TPT March 2010

I ndustry N ews

German equipment installed at Chinese tube plant

FRIEDRICH Kocks, Germany, has received an order to supply a stretch reducing block and a rotating hot saw, for the core of a new continuous production plant. The order was placed by China National Petroleum Corporation within the frame of the construction of a welding tube plant at its subsidiary Baoji Petroleum Steel Pipe Co Ltd in Baoji, China. Baoji Petroleum Steel Pipe was originally founded in 1958, and was the first Chinese manufacturer of tubes using the submerged arc welding method. The company now produces 1.25mn tons of steel tubes per year in several works. Its new welding tube plant has been designed to allow continuous welding and stretch reducing in one step – the tube is in the welding line and in the stretch reducing block at the same time. After completion, the new plant will produce up to 300,000t/a of high-quality welded tubes. The range of products will include tubes within a diameter range of 60.3 to 177.8mm, with wall thicknesses of 4.83 to 13.72mm, according to international standards for applications in the oil and gas industry. The 3-roll stretch reducing block in

‘star drive’ design, which will be used for the first time in a tube welding plant, will roll all finished sizes out of only one mother size of 193.7mm diameter. The SRB will be designed for the use of up to 24 non-adjustable and adjustable stands with a nominal roll diameter of 360mm. The last three stands used in the block are adjustable finishing stands; the other stands are non-adjustable reducing stands. The quick changing system for the stands and the roll shop with quick roll changing reduce the required quantity of changing stands, for optimum production. The RHS 1000 rotating hot saw, which will be installed between the SRB and the cooling bed, allows the production of different tube lengths with tight length tolerances. Complicated batch conveyors and saws behind the cooling bed can be omitted, reducing investment and maintenance costs. The scope of supply also includes roll shop equipment, electrical equipment, automation systems, and basic engineering for local production (obligatory in China), such as gratings, roller conveyors, ejector

The Kocks seamless tube process

and cooling bed. Supervision of assembly and commissioning, training of operators, and the transmission of process know-how are also Kocks’ responsibility. Commissioning of the new tube mill is planned for the second half of 2011. Friedrich Kocks GmbH & Co KG – Germany Fax: +49 2103 54 028 Email: v.d.heiden@kocks.de Website: www.kocks.de

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