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CD42 Pipeline Pig Location & Tracking System 

Page 46 

Chapter 4 - Transmitters 

 

All CDI transmitters emit a magnetic field that passes through the pipeline and any surrounding soil or 
water and is received by our CD42-GP.  This signal is then passed along to the CD42-R receiver where 
it is amplified and displayed.  A variety of different transmitters are manufactured to fit differing line 
sizes and applications from 2” and up.  Older transmitter units emit a pulsing pattern that is fixed 
(CD42-T1, CD42-T2, etc.), while newer transmitters are programmable and emit either the standard 
fixed pattern by default, or by flipping a switch can emit either a distinctive pattern or a pattern that the 
user creates (CD42-T1, CD42-T2, etc.).  For typical pigging jobs involving a single transmitter there is 
no real difference between the two types of transmitters, however, for jobs involving multiple pigs in a 
train, using differing transmitter patterns allows one to distinguish one pig from another. 
 
In addition to variable pulse patterns, the newer programmable transmitters have an 

optional

 delay of 

anywhere from 10 minutes to several months before they begin pulsing.  This feature is useful for when 
the pig is loaded into the launcher but may not actually be launched for some days. 

Specifications 

CD42-T0 

(Figure 69)

 

 

Typical transmission range through pipe of 15 feet and through air of                  
approximately 40 feet 

 

Recommended for use in pipelines 4” to 6” in diameter 

 

Guaranteed minimum 168 hour battery life (1 week) 

 

Pressure rated to 2,000 PSI [approximately 130 bar] 

 

Cylindrical dimensions of 7.1” X 1.66” [181mm X 42mm] 

 

Powered by 6 N-Cell alkaline batteries 

The CD42-T1A 

(Figure 70)

 

 

Typical transmission range through pipe of approximately 25 feet 

 

Recommended for use in pipelines 8” to 28” in diameter 

 

Guaranteed minimum 500 hour battery life (21 days) 

 

Pressure rated to 1,500 PSI [103.4 bar] 

 

Cylindrical dimensions of 9.9” X 1.9” [251mm X 48mm] 

 

Powered by 6 AA-Cell alkaline batteries 

CD42-T1 

(Figure 71)

 

 

Typical transmission range through pipe of approximately 25 feet and                             
through air of approximately 50 feet 

 

Recommended for use in pipelines 8” to 28” in diameter 

 

Guaranteed minimum 500 hour battery life (21 days) 

 

Pressure rated to 2,500 PSI [170 bar] 

 

Cylindrical dimensions of 10.7” X 3” [272mm X 76mm] 

 

Powered by 6 AA-Cell alkaline batteries 

Figure 69         CD42-T0 

Figure 70         CD42-T1A 

Figure 71         CD42-T1 

Summary of Contents for CD42

Page 1: ...Tracking System Instruction Manual Revision G Covering firmware versions 2 9 and earlier 1801 North Juniper Avenue Broken Arrow Oklahoma 74012 USA 1 800 580 4234 USA Canada 1 918 258 6068 Voice 1 918 251 9851 FAX www pigging com ...

Page 2: ...copyright 1999 2007 CDI All rights reserved Document Number 89 09 0001 00 Rev G September 20th 2007 For information on obtaining the latest version of the CD42 R receiver s firmware contact CDI CDI 1801 North Juniper Avenue Broken Arrow Oklahoma 74012 USA http www pigging com support pigging com 1 800 580 4234 Toll Free North America 1 918 258 6068 Worldwide 1 918 251 9851 FAX NOTICE Any operation...

Page 3: ... Pigs 13 CONCLUSION 14 CHAPTER 3 THE RECEIVER 15 OVERVIEW 15 SCREEN BLANKING 15 MAIN OPERATION SCREEN 15 GAIN BUTTONS 16 HELP BUTTON 16 RECORDING PIG PASSAGES 17 Entering the Location ID 19 Automatic Record Mode 20 Manual Record Mode 22 FILE MENU 23 Selecting a Recording File 23 Erase a Recording File 23 View a Recording File 24 Tag a Recording File 25 Calculate a Pig s Speed 26 Print a Recording ...

Page 4: ...Polypigs 50 Metal Bodied Pigs 50 Miscellaneous Pigs 50 TRANSMISSION STRENGTH AND BATTERY LIFE 50 ROUTINE MAINTENANCE OF TRANSMITTERS 50 CHAPTER 5 THE ANTENNA 52 GENERAL PURPOSE ANTENNA 52 CHAPTER 6 TRACKING A MOVING PIG 53 USING THE CD42 TO LEAPFROG 53 LEAVING THE CD42 UNATTENDED 54 CHAPTER 7 LOCATING A STATIONARY OR STUCK PIG 55 FINDING THE PIG S GENERAL VICINITY 55 PINPOINTING A PIG S PRECISE LO...

Page 5: ... to both track and locate pipeline pigs A pipeline pig is a device that is usually made of solid polyurethane or a polyethylene foam and is often shaped roughly like a bullet These devices are placed into oil and gas pipelines for three primary purposes To separate two fuel products from one another To clean the inside of the pipeline To detect corrosion on the inside and outside of pipe walls Pig...

Page 6: ...oving the red receiver unit from the carrying case Notice that the receiver s main features are a large Liquid Crystal Display LCD two rows of three buttons each and a silver three conductor connector The LCD is used to display the transmitter signal strength to the operator the buttons are used by the operator to control the CD42 s various functions and the connector is used to attach the recepti...

Page 7: ...buttons themselves Instructions for turning the unit on and off are also printed on the rear panel of the receiver Notice that each of the six buttons is associated with a small picture or icon on the LCD that indicates the function of the adjacent button At this point pressing any single button on the receiver will bypass the welcome screen and display the main working screen of the receiver The ...

Page 8: ...e most of which the system is able to filter out on its own However jarring the receiving antennas will produce spikes of interference on the LCD It is recommended that you experiment with the system at different gain sensitivity settings until you feel comfortable with what to expect The Antenna The CD42 GP receiving antenna is quite sensitive with a through pipeline range of approximately 15 fee...

Page 9: ...ly signal strength the T2 is 6 5 times more powerful than the T1 This allows the CD42 T2 transmitter to work in larger and deeper pipelines than the CD42 T1 Transmitter Specifications The CD42 T0 Figure 5 Typical transmission range through pipe of approximately 15 feet Recommended for use in pipelines 4 to 6 diameter in Guaranteed minimum 500 hour battery life 21 days Pressure rated to 1 250 PSI 8...

Page 10: ...0mm X 112mm Powered by 6 C Cell alkaline batteries The number of variables in pig location and tracking with magnetics make it virtually impossible to predict the exact signal strength that you will see from a transmitter in a given pipeline Below is a short list of things that cause a drop in signal strength to the receiver Pipe wall thickness Metallic pipeline coverings such as road casings Larg...

Page 11: ...thstand the pipeline pressures and if this seal becomes damaged or excessively dirty pipeline pressure can leak into the transmitter and destroy it Further pipeline pressure can become trapped inside the transmitter Always point transmitters away from yourself and others when removing the end cap Should you require replacement O rings they are readily available from CDI at a nominal charge Once th...

Page 12: ...efore the transmitter should now be transmitting its magnetic signal What to Look for while Tracking and Locating If you have followed the procedure above to this point you should have a fully assembled and tested CD42 R receiver and CD42 GP antenna Place the transmitter about 5 paces away from and parallel to the receiving antenna If the transmitter has been correctly assembled you should now see...

Page 13: ...Pig beginning on page 53 Stationary or Stuck Pigs Although being able to witness pig passages as shown above is a very valuable feature that allows you to monitor the progress of a pig through a pipeline the CD42 s ability to locate a stationary or stuck pig is perhaps its most important feature If you ve rented the CD42 K1 system then you are probably concerned that you are about to run a pig thr...

Page 14: ...ate the stuck pig to within just a few inches by using a nulling technique For a discussion of nulling please refer to the more detailed section on locating pigs entitled Pinpointing a Pig s Precise Location beginning on page 56 Conclusion We believe that although brief this section gives you a quick jump start on how to use the CD42 Pig Location and Tracking System to successfully track and locat...

Page 15: ...as though it is off but rest assured that it is not To bring the unit out of screen blank mode simply press any single button on the faceplate When the screen is blanked pressing a button will have no effect other than to turn the display on so it is unimportant which button you press In other words if you press the SETUP button to bring the unit out of screen blank mode you will not go into the S...

Page 16: ...lay change as you make adjustments The Gain is adjustable from 1 to 9 with 1 being the least sensitive and 9 being the most sensitive The reason the sensitivity adjustment is necessary is that there are situations in which the system can receive magnetic interference from the environment One such source of interference is an automobile in close range to the system By allowing the operator to contr...

Page 17: ...gging log file See the section entitled Print a Recording File beginning on page 27 for more information on printing recorded pig passage data 2 Time and date of the recording The exact time and date of when the recording began is recorded 3 The mile or kilometer marker The mile or kilometer marker of the recording s location is saved if the operator has chosen to set it Setting this value also al...

Page 18: ...point the receiver is waiting patiently for a pig passage to occur When a pig passage is detected you will hear a series of rapid beeps indicating that a recording has begun If the unit has been in screen blank mode it will turn the screen and back light on as necessary so that an operator if present can view the passage as it occurs Once the pig and transmitter have traveled out of range the unit...

Page 19: ... below in the section entitled Calculate a Pig s Speed beginning on page 26 When an operator presses the RECord button to begin recording pig passages the Location ID menu is shown and should appear similar to the one shown in Figure 21 At this point the operator may enter a Location ID The operator has the option of entering the Location ID in any of the available fields For instance if the opera...

Page 20: ...nces in any way The numbers are completely arbitrary and should be used in cases where the operator s pipeline does not conform well to using Mile or Kilometer markers Figure 22 Numeric Location ID Automatic Record Mode When the CD42 is in automatic mode and the operator presses the RECord button on the main screen Figure 23 the CD42 receiver unit will continuously monitor the incoming signals and...

Page 21: ... page 24 When the CD42 R detects a pig passage it will emit a series of beeps to indicate to the operator that a pig recording session is underway The display will change to read Auto Recording Figure 24 and the number of pig passes will also update to reflect the current pass When the CD42 R ends the recording it will emit another slightly slower series of beeps If the CD42 R is in sleep mode whe...

Page 22: ...d button again to halt it or the CD42 R had exhausted its internal memory The Manual mode function is most useful when the operator wishes to record something of interest that may not be a transmitter passage such as interference from motors etc It may also be necessary when in an extremely noisy magnetic environment to use the Manual mode Figure 25 to capture a pig passage manually rather than us...

Page 23: ...ield displays the hours and minutes and the up arrow icon displays the seconds This is useful if two or more recordings are very close in time The two lines at the top of the display above the Date and Time header are status indicators for the file that is currently selected As you move the highlighted bar through each file the status indicators update to reflect the information for that individua...

Page 24: ...tended operation of the CD42 R For instance the operator may place the CD42 R close to a pipeline knowing that several pigs equipped with CD42 T1 transmitters should be traveling by within the next 24 hours If the CD42 R is configured to record in automatic mode each one of the pig passages will be recorded as its own PIC file without an operator being present When the operator returns to the equi...

Page 25: ...oximate position of the recording within the recorded data When finished viewing the PIC file simply press the Back button to return to the File Submenu Pressing Back once more returns to the Main Menu The PIC data will be available for viewing until the operator deliberately erases it PIC data is not lost when the CD42 R unit is turned off Tag a Recording File Tagging a Recording file is a step t...

Page 26: ...le is no longer tagged Figure 31 File Tag Icon Figure 32 Two Files Tagged These files will stay tagged until the file is erased or the operator chooses to untag the file Calculate a Pig s Speed In order to calculate a pig s speed as it moves through the pipeline accurate Location ID s must be used when recording a pig passage Knowing the distance traveled is a critical component in calculating the...

Page 27: ...ich is the total number of seconds The Speed section displays the average speed of the pig This is displayed in Miles Per Hour Feet Per Second Kilometers Per Hour and Meters Per Second The pig speed is calculated as an average speed between the two selected files If the first and last recordings are tagged then the average pig speed is calculated for the entire run To exit the Calc Pig Speed scree...

Page 28: ... selected press the Print button Figure 35 Figure 35 Print Icon At this time an option screen is displayed which gives the operator two options print a single File Image from the file list or print a list of all file recordings To print a File Image press the File Image button If the printer is online and connected it will immediately begin printing the PICture file image If the printer is not onl...

Page 29: ...s option prints the recorded details for each file It prints the time date the Location ID the type of antenna the gain setting of the CD42 R and the duration of the recording The List All report is accessed by pressing the Print button on the File Submenu When the Print Which option screen is displayed press the List All button If the printer is online and connected it will immediately begin prin...

Page 30: ...9 allows the operator to back up one menu level at a time to return to the main screen and resume standard pigging operations Figure 39 Back Icon LCD Backlight The backlight of the CD42 R s display is the greatest single electrical drain on the 5 D Cell batteries Therefore turning the backlight off when not needed can significantly increase the life of the CD42 R system The Light button icon shown...

Page 31: ...ayed Meter Display An analog style signal strength meter is available for display on the main screen This is in addition to the normal waveform display and will reside in the upper left hand corner of the screen The Meter button icon shown below in Figure 42 allows the operator to enable or disable the Meter display option The status of the Meter option will be displayed in the message area when t...

Page 32: ...turn to the Main screen The contrast adjustment is stored in the nonvolatile memory of the microprocessor and is restored to the system every time it is powered up It will not be necessary to set the contrast every time the unit is turned on Setting the Clock The CD42 R has an on board real time clock that allows the system to record the date and time of a pig passage and name the PICture file For...

Page 33: ... movement of the cursor through the various time and date fields see Figure 47 Figure 47 Left and Right Icons The left and right arrows control the movement of the cursor always initially located on top of the hours digits from one set of digits to the other The operator should use these arrow buttons to position the cursor on top of the value to be changed Once the cursor is positioned on the cor...

Page 34: ...in Figure 49 Figure 49 Previous Time This information is displayed to the operator simply as a reference to the current time the CD42 R has stored This old time cannot be restored once any changes are made in the time or date fields If the operator presses the Back button without making any changes to the time or date the old time will remain the current time Battery Voltage Measurement One of the...

Page 35: ...structions on the different types of record modes and how to record pig passages refer to the section titled Recording Pig Passages earlier in this manual Recording Modes In order to change the record mode the CD42 R is currently using the REC button is pressed Figure 52 Figure 52 Record Icon When the operator presses this button he is presented with a screen as shown in Figure 53 ...

Page 36: ...button to exit the Record Options screen The main purpose for this option is to select the format for the Location ID used when recording a pig passage This format determines how the pig recordings are identified or numbered Set the Location ID to Not In Use if you do not intend to track pig recordings by Location ID at all Set the Location ID to Miles or Kilometers if you plan on tracking pig rec...

Page 37: ...the Main screen The new setting is recorded as the default so that the next time that the CD42 R unit is turned on the beeping option will remain the same Restore Defaults Fix If the operator is having problems with the operation of the CD42 R unit a possible solution is to perform a software reset This option can be found on the More screen of setup and is labeled Fix Figure 55 This option restor...

Page 38: ...2C serial communications cable should be used The receiver unit itself requires the cable to have a male DB9 connection end while the user s computer will vary Please check the back of your computer for the appropriate connection type Once the proper hardware connection has been made it is necessary to run a terminal emulation program such as ProComm or Windows HyperTerminal HyperTerminal is readi...

Page 39: ...2 R system should yield output similar to Figure 59 depending upon which version of the system you have Figure 59 Boot Output Text From the CD42 R As usual you should press any one of the buttons of the CD42 R receiver to bypass the opening screen and begin using the system While the CD42 R receiver is in normal operation it continuously scans for the user to press the ENTER key on his keyboard At...

Page 40: ...e of this manual for further assistance View Transfer File Data The View Transfer File Data command can be used to permanently store a set of recording image data to your personal computer The image data is output in a platform independent manner called comma delimited text or comma separated values CSV CSV files are very generic and versatile and may be operated upon by a great many computer prog...

Page 41: ...n your local computer allows the data that is about to be dumped from the CD42 R s memory to be captured and permanently stored on your local computer s hard or floppy disk drive All terminal programs perform this function slightly differently but if you re using HyperTerminal the menu is shown in Figure 62 Figure 62 HyperTerminal Transfer Menu Once selected the Capture Text option will ask you fo...

Page 42: ...ou do with the CD42 R during the session from being logged to disk To close the capture flag with HyperTerminal choose Stop as shown in Figure 64 Figure 64 Closing Capture Text File You now have successfully stored the image of a given pig passage to disk You may now open it directly from within a spreadsheet program by specifying the file to open is a CSV file and then you may use that program s ...

Page 43: ...however only the number of the recording in memory the date the time and the mile marker position are dumped to the capture file Again this data may be manipulated with standard spreadsheet programs as described in the section above To learn how to capture and manipulated the data please read the section on View Transfer Data File above A sample dump of File Dates and Times is shown in Figure 66 F...

Page 44: ...R will prompt you with Vertical display of antenna input Press ENTER to start any key quits Once you begin watching the waveform it is important to remember that any key will quit the operation as no other prompting will occur A sample of the vertical real time waveform output is shown in Figure 67 Figure 67 Serial Interface Antenna Signal Assembly In this image Figure 67 we see the transmitter pu...

Page 45: ...ion Statistic Info Included on this screen are the following pieces of information 1 Contact information for CDI 2 The version number and the compilation data of the firmware of the system 3 The Equipment Owner text This text is displayed on the opening screen when the system is first booted 4 Card Number The serial number of the electronics circuit board 5 Chassis Number The serial number of the ...

Page 46: ...f anywhere from 10 minutes to several months before they begin pulsing This feature is useful for when the pig is loaded into the launcher but may not actually be launched for some days Specifications CD42 T0 Figure 69 Typical transmission range through pipe of 15 feet and through air of approximately 40 feet Recommended for use in pipelines 4 to 6 in diameter Guaranteed minimum 168 hour battery l...

Page 47: ... when removing the end cap of any transmitter An O Ring seal is used to withstand the pipeline pressures and if this seal becomes damaged or excessively dirty pipeline pressure can leak into the transmitter and destroy it Further pipeline pressure can become trapped inside the transmitter Always point transmitters away from yourself and others when removing the end cap Should you require replaceme...

Page 48: ...ide of the battery hold that is facing outward Figure 75 Once the battery carousel has been placed correctly into the transmitter place the cap of the unit back into place If you find it difficult to reinstall the cap check the O Ring for lubrication If the O Ring is dry bare rubber apply some Vaseline or other petroleum based jelly to it and to the inside of the transmitter body where the O Ring ...

Page 49: ...onds 2 Skip one mode Figure 77 Instead of transmitting a constant string of pulses the transmitter emits two pulses and then skips one before emitting two more pulses This allows you to distinguish one transmitter from another in a train that is emitting a standard continuous string but it can also be used to conserve battery power if your job is long 3 Constant on mode Figure 78 This mode causes ...

Page 50: ... remain quite strong up until the device s rated life and then will drop off quite rapidly this is by design and should not be of concern Routine Maintenance of Transmitters CDI s transmitters require minimal routine maintenance however proper care of the transmitter is still important to prolonging its operational life The following steps should be followed during each assembly of a transmitter 1...

Page 51: ...Ring from being deteriorated by the environment 3 Do not reassemble the cap onto the transmitter for long term storage with the O Ring in place this could cause the O Ring seal to take a shape flattened on the outside where it meets the mating surface of the transmitter Such a flattened face could degrade the O Ring s ability to hold pipeline pressure If you need to store the transmitter in an ass...

Page 52: ...rating the highest voltage and the largest signal on the CD42 R display This is known as the Pattern of Inductive Coupling or PIC This aspect of the PIC phenomena is most useful when the operator is walking the pipeline searching for a stuck pig equipped with a transmitter In these instances the operator usually walks above or beside the pipeline where there may or may not be ground cover and hold...

Page 53: ...await a pig passage he should orient the receiving antenna parallel to the pipeline As the pig approaches the location and then moves away it produces a distinctive wave shape on the display Figure 79 is an example of a typical pig passage Figure 79 Signal Of Approaching Pig After the operator has identified a pig passage he should then move immediately to the next leapfrog point If the pig passes...

Page 54: ...sh this place the CD42 R receiver in the location to be monitored Be sure the CD42 R is in Automatic record mode Figure 80 The CD42 R will turn itself on and automatically begin recording when it detects a valid pig passage When the operator returns to check the CD42 R the display will verify how many pig passages have been recorded The time of the recording can also be displayed in the File Menu ...

Page 55: ... pig properly Chapter 6 Tracking a Moving Pig then he should have an area bounded by the leapfrogging points where the pig is located Simply walk the pipeline as close as possible and watch the screen of the CD42 R begin to display the pulses of the CD42 T1 transmitter While this is being done it is very important that the CD42 GP antenna be held parallel Figure 81 to the pipeline Figure 81 A Para...

Page 56: ... the pig has been located it is now time to find the exact location of the pig This can be done by switching the orientation of the CD42 GP antenna to an angle perpendicular to the pipeline Figure 83 This means holding the antenna in such a way so that the end of the antenna is pointing at the transmitter Figure 83 A Perpendicular GP Antenna Orientation ...

Page 57: ...gnal when the antenna is directly over the pig Move the antenna back an inch or two and the signal strength will rise Move farther away and the signal will disappear altogether With this technique the operator can pinpoint the exact location of the pig Figure 84 Nulling the transmitter As a side note be aware that the operator must have already located the general vicinity of the pig using paralle...

Page 58: ...ical transmission range through pipe of approximately 15 feet Recommended for use in pipelines 4 to 6 in diameter Guaranteed minimum 168 hour battery life 1 week Pressure rated to 2 000 PSI 130 bar Cylindrical dimensions of 7 00 X 1 66 178mm X 42mm Powered by 6 N Cell alkaline batteries The CD42 T1A Typical transmission range through pipe of approximately 25 feet Recommended for use in pipelines 8...

Page 59: ...ipelines 30 to 60 in diameter Guaranteed minimum 375 hour battery life 15 days Pressure rated to 2 500 PSI 170 bar Cylindrical dimension of 13 X 4 4 330mm X 112mm Powered by 6 C Cell alkaline batteries The Antenna Weighs 6 0 lb Shoulder strap included Receives open air signals to a distance of 50 feet Waterproof 6 ft cable included 20 ft cable optional ...

Page 60: ... to magnetize the core Magnetic Field The portion of space near a magnetic body or a current carrying body in which the forces due to the body or current can be detected Magnetic Flux Lines of force used to represent magnetic induction Null Indicated by a zero reading on a scale indicates center of transmitter Parallel Extending in the same direction Perpendicular Extended at right angles ...

Page 61: ... 15 Manual Record Mode 22 Features 22 Meter Display 31 Mounting Transmitter 50 N Nulling 52 P Pattern of Inductive Coupling 52 PC Computer Connecting to 38 PIC 52 Pig Locating 55 Pig Speed 26 Printing See Recording File Q QuickStart Antenna 8 Assembly 6 Battery Replacement 11 47 Pig Passages 12 Receiver 7 Stuck Pigs 13 Tracking 12 Transmitter 9 R Receiver 15 Record Mode 35 Recording File 23 54 Era...

Page 62: ...Transferring Data 40 Transmitter 46 CD42 T0 46 CD42 T1 46 CD42 T2 47 Changing Batteries 47 Constant on Mode 49 Custom Pulse Patterns 49 Default Mode 49 Mounting 50 Routine Maintenance 50 Skip one Mode 49 Transmitter Signals Viewing Real Time 44 U Unattended 53 V Version Statistic Info 45 ...

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