Patent ID: 7913543

Claim:
A method for monitoring the quality of catalyst loading of tubes in a chemical reactor containing a large number of tubes, comprising the steps of: calibrating a first injector tube by inserting the injector tube into a calibration tube; sealing between the first injector tube and the calibration tube; injecting gas through the first injector tube into the calibration tube; measuring the back pressure for the calibration tube; and generating a first correction factor in order to standardize the measurement made by the first injector tube; calibrating a second injector tube by inserting the second injector tube into a calibration tube; sealing between the second injector tube and the calibration tube; injecting gas through the second injector tube into the calibration tube; measuring the back pressure for the calibration tube; and generating a second correction factor in order to standardize the measurement made by the second injector tube; using the first and second injector tubes to measure the back pressure in a plurality of chemical reactor tubes; applying the first and second correction factors to standardize the respective back pressure measurements made using the first and second injector tubes; electronically recording the back pressure measurements; establishing a standard pressure; comparing the back pressure measurements to the standard pressure to determine which measurements fail to meet the standard; and generating a list identifying the tubes that fail to meet the standard.