In today’s energy supply chain, pipelines serve as a critical tool, keeping customers and communities across the country connected to a reliable supply of gasoline, diesel fuel and propane.
Behind the scenes, another essential tool helps the CHS pipelines team inspect the inside of each line to ensure the system is clean, operating safely and properly maintained.
A crew of engineers, welders and mechanics use pipeline inspection gauges — commonly known as smart PIGs — to see inside the pipeline.
As smart PIGs travel through the pipeline system, these fast-evolving, high-tech tools capture data that can be analyzed to measure pipe wall thickness, detect potential metal loss, cracks, dents and possible corrosion.
Learn how the CHS pipelines team launches and tracks smart PIGs as part of the year-round inspection process in the gallery below.
Before the launch of each smart PIG, a carefully coordinated schedule is planned. Each CHS pipeline route is analyzed approximately every five years and the team works year-round performing in-line inspections, routine maintenance and repairs.
Once a line’s valves have been opened, the station operator opens a trap where the PIG is placed to begin its trip through the line. On this run, an ultrasonic PIG travelled a total of 112 miles for 55 hours before reaching its final destination at the CHS terminal in Chase, Kan.
As the PIG moves through the line, segments of the tool scan the pipe to assess its integrity and identify potential maintenance needs. This ultrasonic inspection PIG works like sonar, sending out and receiving sounds waves off the side of the pipe to detect irregularities.
It may take days for a smart PIG to travel through and analyze one section of pipeline, depending on the length of pipe under inspection. This launch of an ultrasonic smart PIG began at the CHS terminal in Phillipsburg, Kan. just before dawn.
Each step of the process is documented to ensure the team has a robust archive of data points and observations to analyze following the PIG’s run through the line.
Once inside the line, the gang splits into two groups to track the PIG’s progress by following the tool’s electronic signal. “Each group takes turns driving to different pipeline mile markers to record the time and location when the PIG passes by,” says Matt Rinkenbaugh, senior reliability engineer for CHS. “One team will log the location the PIG is approaching, while the other drives ahead to the next mile marker. They’ll essentially play leapfrog the entire length of the run.”
With the launch of each PIG, a gang — which includes a supervisor, welder, mechanic and pipeliners — is on site to prepare the tool and track the PIG’s journey. A station operator coordinates with the CHS pipeline control room in McPherson, Kan., to open valves within the pipe, clearing a pathway for the PIG.
From the PIG’s launch site, the pipeline gang communicates with the pipeline control room in McPherson, Kan., through a dedicated phone line. The control room team opens and closes valves as needed, allowing the PIG to pass through each segment of the line.
Once the PIG reaches its final destination, Rinkenbaugh receives the data captured from the PIG and analyzes its results to schedule additional inspections, maintenance tasks and repair projects. “Depending on what is found in the PIG’s data, we’ll adjust our maintenance schedule to perform repairs as urgently as needed” says Rinkenbaugh. “These tools are an essential asset to help us keep a pulse on the state of our pipeline system, to keep it functioning safely and detect potential risks before they become issues.”
