Experimental optimum design of SECT for oil pipeline with electric heat tracing

This paper introduces basic structure of skin effect couple tracing (SECT) system of oil pipeline. The system is mainly composed of power source, electric heating device, electric control device, and electric/thermal insulation devices. In order to elevate tracing performance of SECT pipeline, a 20 m-long SECT oil pipeline test bench is set up for systematic measurement of skin-effect performance, heating performance and drain voltage and optimum design of SECT method. The test results show that if SECT technique is applied to oil pipelines, the skin effects will be evident, and the tracing efficiency will be enhanced significantly. Better to choose round SECT heating pipe with a diameter of 1.91 cm, because in this case the resistance is big, pipe installation and threading is convenient, drain voltage is very small, the related operations are safe and reliable.