Patent ID: 9448209
Filing Date: 2016-09-20
CPC Classification: F16L,F17D,G01M,G01N

Claim Text:
1. A monitoring section for being attached to a tubular pipe, wherein the pipe transmits hydrocarbons containing corrosive gases; the monitoring section comprising, from a radial interior to an exterior of the monitoring section, an internal sheath on the interior of the section, a cylindrical metal cover fitted around the internal sheath, and an integrated ultrasonic transducer configured and operable to determine the position of the interface between the first and second layers using ultrasound to measure, in real time, progression of the diffusion of the corrosive gases through the thickness of the internal sheath by determining the location of the interface; the internal sheath having an inner surface defining a path through and along which the hydrocarbons pass and having a radially outer surface and a thickness between the inner and outer surfaces and the sheath permitting diffusion of the corrosive gases radially through the sheath; the internal sheath being comprised of a polymer in which reactive-compound elements are dispersed throughout the thickness of the sheath between the inner and outer surfaces, wherein the reactive-compound elements are operative to react with corrosive gases from the hydrocarbons which diffuse through the thickness of the sheath to neutralize the corrosive gases, the polymer sheath being so constructed that the corrosive gases are liable to diffuse radially through the thickness from the inner surface of the sheath to the outer surface of the sheath, such that as the corrosive gases diffuse radially outwardly, they react with the reactive-compound elements to form a first layer from the inner surface of the sheath radially outwardly in which the reactive-compound elements have reacted with the corrosive gases, and the first layer gradually moving radially outwardly through the thickness of the sheath toward the outer surface, and the sheath further comprising a second layer occupying the residual thickness of the sheath radially outwardly from the first layer, wherein the reactive-compound elements in the second layer of the sheath have not reacted with corrosive gases, such that an interface is formed between the first and the second layers, which interface moves gradually radially outward through the thickness of the sheath as corrosive gases react with the reactive-compound elements.