Asia Pacific and Latin American Large-scale Infrastructure Projects Bolster the Nondestructive Test Inspection Services Market

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Nondestructive test (NDT) inspection service has been one of the few markets that performed impressively during the global economic downturn. It witnessed modest growth in 2009 and rebounded with an unexpectedly improved performance in 2010.

North America is the main contributor to revenues, due to high government safety regulations stipulating that inspection be carried out regularly, even during the downturn.

Analysis from Frost & Sullivan (www.testandmeasurement.frost.com), World Nondestructive Test Inspection Services Market, finds that the market earned revenues of $3.05 billion in 2010 and estimates this to reach $5.59 billion in 2017.

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Even though industries were hit severely during the economic downturn, the global NDT inspection services market revenues registered a growth of 4.7 percent in 2009. However, with the U.S. economy still recovering from the effects of financial downturn and the European economy being troubled by a sovereign debt crisis, the primary regions being outlined for growth in the global market are Asia Pacific and Latin America.

“The rapid rate of infrastructure development in emerging economies such as India, China, and Brazil is driving the demand for NDT inspection,” notes Frost & Sullivan Research Associate Nikhil Jain. “In Japan, the accident at Fukushima nuclear reactor is expected to trigger widespread increase in safety regulations for nuclear power plants, besides driving short-term precautionary inspection in existing nuclear plants worldwide.”

Meanwhile, in Latin America, Brazil has been the vanguard of the market recovery. The Brazilian economy is the largest in Latin America, with oil and gas, power generation, aerospace and automotive sectors being the main revenue generators. In this region, majority of the revenues came from oil and gas end use segment, which perform compliance-based maintenance inspection.

The power generation segment, especially wind energy and nuclear power, also provides expansion opportunities to NDT inspection service providers. The awareness of the need for NDT inspection in these regions is low; however, industries are beginning to understand the importance of protecting their assets against catastrophic failures.

“Although most established participants provide high-quality inspection, less established and relatively smaller participants occasionally compromise on safety and quality,” says Nikhil. “This is especially witnessed in Asia Pacific, where the end users are highly price conscious.”

Price is a major hurdle for many NDT inspection service providers in Asia Pacific. The lack of government safety regulations has affected the effective implementation of NDT inspection in this region. End users are unconcerned about the reputation and quality of the inspection service provider, but they demand the most competitive price-performance ratio.

With the number of pipeline explosions and infrastructure failures being witnessed around the world, authorities have intensified the scrutiny of inspection performed. Also, many industries that are reluctant to incur the exorbitant installation costs of new infrastructure, are trying to extend the useful life of their existing assets. This has led to relative aging of these assets and periodic inspection is essential to guard against catastrophic failure.

To tap this ever increasing demand for NDT inspection, the service providers need to increase their market presence and technicians employed. However, this offers a considerable challenge as there is a clear lack of qualified and skilled technicians in this industry. To overcome this challenge, NDT equipment manufacturers have dedicated their resources to simplify the operational complexity of the instrument used for inspection and increasing the speed of inspection. As a result, technicians have additional time to perform a thorough analysis of the data collected.

World Nondestructive Test Inspection Services Market is part of the Test & Measurement Growth Partnership Services program, which also includes research in the following markets: Digital X-ray Technology: The Future of Industrial X-ray Inspection, Renewable Energy Opportunity: Wind Testing, World Nondestructive Test (NDT) Equipment Markets, and Chinese Mechanical Test Equipment Markets. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.

Dranetz DranISO 5000D Digital High-Voltage Insulation Tester Features:

Test Voltages to 5000 V
The instrument is suitable for non-destructive measurement of insulation resistance in electrical systems, as well as in machines, transformers, cables and electrical equipment utilized in, for example, locomotives, street cars and ocean going vessels with selectable test voltages of up to 5 kV. Voltage Measurement to 1000 V Testing for absence of voltage at the device under test in systems of up to 1 kV can be performed with the voltage measuring range.

Discharging Capacitive Devices Under Test
Capacitive devices under test such as cables and coils, which may be charged by the test voltage, are discharged by the measuring instrument. The falling voltage value can be observed at the display. Measurements per EN 61557 Parts 1 and 2 (VDE 0413) Nominal current amounts to 1 mA at a test voltage of 100 V, 250 V, 500 V or 1000 V.

Highly Insulated Measurement Cables
The highly insulated measurement cables are permanently connected for safety reasons, and due to technical measuring considerations. Danger resulting from inadvertently disconnected cables, for example in the event of charging caused by capacitive devices under test, is thus avoided.

Polarization Index
A polarization index test is recommended for electrical machines. This procedure involves expanded testing of insulation resistance. DC measuring voltage from the DranISO 5000D is applied to the insulation for a duration of 10 minutes. Measured values are documented after one minute, and after ten minutes. If the insulation is good, the value measured after ten minutes is higher than the value measured after one minute. The relationship between the two measurement values is the polarization index. Charged material within the insulation is aligned due to the application of measuring voltage over a long period of time, resulting in polarization. The polarization index indicates whether or not the charged material contained in the insulation can still be moved, thus allowing for polarization. This, in turn, is an indication of the condition of the insulation.

Data Management and Report Generation
The data of each measurement can be stored under a selected object number. Furthermore, a description for this object can be entered via the keyboard of the optional PSI module. The data management function allows for individual measurement data of a previously selected object to be displayed and to be deleted if required, or for previously entered objects to be deleted. Depending on the number of stored objects (max. 254), up to
1,600 measurements can be stored. The current memory occupancy is continuously displayed as a bar graph.

Visit the DranISO 5000D Digital High-Voltage Insulation Tester Product Page