1. The role of tracer wire

The "tracer wire" is used for detecting, tracking, and locating PE pipelines. The "tracer wire" is laid together with the PE pipe; Generally, metal wire cores are used to apply signals to the "metal wire" through detection equipment, and the detection receiver receives the signal to find the accurate position of the tracer wire, that is, to synchronously track the specific position of the PE gas pipeline; To facilitate the renovation and maintenance of PE pipelines.

2. Development of tracer wire

(1) The first generation tracer wire is composed of a matrix of aluminum foil and plastic film. The aluminum foil mainly transmits signals, and the matrix is fixed aluminum foil. The disadvantage of this tracer wire is that the strength of aluminum foil is very low, and even during production and transportation, it is easy to break, and the auxiliary equipment is easily damaged. At the same time, the resistance of aluminum foil is very high, and the effective detection distance and depth are limited.

(2) The second generation tracer wire is made by pressing steel wire and plastic film. The tracer wire is made of steel wire as the conductor, with high resistance and limited detection distance, making it difficult to meet practical needs.

(3) The third generation tracer wire is composed of a copper clad steel metal wire core and a PE outer protective layer, with a linear appearance.

3. Laying of tracer wire

(1) When embedding the tracer wire, it should be close to the PE pipeline in a straight line shape and located on the top surface of the pipeline. Do not bury PE pipes in a spiral shape, as this may lead to inaccurate detection results.

(2) A certain length of wire (1m or more is recommended) should be reserved for the tracer wire at the inspection well or exit point, for the purpose of detecting and applying signals. This can improve detection efficiency and accuracy.

(3) The connector or branch point of the tracer wire must be firmly connected, maintain good conductivity, and be wrapped with insulating tape to prevent corrosion and wire breakage caused by underground moisture, which can interrupt the detection signal. The tracer wire at the steel plastic conversion joint of the pipeline can be welded to the flange, and the joint should be treated with anti-corrosion measures to prevent corrosion and wire breakage over time.

(4) To increase the signal strength of the tracer wire and ensure uniform signal distribution, it is necessary to minimize the grounding resistance at the buried end of the tracer wire during construction, and take good grounding measures by peeling off the insulation layer and exposing the core wire for 30 cm. Especially for the ends of shorter branch pipes, they must be well grounded, otherwise the signal on the branch will be very weak and cannot be detected.

(5) If the buried length of the pipeline exceeds 1 km and there are no inspection wells or other facilities in the middle to reserve trace heads to meet the detection needs, it is recommended to set up a test pile at every kilometer and reserve trace line joints for use during detection.

(6) In non excavation engineering construction, the tracer wire outside the PE pipeline is prone to being torn during the dragging process. A simple method is to choose a larger cross-sectional area and higher strength wire or steel wire rope, or to pre thread a tracer wire inside the pipeline to avoid wire breakage. The detection effect is the same as on the outside, but when doing so, it is necessary to handle the problem of connecting the internal tracer wire head to the external tracer wire.

(7) In some special cases, it is not possible to apply tracer wire to PE pipelines. In this case, the method of embedding tracer balls can be used to meet future detection and positioning needs.