New Laser Module Captures Geometry of Water Pipelines

A new pipe inspection and asset management system is designed to help users capture pipeline geometry using a video inspection crawler outfitted with practically any laser profiling hardware.

The new WinCan Laser module is part of the WinCan V8 software system from Pipeline Analytics.

"Until now, laser profiling has been very proprietary, with each inspection crawler brand having its own designated laser hardware and software," said Mike Russin, Account Manager with Pipeline Analytics. "WinCan Laser works with all crawlers and all laser hardware. This means you can use any equipment you like, and leverage your WinCan investment to save money and better integrate the data you collect."

The laser module works in three modes, depending on the laser hardware used:

In parallel laser mode, the camera head's twin laser dots are oriented perpendicular to the pipe wall and then rotated 360 degrees. The module analyzes video from the crawler to determine pipe diameter and deformation at that single location. (The core WinCan package has additional tools allowing defect measurement using parallel lasers.)

In ring mode, the module analyzes video from the crawler, extracting the laser ring pattern. Trending the diameter and deformation of this ring frame-by-frame yields data that can be readily converted into a solid model, ovality graph or color plot.

In scanning mode, the module analyzes the laser dot pattern cast by any properly equipped side-scan camera, interpolating a ring to determine diameter and deformation. As in ring mode, these measurements can be trended frame-to-frame, yielding data that can be converted into a solid model, ovality graph or color plot.

The WinCan Laser module gives users the geometric information expected from laser profiling software, allowing them to verify proper pipe installation, plan relining projects, determine remaining pipe life, monitor erosion/corrosion, and analyze partial collapses. It accepts standard and HD video, and links collected data to the asset being inspected, making it easy to call up from a section view or GIS entity.

The laser module is an add-on module for WinCan V8 pipe inspection and asset management software. The software transforms raw inspection data into the intelligence municipalities and contractors need to make maintenance decisions. The software's measurement tools help quantify defects, and search capabilities filter observations by any combination of criteria. Its report generator automatically summarizes inspection findings using a standard or user-defined template. Native support for GIS mapping, side-scanning and 3D are among its features.

For more information, visit www.pipelineanalytics.com.