The ambition of this project is to develop a new, real-time, online and robust
diagnostic and prognostic service based on acoustic emission sensing
for composite high pressure vessels towards the establishment of a new
industrial standard at Umoe Advanced Composites AS in Kristiansand. The
core added value of this innovation is realized through the replacement of the
current time-based periodic hydraulic pressurized testings and the extension
of lifetime of composite high pressure vessels (CHPVs).
The challenge this project tackles is the current periodic hydraulic pressure
testings required for composite high pressure vessels, which is an old,
costly, troublesome, and inadequate method. The innovation idea is a new,
real-time, online and robust diagnostic and prognostic service for CHPVs
based on acoustic emission sensing and data analytics. The result is to
categorize the level-of-safety of CHPVs to 3 classies (100% safe, 80% safe,
and Dangerous) and estimate the remaining useful lifetime (RUL) of CHPVs,
thus, ensuring safe operations and preventing risks of CHPVs.
The project has 3 milestones:
Milestone 1 Documentation of AE features identified as failure indicators
comparing to observable ground truth (Q2 2019).
Milestone 2 Methods and algorithms developed for clustering of current
level-of-safety and RUL of UAC CHPVs (Q2 2020).
Milestone 3 Evaluation on whether AE based online diagnostic and
prognostic service can replace current hydraulic pressure testing towards
new industrial standards (Q2 2021).
The project is carried out through collaborations between UAC and Teknova.
UAC has in-depth domain knowledge on failure modes of CHPVs and their
fatigue initiation and propagation characteristics, as well as expertise in
hydraulic pressurized testing of CHPVs. Teknova has core competence
within Acoustic emission and visual sensing, its international collaborative
partners GMPS are resources for the project.