The Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL) technique has been used to inspect operating pipelines and above ground storage tanks for many years . This technique involves magnetically saturating the material under inspection and scanning the surface of the material for MFL fields caused by wall thinning defects. Recently, this technology has been adapted for the inspection of in–service distribution pipelines. This new inspection system couples the MFL techniques used for pipeline inspection to a novel delivery system for the specific task of gathering real time data on the condition ancl integrity of distribution pipelines. The focus of this paper is to review this application of the Magnetic Flux Leakage technique to describe the novel delivery systems developed and to detail the
enabling technologies that now allow real time capture ancl analysis of inspection data.
Keywords: Magnetic Flux Leakage, Drive System, Magnetizing System, Sensor System, Data Conditioning & Recording System, Power Systems, New Research, Tank Inspection, Distribution Inspection