Customer needs

Detecting micro leaks on exchanger

For its Nkossa barge TOTAL ask CETIM for locating leaks on 1 exchanger (37 tons ~ 7m long)
1192 pinned tubes (ie 2384 holes to be tested and about 16km of tube)

Customer benefits

The procedure proposed by CETIM, on the barge, avoided to transfert the exchanger onshore (very costly) and reduced drastically the loss of production (Gain of time)

Cetim answer

Cetim proposed an original leak detection approach by means of a helium mass spectrometer.

This technique is lighter than conventional inspections

Delivered results

Two teams intervened for one month in two shifts so as to test the 1,182 tubes installed in a hairpin pattern