ACFM

Shipping Applications

Ships, consisting of large steel plates welded together, offer many opportunities for ACFM inspection. The ability of ACFM to inspect through paint, and even underwater, mean that ship hulls can be inspected without having to enter dry-dock.

Using ACFM in conjunction with a rope-access technician or diver also avoids the needs for scaffolding.

As well as inspecting ship hulls ACFM has been used to inspect storage and ballast tank welds, LPG spheres and propeller blades. In most cases large areas require inspection, a process that can be shortened through the use of an ACFM array probe which can be marinised if required.
Propeller blades are usually inspected underwater by diver. However they are one example where costs can be reduced through the use of a topside AMIGO instrument and a marinised probe with 50m cable in place of a subsea U31D.

Although most of a ship is made from ferritic steel, some components (such as the propeller) may be made from more exotic non-ferrous alloys. ACFM probes can inspect both types of metal, with a simple change in set-up.