Integrated Sensor Networks for Corrosion Under Insulation: Monitoring, Cost Reduction, and Life Extension Strategies

System health assessment using sensor networks has been used in the past to detect the presence of Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) and coating. Corrosion sensors placed under insulation offer a replacement or alternative to expensive inspections. If installed during the early project design stage, sensor networks can greatly reduce the need for inspection and unexpected replacement costs.

This paper shows three different techniques to detect the presence of moisture and its corrosiveness. The techniques are: direct impedance measurement, the combination of galvanic couple with active RFID tags and Wi-Fi based motes connected to 2 wires electrodes. While all techniques were able to detect CUI, only one can be used to create an intelligent wireless sensor network capable to detect CUI. This paper also demonstrates the efficiency of smart sensor networks to detect CUI and propose the architecture for an intelligent sensor network designed to detect the presence of CUI in an early stage. It also demonstrates how to create an intelligent sensor network, and how to model corrosion risk using the large amount of data generated by a sensor network.

Keywords: remote monitoring, system health assessment, integrity, corrosion sensors, CUI, mote, Wi-Fi