Steel Pipe Drift Test

First, thank you for registering, and welcome.

A wireless device inside a steel pipe can only send signals along the inside of the pipe. No receiver outside the pipe can detect a sender inside the pipe (unless the sender is emitting x-rays or shorter wavelengths).

For electromagnetic (light or radio) waves sent along the inside of the pipe, if there are any sharp corners, they will reduce the signal considerably or completely.

Use a pressure wave pulse, and measure the return time of the echo. You'll need to know the speed of pressure waves (sound) in whatever the pipe contains, at the average temperature of the pipe.

Thank you for your quick answer, I will take your comments. Do you know who can develop this type of devices?.

Regards.

It depends on the length and diameter of the pipe, the number and sharpness of bends in the pipe, and what kind of fluid is in the pipe. For pipes over an inch ID and under about 20 ft long with no sharp bends, and filled with room temperature and pressure air, the focusing mechanism of an old Polaroid camera could be adapted to do the job.

Have you done a search? I bet such a device already exists. The hard part would be choosing appropriate search words. Perhaps 'sonar in tube' or 'reflected pulse in tube' as a start.

Thanks for your comments. Pipes are from 60.3 mm up to 508 mm; the length ranges from 8 to 15 meters, no fluid inside, not pressure and all the process is at room temperature with maximum of 45°C.

The minimum drift diameter is 40 mm and the maximum is 450 mm and minimum cicle time is 30 seconds to pass inside go through and come back.

I gather that these are straight pipes. If so, then a laser distance meter should work great. Check out Fluke, Keyence, or if cost is more important than precision, Home Depot.

Since you are new to the forum, click on any underlined name to go to their web site.

The word 'drift' hass many meanings... I have no idea what it means here!

A photo or drawing would help greatly.

Dick