Effendi Adds ACFM
to his CSWIP 3.4U
Effendi, an electrical engineer from Batam,
Indonesia, has over 12 years of experience
in the oil and gas industry. He spent the
first 10 years as a senior ROV pilot before
progressing to underwater inspection, where
he has worked for the past three years.
It was in 2017 that Effendi gained his
CSWIP 3.4U certificate, having taken
his training at TWI Malaysia. This certification
saw him upgraded to the position of inspection
engineer and he has now returned to TWI
Malaysia to attend the
ACFM Crack Microgauge Operators
course.
Working on the inspection of jacket platforms
as well as in pipeline inspection, Effendi
works aboard IMR vessels (inspection, maintenance
and repair) and also on a diving support
vessel (DSV).
As a 3.4U Inspection Engineer, he assists
clients on various topics. For example,
Effendi may find himself in charge of scheduling
a vessel, where he will provide comments
on the direction the vessel should take
or which side of the platform they should
move towards. His team give ROV pilots and
the divers who collect the inspection data.
Once gathered, this information is interpreted
with software and comments are made on the
team's observations before a report
is made to the client. The client then makes
any final decisions based on Effendi's
team's analysis and reports.
While there are many experienced
CSWIP 3.4U certified inspectors in Indonesia,
Effendi explained that not many are familiar
with the ACFM technique. Although Indonesian
government agencies own and operate ACFM
equipment, the technicians are usually only
internally trained rather than certified
for ACFM.
One of Effendi's past projects saw
him face the challenge of using
magnetic particle inspection (MPI)
and an ultrasonic flooded member detector
(FMD) to fix the tubular member of a platform.
It was during this work that he realised
that knowledge of ACFM would help him solve
the problem, so he decided to take some
time between jobs to invest in his own career
by applying to attend an ACFM course. Effendi
hoped that this certificate will help him
get a position in an onshore project.
Alternating current field measurement (ACFM)
is an electromagnetic inspection technique
used for the detection and sizing of surface
breaking cracks in metallic components and
welds. The significant advantage of this
particular NDT technique is that it combines
the concept of
eddy current testing (ECT) with
the alternating current potential drop (ACPD)
technique, which can result in a more accurate
detection of surface cracks.
The CSWIP ACFM course includes an overview
of
NDT techniques, electrical and electromagnetic
theory, ACFM detection and identification
of cracks, weld inspection with ACFM techniques,
sizing for length and depth, reporting,
and backing-up of data.
Similar to all of TWI's NDT courses,
the ACFM training is in accordance with
the requirements of ISO 9712 and ends with
a certification examination.
For more information about the CSWIP ACFM
course, please visit
our website.