Proper corrective maintenance and validation, such as the pressure testing of plant and machinery, is the basis for quality assurance as well as plant safety. In this respect, measuring and control instruments are attributed a special importance. Using our calibration instruments, plant operators can gain a benefit from, for example, plant downtime, during plant validation or even preventive maintenance.
In order to satisfy high requirements, plant elements must be validated before use and must also undergo regular testing during operation. The pressure testing of pipelines and vessels enables the determination of leaks and thus helps in the evaluation and validation of these plant elements.
During hydrostatic pressure testing, the test item is filled with the test medium and the test pressure is applied. The test pressure is measured and logged over a defined period of time. On the basis of the pressure loss during the test, a statement about the leak tightness can be made (see also test bench construction for leak testing systems). The resulting test report is important for the evaluation of the pressure-bearing components and serves as proof of operational safety.
The generation of the reports for a pressure test is often made manually. The measured values are transferred by hand to a report template, which were previously read off from analogue pressure gauges. An automatic recording of the measured values prevents transfer errors, increases the accuracy and increases the efficiency of the test. Aside from the measurand pressure, it is helpful to log the temperature as well, since this influences the pressure in a closed system. Through the documentation of both values, a relationship between temperature and pressure can be established.
The documentation of measured values during the testing of pressure profiles in plant can also help to identify pressure spikes. To determine the cause and intensity of pressure surges, it may be useful to access logger data. With the aid of the reports generated from the pressure test, a time-based reference to the measured value can be established and thus the cause of pressure spikes can be identified more quickly. If the process interfaces required for this purpose have not been taken into account in plant design, it is possible to fall back on autonomous measuring instruments such as digital pressure gauges or process calibrators with external sensors. They can record and store pressure profiles over longer periods of time.