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risk
Managing the
Efficiency
YIELD
Availabilty
April2008
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Inspection summary
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After assessing the operating risk, the next step is to review the
inspection records. The records are reviewed for identification
of the major damage mechanisms affecting the long term
reliability of the fired heater. Past failures are critically reviewed
to identify root causes and assess potential risk for future
failures. The management of records and inspection practices
are evaluated for their effectiveness in detecting potential
failures.
In some cases a review of inspection records will identify
areas of missing data or high risk concerns that require further
investigation. In these cases offline advanced condition
assessment tools are employed to identify, map, and quantify
the rate of deterioration and the future impact of flaws present
in the material condition of the refinerys fired heater tubes.
Whether the primary concern has been bulging,
creep strain, isolated corrosion, or other material
defects in tube wall thickness, ovality, etc., an
optimum risk management programme must
start with inspection and detection of these
flaws during shutdown. The programme for
condition
assessment of fired heaters has been built
around the unique Quest TruTec inspection
tools: FTIS and LOTIS.
Reliable FTIS (intelligent pig technology)
is being used to provide quick/comprehensive
inspection to both convection and radiant
sections in fired heater coils. Both tubular data
formats along with 2D/3D high resolution colour graphics
of the test results are immediately produced onsite showing
tube wall thinning, bulging, swelling, and ovality (Figure 5).
The intelligent pig is comprised of multiple modules (Figure
6) and is propelled with water throughout the length of a
heater coil. The use of custom ultrasonic sensor technologies
combined with a powerful graphical data analysis package has
resulted in high resolution, digital, and quantitative inspection
data for the entire piping coil. Data is obtained in a matter of
minutes after being collected without removing return bends
or entering the furnace firebox. Todays designs are capable
of inspecting coils with nominal diameter dimensions of 4 - 8
in. Schedule 10 - 80. Designs for other sizes are currently in
development.
For heater coils with mule ear headers laser optic tube
inspection system (LOTIS) is applied to collect the inspection
data, as the FTIS intelligent pig cannot pass through these
header types. The header plug on each tube is removed
to allow insertion of the internal laser based tube testing
technique to obtain tube creep information as it relates to tube
damage as well as detection of internal corrosion.
The equipment utilised for this examination consisted of
the compact LOTIS Model-400M system in conjunction with
the appropriate laser mapping probe (Figure 7). This laser
based surface mapping system is based on the principle of
laser optical triangulation. The LOTIS probe projected a small
laser beam (typically 0.02 in. in diameter) onto the target
surface, providing precise radius measurements to 0.002 in. of
the inside surface of the tube at each sample point, which for
a typical 4 in. ID tube means creep strain is quantified to within
0.05%.
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Figure 9. Monte Carlo probablistic remaining life curve for heater coil.
Where applicable, the FTIS or LOTIS data collected
from almost 100% inspection coverage of the heater tubes
determines the condition of the asset at the time of inspection
with high certainty. This information can be used to make
immediate replacement decisions, as well as providing an
enormous data set for risk management analysis.
Specialised software
The performance and inspection data is evaluated using Quest
Reliabilitys LifeQuest-Heater specialised software. The
fitness-for-service assessment follows the practice guidelines
provided in Section 5 (Local Metal Loss) and Section 10
(Components Operating in the Creep Regime) of API 579. A
Level 2 analysis is completed on the process fired heater coil
broken down into 1 ft increments. The results of the analysis
are an immediate pass or fail deterministic remaining life (Figure
8) based on the normal operating conditions of the heater.
April2008
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Conclusion
Achieving proper balance between reliability and performance
of the refinerys fired heaters can be difficult. Quest Reliabilitys
risk based management programme for fired heaters can help
the refinery management to achieve their long term goals.
Signal RM-Heater has not been just a risk based inspection
programme, it is a reliability management system that has
enabled the refinery to manage the performance and reliability
of all of its fired heaters. The programme has featured
advanced tools such as heater performance monitoring,
infrared thermography, FTIS, LOTIS, and LifeQuest that provide
real time measurement of performance and reliability. The
results of the assessment are delivered with Signal RM-Heater
software that has provided management with a dedicated
tool to manage the fired heater assets. The assessments have
significantly improved the management of fired heaters by
understanding risks, planning to reduce the risk while extending
run times and optimising tube replacements.
Figure 12. RoF, LoF and CoF values for refinery fired heaters.
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