Bang bang you're dead

nEU EQUIIPMEnT Know your tube The atomic-energy bet-hedging subsidiary of the American oil giant Exxon, has wasted no time in branching out. Exxon Nuclear is now offering a complete tube gauge for inner and outer diameters and wall thickness (Fig.l). The device is ultrasonic and is ready fitted with the handling gear. Known as the 3D, it measures the three dimensions with a claimed accuracy of 0.005 mm. Although it can be used on other sizes, the gauge is designed for tubes 6 - 1 6 mm in outside diameter with wall thickness of 0.3-0.4 mm. The ultrasonic pulse-echo technique is used at a prf of 5 kHz. The frequency band width is 2 - 3 0 MHz and the results are shown on an analogue read-out. The instrumentation includes an oscilloscope for signal monitoring and

Fig.1 One careful reading of the handbook and a technician should be able to operate this tube gauge

transducer alignment. Water temperature variations are also taken care of. The whole thing plugs happily into the American mains 115 V, 60 Hz, but could no doubt be altered. The instrumentation measures 280 x 508 x 483 mm. The tube transport is basically a 25 1 tank for the inspection and a 360 W motor to pull the tubes through and turn them at between 0 - 3 000 rpm. It is 2.7 m long and 0.6 m wide and bolted to the floor (Fig.2). Exxon Nuclear Co Inc, 2101 Horn Rapids Road, Richland, Washington 99352, USA

Russians play it by ear An ultrasonic thermometer for measuring superflow temperatures down to 250°C below zero has been designed at the Kaunas Polytechnic Institute in Lithuania, USSR. Among its advantages over conventional thermometers is its ability to operate under high radiation conditions. Information from the device can also be recorded much faster and automatically fed into a computer. Other sonic thermometers being developed at the Institute include one for superhigh temperatures reaching several thousand degrees. So far the instrument has been able to measure the temperature of gas flows heated in a plasnotron to 1 200°C, but other devices capable of measuring up to 5 O00°C are under development.

Fig.3 Rubber boots and a smoking ban are no good unless the thickness gauge is designed to be explosion-proof

atmosphere (Fig.3). Also the batteries are potted in an elastomeric compound. The gauge has an analogue read-out for 1.8-245 mm thickness of steel with a claimed accuracy of 1%. The transducer is designed for quick reading on pipes up to about 500°C. The gauge weighs 2.5 kg and measures about 205 x 175 x 130 mm. It turns itself off after five minutes of not being used. Krautkramer-Branson Inc, 76 Stamford, Conn 06904, USA

Novosti Information Service, Moscow, USSR

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Fig.2 This machine moves tubes along and turns them about in a water tank to allow for adequate gauging by ultrasound

To prevent unwanted explosions in oil refineries, Krautkramer-Branson of Stamford, Connecticut, have introduced an explosion-proof ultrasonic thickness gauge. The model WSG-2 is designed so that the current and voltages are so limited that no conceivable malfunction could spark an explosive

N O N - D E S T R U C T I V E T E S T I N G . JUNE 1974

After the Factory Inspectorate's recent appalling figures for radiation overdoses to site radiographers, many such must be pressing for the wider use of audio warning devi~es. ESI Nuclear Ltd has launched a 140 g radiation monitor measuring 20 x 40 x 130 mm. The alarm signal is a bleep which becomes more frequent as the background radiation goes up. It bleeps

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