INSPECTION DEPARTMENT

PANIPAT REFINERY
Ref: PR/IP/201

Date: 22-03-2013

Experience Sharing on EMAT Inspection of tubes of VHP Boilers at

Panipat Refinery
Introduction
Inspection of water wall tubes and bank tubes of VHP boilers of Panipat Refinery
was taken up by using advanced NDT technique- Electromagnetic acoustic
transducer (EMAT) during M&I shutdown of the boilers ( 3 nos.). The testing was
carried out with the assistance of M/s NDTS India Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai. The technique
was used first time at Panipat Refinery.
Water wall tubes and bank tubes comprise major portion of heating-surface and
health of these tubes is critical for reliability of the boiler. Thorough thickness
scanning of the tubes is required for deciding reliability/ repair/ replacement of the
tubes. As complete scanning of the tubes is not feasible with conventional UT
gauging, it was decided to employ EMAT technique in all the three VHP boilers.
EMAT testing is an advanced NDT method generally used for thickness mapping
as well as flaw detection in in-service/ new tubes. An EMAT probe consists of a
magnet and a coil of wire and relies on electro-magnetic acoustic interaction for
elastic wave generation. Using Lorentz forces and magnetostriction, the EMAT probe
and the metal test surface interact and generate an acoustic wave within the
material.

Before cleaning - tube condition

After cleaning - tube condition

Scanning in progress with EMAT

Recording of data in progress

Site requirements
1. Thorough cleaning of tubes to remove all hard deposits/ scales, oil and rust is
must.
2. Electrical connection is required.
3. Scaffolding inside boiler is needed.

Advantages
1. Entire length of tubes can be scanned in short span of time.
2. Compared to ultrasonic thickness gauging which is spot measurement technique,
EMAT can cover section of tube (area under the probe) along its entire length.
3. No couplant between probe and tube is required.
Limitations
1. Air gap between tube and probe due to improper cleaning can cause loss of
signal/ erratic signal. Hard deposits on the tube can also damage the EMAT
probe.
2. Requirement of thorough cleaning (close to SA 2.5): Generally, water wall
tubes are covered with thick hard deposits as seen in photograph above,
whereas EMAT inspection requires thorough cleaning close to SA 2.5 level as
shown in photographs above. Areas that cannot be cleaned by grit blasting (such
as bank tubes facing furnace rear wall tubes) owing to space constraint cannot
be inspected.
3. Only thickness scanning of fire side of the tubes (i.e., side from which tubes are
accessible) can be done. The probe will not give any indication regarding unfired
side of the tubes.
Remarks
1. Overall the technique was found suitable for thickness scanning of boiler tubes.
2. Approx 1500 m length of tubes was inspected in 4 days after surface cleaning.
3. Low thickness was detected with EMAT technique in one tube and thinned
portion (0.75m length) of the tube was replaced. It would have been difficult to
detect localized thickness loss with conventional UT gauging.