Repairing and sealing pipelines in refineries and the petrochemical industry is time-critical, often hard to access, and safety-relevant. Industrial Specialty Services (ISS) is digitizing this process with the handheld, wireless 3D scanner Artec Leo. The goal is to capture geometries on site faster and more accurately in order to design precisely fitting components for leak repairs and avoid downtime. Manual measuring tools such as tape measures and calipers remain in use for simple diameters and lengths, but reach their limits with complex branches, irregular surfaces, and poor visibility.
“After the scan, we can measure in the conventional way, compare the information from both measurements, and start manufacturing with confidence,” explains Sean Peters, head of the ISS service line. “This reduces rework, speeds up the design process, and enables us to deliver precisely fitting components. What used to take hours with manual measuring tools can now be done quickly and in a single pass.”
Artec Leo captures pipeline segments without contact and immediately generates a polygonal mesh that engineers use as a basis for reverse engineering.
“As a rule, we can bolt housings around the components and inject a sealing compound that stops the leak. This way there is no impact on safety or the environment, and production does not have to be interrupted,” explains Larsen, Vice President of Engineering at ISS. “The other use case involves customers who find that their pipes have thinned, eroded, or corroded so much that they are quickly becoming a problem. It’s possible to proactively install a box to avoid any risk.”
According to ISS, scans can often be processed within an hour; the cleaned mesh is then further edited in SOLIDWORKS. For harsher environments, Artec Studio ensures the required data quality with filtering and registration functions.
The resulting sealing housings and collars are designed so that they can be bolted on site.
“Once our workflow is fully optimized, I see potential for the use of 3D scans in other areas of the company, especially in our on-site machining services,” Peters concludes. “The ability to quickly capture precise geometries on site would simplify the planning and execution of machining operations. This could also facilitate dimension verification and improve quality control.”
For additively manufactured spare parts and tooling design, the scanning process creates a reliable geometry reference that reflects tolerance chains and installation conditions. ISS sees potential to further standardize workflows and extend applications to on-site machining. By combining mobile digitization, CAD back-conversion, and rapid manufacturing, the company shortens lead times and increases process reliability in complex repair operations.
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