in [14][15][16][17][18][19]. Actually, if we relocated some transducers to the side as in the study [17][18][19], we would get a larger cleaning area and higher acoustic pressure than in this study.…”

“…In the case which cleaning fluids flow in the UCT, when the flow rate increases, the bubble collapsing rate drops along with the cavitation [13]. The transducers' position also affects cleaning performance; if the transducers are placed in a suitable position, the cleaning performance will be high [14][15][16][17][18][19]. In order to design a UCT with high cleaning performance, computer simulation was applied to find the cause of why the UCT in this industrial factory was not cleaning properly.…”