Hatch launches LayerSense to inspect ageing assets

Hatch has launched LayerSense, an ultrasonic inspection system for industrial assets that can assess internal deterioration while equipment remains in operation.

The system is aimed at heavy industries including mining, ports, shipping, transport and aviation, where operators are keeping assets in service longer and trying to avoid replacement costs.

Across these sectors, ageing infrastructure can develop hidden cracks, corrosion and structural wear deep inside equipment and fixed installations. Conventional inspection methods often cannot detect damage developing through several layers of material until a fault becomes visible or a shutdown is required.

LayerSense builds on Hatch's earlier low-frequency ultrasonic work in blast furnaces. The new system combines low-frequency pulse ultrasonic methods with other non-destructive testing tools, structural monitoring and data analysis to inspect complex, multi-layered structures from the outside while they continue operating.

According to Hatch, the equipment sends low-frequency ultrasonic pulses through an asset and reads the returning signals to identify cracking, corrosion and wall-thickness loss. It can assess total wall thicknesses of up to 600mm and single layers from about 10mm, with accuracy within 2mm.

Ageing assets

The need for this type of monitoring is increasing as replacement cycles lengthen across sectors that rely on very large, often ageing equipment. Many of these assets were designed for earlier operating conditions and are now being used longer under tighter cost pressures.

"In critical industries such as mining, shipping and transport, asset replacement cycles have lengthened. But we're often talking about machines that weigh thousands of tonnes and were designed for very different operating conditions when they were first built. The engineering challenge is no longer simply keeping assets running longer - it's understanding how those assets are ageing while they remain in operation. Extending their lifespan can only be done safely if operators understand how materials and components are degrading over time.

These assets have long required more sophisticated ways to assess their condition as they age. While low-frequency pulse ultrasonic (LFPU) systems are available to address the issue, they need to go further by assessing the walls of complex structures through three, four or more layers.

There is an emerging technological capability that can meet the challenge, but it needs to become widely available. An LFPU system, integrated with advanced non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques, can identify corrosion, cracks and wall-thickness loss across multiple layers in equipment long before they become visible and while it remains in operation," said Simon Nitschke, Managing Director of Technologies, Hatch.

Hatch has spent more than a decade refining related methods in the field. Its earlier StaveCheck technology has been used in the steel sector to monitor blast furnaces, where wear in cooling staves can be difficult to predict and failures can have severe operational consequences.

Kalgoorlie trial

One example cited by Hatch comes from BHP Nickel West's Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter in Western Australia. The company used ultrasonic scanning over about six years to monitor the furnace base and identify cracking in the heat-resistant lining.

The first signs of damage were detected about three years before the cracking could have threatened the furnace structure. A later planned shutdown confirmed the location of the cracking and the build-up levels identified during the inspection campaign.

The case is significant because pyrometallurgical equipment is usually difficult to inspect internally while in use. Hatch said the work allowed BHP to schedule repairs before a failure occurred, avoiding damage to the furnace and surrounding equipment.

Afshin Sadri, Hatch's Technical Lead for the project and inventor of LayerSense, said the system is designed to help operators tie maintenance decisions to planned downtime rather than emergency outages.

"If operators can better predict when equipment needs repair, reinforcement or replacement, they can align equipment downtime with planned shutdown activities. Australia's heavy industries can make better informed decisions about maintenance, shutdown scheduling and repair to prevent costly incidents and broader operational interruptions.

LayerSense differs from conventional industrial ultrasonic systems in the way its ultrasonic pulses are generated and received, allowing it to measure through complex structures with three, four or more layers.

Across heavy industry, operators are being asked to get more life out of increasingly complex and ageing infrastructure. The challenge for engineers is ensuring those assets can continue operating safely, reliably and efficiently while giving operators greater visibility into what is happening beneath the surface. The engineering capability to better understand those risks is now emerging," said Sadri.

Hatch describes itself as a global engineering, project delivery and professional services firm with more than 11,000 staff working across more than 150 countries.