The Perfect Fit

Award-winning laser devices are helping the oil industry to make sure that its pipelines measure up to the job.

Pipes suck up precious oil from the seabed like soda through a straw, without missing a drop. To enable oil companies to do this successfully, the pipes must first have been measured, so that they all weld together perfectly. It sounds straightforward enough but, if it’s not done properly, the result could be ecological disaster.

The last thing the industry wants to see is oil lapping against beaches instead of being pumped through offshore rigs.

And, in a small office hidden away on an industrial estate in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, is a thriving company that holds the key to the success of many a pipelaying project.

Optical Metrology Services (OMS) is a leading supplier of pipe measurement devices. Its tools, which use laser technology to measure the dimensions of oil and gas pipes, have been used for projects all over the world.

From Scotland to the Gulf of Mexico, the company’s staff have measured thousands of pipes using the tools. They have also developed devices for engineers to use when they are out doing pipelaying jobs.

OMS’s achievements have won the company a whole wall of awards, including one for innovation in this year’s Queen’s Awards for Enterprise.

Measuring pipes after they have been made might seem pointless. Surely, common sense would suggest that the manufacturers make them to the right size in the first place? But the measurements needed for oil pipes take time and involve technology that the makers don’t have access to. OMS director Tim Clarke says: "They try to make them as accurate as they can, but the tools they require for this application are way in advance of normal applications. This is why this kind of work is necessary."

The measurements are, in fact, so crucial that just 0.5mm can mean the difference between success and ecological disaster.

Deep under the sea especially, pipes must be given extra attention, particularly the steel catenary risers, which are the ones that bend up from the seabed and lead up to an oil rig. These pipes can be over a mile long, and the flow pressures can cause serious problems if they are not welded properly.

Clarke says: "If the pipes don’t match any closer than 0.5mm it will cause a bad weld, which could lead to the failure of the risers, and, if that falls down, there will be an environmental disaster."

OMS has developed devices that don’t just prevent such problems from happening, but make measuring quicker and easier. Without touching a ruler or magnifying glass, the tools allow pipes to be measured in great detail, and in seconds.

One of the company’s latest devices, the award-winning Automatic Pipe Checker, uses lasers to measure external and internal dimensions. The device is placed inside the end of the pipe so that an attached arm is positioned around the outer wall. The arm encircles the pipe and, with a laser beam, records 2,000-plus points around the circumference in 10 seconds.

This information is sent to a computer, which displays all the points of the circle in a line, as though the pipe’s circumference has been unwrapped. By comparing this with data from another pipe, the computer can help to find the best point at which the two pipes fit.

Clarke says: "Sometimes the pipes we get are way out. We have to find pipes with the right radius and, once we have done that, find pipes that are the right shape. It can be an extraordinarily complex thing to do." But, with this device, the company can record data on as many as 200 pipes in one day, which is three times quicker than using regular measuring tools. And, as some projects involve measuring more than 2,500 pipes, this time saving is valuable.

Denise Smiles, head of business development, says: "The pipes may be late and be delivered by boat, which can take a while. We are in and out very quickly, and give them the data very quickly. They are getting detail they have never had before and, because of that, they are secure in the knowledge that they are not going to have any problems."

Now OMS is ready to take the next step in expanding its business to other areas of the oil industry. Having taken on board pipelaying projects from all over the world, the company hopes to help in the pipemaking process.
 
Clarke says: "The next plan is, we want to make sure we are known by the whole of the industry.
We would like to produce tools for pipe manufacturers and get ourselves more involved in the complete process in pipe manufacturing and pipelaying."