A major offshore operator managing more than 1,000 pressure safety valves (PSVs) across three offshore platforms sought a way to reduce the significant operational and financial burden associated with mandatory valve inspections.
PSVs are critical safety components designed to protect pressurised systems from overpressure events. Because of their safety-critical nature, operators typically follow strict inspection and testing schedules to ensure reliability.
The challenge
The customer’s maintenance strategy required annual pop-testing of every PSV to verify safety and operational compliance.
A pop-test involves removing a valve from service and forcing it to open at a controlled pressure to confirm the set pressure and functionality. While effective, the process introduces several operational challenges.
Key challenges included:
- High inspection costs – Each PSV inspection costs $3,000 – $10,000, depending on location and logistics.
- Large asset population – With over 1,000 PSVs across three platforms, annual inspections represented a major operational expense.
- Limited operational data – As the customer explained: “Our only data point each year for every valve is the pop-test.”
- Operational disruption – Inspections require:
- Isolating valves from live systems
- Removing and replacing valves
- Shipping units for servicing
- Hiring inspection crews
- Managing platform logistics
- Safety and downtime risks – Every inspection increases:
- Engineering personnel exposure
- System downtime
- Mechanical wear caused by forced valve activation
As a result, the customer was spending over $3 million per year on PSV inspection alone.
Project objectives
The customer partnered with Tribosonics to explore whether real-time valve condition monitoring could safely optimise maintenance strategies.
The project aimed to:
- Reduce maintenance costs across the PSV fleet
- Reduce mechanical wear caused by frequent pop-testing
- Streamline inspection planning and scheduling
- Lower logistics costs associated with valve servicing
- Reduce safety risks for offshore engineering teams
- Minimise inspection-related downtime
- Reduce costs linked to valve isolation, removal and transport
The initial opportunity focused on non-14C PSVs, with potential future optimisation for 14C-certified safety valves.
The solution: acoustoSENSE™
Tribosonics demonstrated its acoustoSENSE acoustic monitoring technology to provide continuous operational insight into PSV behaviour.
How the system works
The acoustoSENSE transducer attaches directly to the valve body and listens to the acoustic signature generated during valve operation.
Key implementation features included:
- Non-invasive installation – Sensors were mounted directly onto the valve with no modification required.
- Continuous monitoring – The system provides real-time operational data rather than relying on annual tests.
- Failure mode detection – acoustoSENSE can clearly identify critical valve behaviours, including:
- Valve opening
- Valve closing
- Simmering
- Chattering
This capability provided the customer with continuous condition insight into valve performance; something previously unavailable between annual tests.
Validation and performance evaluation
Before adopting the system at scale, the customer conducted a comprehensive performance evaluation of the acoustoSENSE solution.
The results demonstrated that the acoustic monitoring system could reliably detect valve activity and failure signatures, providing the level of operational confidence required to support maintenance optimisation.
The validation confirmed that the system could provide sufficient condition data to safely adjust inspection intervals.
Results and business impact
Following the successful evaluation, the customer determined that acoustoSENSE data could support a major change in their maintenance strategy.
1) Extended inspection intervals
For non-14C PSVs, the customer has approved extending inspection intervals from:
Annual inspections → Once every three years.
2) Major cost reduction
This optimisation is projected to deliver:
- ~65% reduction in maintenance costs
- ~$2,000,000 per year in savings once deployed across the full fleet
These savings come from reduced:
- Inspection labour
- Valve servicing costs
- Logistics and transportation
- Platform downtime
3) Additional operational benefits
The solution also delivers several non-financial improvements:
- Reduced mechanical stress on valves caused by forced pop-testing
- Lower safety risk for offshore personnel
- Reduced operational disruption
- Improved visibility into valve performance between inspections
Deployment
Following the successful evaluation phase, the operator approved full deployment.
Installations across all three platforms are scheduled for 2026.
The rollout will begin with non-14C PSVs, with potential expansion to further optimise maintenance strategies for other valve classes in the future
Conclusion
By replacing a purely time-based inspection strategy with data-driven condition monitoring, the customer has unlocked significant operational and financial value.
Using acoustic sensing technology, the operator can now:
- Monitor PSV behaviour continuously
- Reduce unnecessary inspections
- Improve safety and operational efficiency
- Save approximately $2 million annually
The project demonstrates how digital condition monitoring can transform maintenance strategies for safety-critical infrastructure in offshore energy operations.
