American Innovations Donates Cathodic Protection (CP) Data Collection and Reporting Technologies to Kilgore College for Instruction

AUSTIN, TX, April 19th, 2010 – American Innovations (AI), a leading provider of products and services for pipeline industries, in conjunction with Bass Engineering, its engineering and Cathodic Protection (CP) construction division, announced the donation of a Bullhorn Remote monitoring system, Allegro Field Computer and Pipeline Compliance System (PCS) software  to Kilgore College.  The products will become an integral part of Kilgore’s cathodic protection curriculum.   Utilizing the Bullhorn, Allegro, and PCS products, students will learn how to capture and analyze corrosion readings on pipelines needed to satisfy regulatory requirements, as well as better manage their care and maintenance.

The Corrosion Technology program at Kilgore College leads to an Associate of Applied Science Degree/Certificate.  Students enrolled in this program learn how to utilize chemistry, electricity, physics, metallurgy and an understanding of protective coating to prevent or control corrosion damage. This is the only Community College program of its kind in the nation.

Students will use the Windows®-based, GPS-compatible Allegro CX with integrated volt meter to conduct pipeline surveys in the field; the data will be integrated into the PCS’s Cathodic Protection Data Manager (CPDM) to manage and analyze maintenance, compliance and operational data for the pipeline.

In addition, a Bullhorn unit was installed on Kilgore’s outdoor testing lab rectifier; the device will transmit voltage and current readings wirelessly to Kilgore’s personal webpage on the Bullhorn Asset Tracker (BAT) online system, which allows for immediate visualization of unit status and alarms and provides a proven backend system to collect, store and report on crucial equipment data.   Bullhorn will also send alarms via email, text, voice, fax or pager when the readings are outside the preset limits.

“This donation of field equipment and software provides our students with state-of-the art technology in corrosion data acquisition and analysis.  They will now be able to duplicate many procedures exactly as they are done in the field to better prepare for their careers,” said Jerome Edinger, Energy Technology Coordinator for Kilgore College.  “Using AI’s solutions will make corrosion technicians more efficient by simplifying many common procedures, and we are excited to provide our students with training that is the most up-to-date as possible.”

“Kilgore’s focus on teaching their students the newest techniques in the industry demonstrates their commitment to providing them with the best education possible,” said Ken Cowan, American Innovations Field Data Division President.  “We are honored to help them achieve their educational objectives and are convinced these graduates will be the best prepared CP technicians out there.”

For more information on Kilgore’s Corrosion Technology program, please visit their website.

About Kilgore College:  Kilgore College is a publicly supported, two-year, comprehensive community college offering post secondary educational opportunities.  The school promotes community focus through workforce education programs and through public service endeavors including workforce and small business development, Adult Basic Education, continuing education, athletics and the fine arts. 

About American Innovations: Based in Austin, Texas, American Innovations is a fast growing provider of products and services for the oil & gas, agricultural and water pipeline industries, including web-based remote monitoring & equipment control, total survey solutions for corrosion monitoring, automatic meter reading, alarm point monitoring and integrity management.  AI product lines include: Bullhorn® Remote Monitoring, MicroMax® Interrupters, CP Loggers, Allegro® Field Computers, Pipeline Compliance System (PCS) and Risk Intelligence™ Platform and Solutions.  AI also offers cathodic protection services via Bass Engineering.