TPT March 2011

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70 March 2011 ›
Technology Update
WITHIN the business area of SMS Meer,
PWS GmbH is responsible for special pipe
machines. For Shandong Shengli Steel Pipe
Company, Rizhao City, Shandong Province,
China, PWS will supply a two-stage spiral
pipe forming and welding plant with high
energy efficiency.
After completion of the plant in
September 2011, Shandong Shengli will
produce 240,000t of spiral-welded pipes
per year, which are mainly used for natural
gas and petroleum pipelines. The pipes will
have diameters up to 64", and be made
from high-alloy steels.
PWS supplies an integrated plant
consisting of a spiral pipe forming and
tack-welding machine for forming and
pre-welding of hot-rolled steel strip and
downline finish-welding stands. In the
future, Shandong Shengli will be able to
produce high-quality pipes with diameters
of 24" to 64" from high-alloy steels.
Using the technology from PWS, the
degree of energy yield during welding is said
to have reached a record level. Michael Stark,
managing director of PWS, explained, “We
believe in welding current sources without
transformers and an advanced process
control by power electronics. In this way,
we achieve efficiencies of more than 90%,
resulting in an energy saving of more than
30% compared to the older technology.”
As another benefit of modern technology,
Shandong Shengli is able to increase
the welding speed without compromising
stability of the welding process. The
pipes are used among others for the
nearby Shengli oilfield, the second-largest
petroleum basis in China.
Shengli Oil & Gas Pipe Holdings Limited
is one of the largest petroleum and natural
gas pipeline manufacturers in China. The
company is one of the major producers
of spiral submerged arc welded pipe for
PetroChina Group and Sinopec Group.
Shengli has been producing such pipes for
35 years. Its production facilities are located
in Zibo City, Dezhou City and Rizhao City in
Shandong Province, China.
PWS GmbH – Germany
Fax: +49 751 29 596 1010
Email:
Website:
Two-stage spiral pipe plant
BIBBY Scientific, one of four companies
established by Nova Capital from the former
Barloworld Scientific business, focuses on
the design, manufacture and distribution of
three laboratory and industrial equipment
brands: Jenway, Stuart and Techne.
Techne offers fast and low-cost plastic
extrusion cleaning systems. Its industrial
fluidised baths (IFB) remove almost all
polymers and hydrocarbon-based products
from tooling, components and parts.
Cleaning time is faster than with oven
methods, while the risk of tool damage and
metal fatigue is reduced.
All seven Techne IFB models contain a
bath of tiny, loosely packed aluminium oxide
particles. When heated to high temperature
(up to 600°C) and fluidised with a stream of
compressed air or inert gas, these quickly
degrade plastics to carbon, which then
leaves the bath as CO2 . Heaters on the
outside wall of the bath radiate heat into the
inner container of aluminium oxide.
Fluidisation acts as the stirring
mechanism, distributing heat throughout
the bath, and resulting in very high thermal
stability and uniformity.
For manufacturers of plastic extrusions
– tubes, pipes, rods, sheets, films, fibres,
electrical cables and wires – cleaning
plastic residues from tooling is typically a
difficult and labour-intensive process. Use
of scrapers, brushes or blow torches risks
causing damage to expensive tooling.
However, with typical cleaning times of as
little as 20–30 minutes, Techne’s industrial
fluidised baths provide a fast alternative to
oil, salt, ultrasonic and molten metal baths,
ovens and furnaces with processing times
of 4 to 8 hours. IFB methods are safe, non-
abrasive and environmentally friendly.
The industrial fluidised baths vary in
capacity from 5 to 64 litres. In addition
to cleaning applications, their thermal
performance makes them suitable for
tempering, shape setting, annealing,
Nitriding, distillation, curing, and thermal
analysis of devices, components and
materials.
Bibby Scientific Ltd – UK
Email:
Website:
Baths clean up for the tubes Resolving
high/low
mismatch
INDUSTRIAL Magnetics, Inc has introduced
the Mag-Pry™, to eliminate the need for
welded tabs when performing material
levelling and alignment, or high/low
mismatch operations.
Claimed to be up to 100 times faster than
traditional plate matching welding methods,
the Mag-Pry saves time and increases
production rates by utilising a powerful, on/
off rare earth magnet attached to a levelling
bar to align and hold two separate pieces of
steel together for a seamless weld.
The strong, non-marring, Mag-Pry has
1,100lb of breakaway force with a locking
T-handle for safety, and offers easy on/off
actuation of the magnet with a simple twist
of a switch – no electricity is required. To
operate, the magnet is placed on the ‘low’
side of the steel and the locking T-handle
is turned to the ‘On’ position. The operator
then presses down on the levelling bar
(‘high’ side) while the two surfaces are
welded together. When securely held, the
T-handle is turned to the ‘Off’ position and
the welding operation is finished.
Industrial Magnetics Inc – USA
Fax: +1 231 582 0622
Email:
Website:
Techne industrial fluidised bath