White Paper Partner
Utilities pipelines are a crucial part of global infrastructure. Any disruption to the flow of gas, oil, and other natural fuels has a huge impact on global markets and national economies.
With Ukraine, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Poland collectively operating approximately 200,000km of pipelines across Europe – roughly a quarter of the world’s total pipeline length – their maintenance and repair must be managed proactively to ensure they remain in an optimum condition.
Regular pipeline inspections are an integral aspect of keeping operations running, but they are complicated. The process of ‘pigging’, where vast pieces of machinery, nearly the width of each pipe, undertake pipe inspections and cleaning, whilst gathering data on the structural integrity of the pipeline, is commonplace.
In some cases, the process has been complemented by ‘smart pigging’, whereby tasks such as ultrasounds, magnetic flux leakage, and mechanical calliper analysis can be undertaken.
However, any mistakes in the collection of the data in the field can result in the need for repeated inspections. The cost of this can easily run in to the millions and is a major concern for both the pipeline owners and the inspection teams.
But the location of the pipelines, the process itself, and the technical requirements of the supporting equipment bring a unique set of challenges for both the inspection teams on the ground, and their organisation’s IT departments.
In this guide we’ll look at the major pinch-points for mobile devices in the field, and explore how Panasonic TOUGHBOOK is the solution for inspection teams and the wider organisation to overcome these challenges and keep costs down.