This paper describes recent major IRIS developments and new perspectives in the heat exchangers and boilers tube thickness measurement.

IRIS Summary

Iris is a relatively new but well established ultrasonic system for inspection of air-cooled and tube-in shell heat exchangers and boilers. It employs the conventional pulse-echo technique for measuring the wall thickness, but uses a novel method for displaying the measurements.

All of the measurements made during a complete scan around the circumference of the tube, are displayed on a computer screen to produce a real-time stationary rectangular, circular or C-scan picture of the tube circumferential cross section and D-scan to show the profile of the tube.

3. New Developments and Perspectives

Digital IRIS equipment have progressed a long way from the earlier analogue machines.

Its display provides the operator with detailed information of a defective area and analysis performed on a composite display.

New capabilities as snapshot images, freeze-frame, quick calibration, inspection range, encoders, tube mapping software, fast and slow mode and other features will be presented.

The development of new oil immersed probes, special probes for tube bend and crack inspection, and improved methods of defect sizing are major developments that create new perspectives in the automated IRIS inspection.