PIPELINE INSPECTION TOOL AND METHOD BASED ON ROTATING MAGNET-INDUCED EDDY CURRENTS

摘要

Disclosed are an apparatus and method for integrity monitoring of tubular components and, in particular, pipe walls. The apparatus comprises a configuration of permanent magnets (22, 24) arranged to rotate circumf erentially within the pipe, whereby uniform low-frequency currents are generated within the pipe wall which, in turn, generate fields detectable with, for example, conventional Hall Effect sensors (60, 62). The method comprises steps to rotate the apparatus within the pipeline and sense disruptions caused by anomalies in the pipe wall.