Orion Enviro Marine Services (OEMS) in Freeport, Bahamas was founded in 2014 and they are a leading provider of hazardous material services for marine insurers, shipping lines, pharmaceutical manufacturers, industrial contractors, and ship repairs.
Image Credit: DÜRR NDT GmbH & Co. KG
Orion Enviro Marine Services specializes in many different services from hazardous materials spill cleanup to health and safety training to shoreline demolition and recovery. Perhaps the most critical service they provide is non-destructive testing. They specialize in industrial radiography, ultrasonic testing, penetrant testing, and magnetic particle testing to evaluate materials, components, and assemblies without affecting their serviceability.
In the past Orion Enviro Marine Services performed radiographic inspection using conventional films. Due to rising cost of the film, the challenges, and the costs associated with disposing of chemicals and recovering the silver produced during film processing, Orion Enviro Marine Services decided to look into Computed Radiography (CR). After looking at several CR systems they acquired a Dürr NDT HD-CR 35 Computed Radiography system and D-Text X software to completely replace using film and their film processor.
The HD-CR 35 is the most flexible and advanced CR scanner on the market today, with the ability to provide the highest resolution images in the industry. In addition, because of its unique TreFoc technology which offers an adjustable laser spot size, it can also provide high-contrast images when necessary.
As an example of how CR has helped Orion Enviro Marine Services to provide hazardous material services was on a project where they were asked to perform radiographic inspection on the primary containment welds on pressure vessels. The buildings at the factory where the pressure vessels reside took a direct hit when category 5 hurricane Dorian struck on August 24th, 2019. Wind speeds reached a maximum of 296 km/h and caused heavy damage to the buildings and some of the equipment inside. Before these pressure vessels could be used again 100% of the circumferential and attachment welds had to be visually and radiographically inspected to ensure their integrity.
The wall thickness of the tanks and attachments varied quite a bit creating differences in densities within the radiograph. The first image on the left was made on one of the tanks near a nozzle using an 80 Ci Ir-192 source. There were two separate regions of interest in this image. One was of the seam weld on the tank and the other was of the nozzle weld. Using the powerful image adjustment tools built into the software, it was possible to focus on the different density areas of the tank without using multiple exposures, as would typically be necessary with film radiography. There was also an area where some linear indications were present. Using the magnification tool it was possible to magnify the area to better evaluate the discontinuity which would not have been possible with film radiography.
On a separate project the customer required that the radiographic images and test reports were reviewed and signed by an RT Level III. Using the D-Tect X software Orion Enviro Marine Services was easily able to generate customized test reports and share each image via email with an RT Level III technician. This would not have been they would have possible if they were still using film radiography. They would have been required to either bring in the Level III onsite to review the radiographs or they would have had to mail them to that person which would have caused the project to be delayed by days or even weeks.
Future projects where Orion Enviro Marine Services plan to use the Dürr HD-CR 35 Scanner and the D-Tect X software is in the Aerospace MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) industry. MRO service providers in the Bahamas and throughout the Caribbean have reached out to Orion Enviro Marine Services to perform X-ray inspection of aging aircraft to inspect airframe structures and power plants for discontinuities and defects like cracks, corrosion, assess internal damage, and to detect foreign material in components.
Orion Enviro Marine Services managing partner and director Darrin Rollins commented that he is extremely happy with the image quality and produced by the HD-CR 35 scanner and D-Tect X software. He added that he is also happy with the ease of creating image test reports and that sharing digital images has increased efficiency.