business & market news
12
Tube ProducTs InTernaTIonal March 2014
Vertical bandsaw for valve manufacturer
BEL Valves, based in Newcastle, UK, is
a designer and manufacturer of critical
oil and gas valves for both surface and
subsea applications, serving evolving
markets that demand the highest
quality and reliability. The company
has around 50,000 valves installed
worldwide, some of which operate in
the most inhospitable environments on
the planet, often in ultra-deep waters
of up to 10,000ft, under high pressures
and extremes of temperature.
With valve sizes ranging up to 48" in
diameter and tolerances typically less
than one micron, precision machining
is of the utmost importance. When BEL
Valves needed to upgrade the cutting
operation during the production of 24"
diameter split gate 4A topside through-
conduit valves, it turned to Prosaw to
provide the solution.
Although the existing process utilised a
vertical bandsaw, it was very wasteful
of material, typically deviating from its
true path by up to ½" on either side
of the blade, requiring a considerable
amount of post-cutting additional
machining in order to form a true
surface.
Prosaw specified a Danobat VL vertical
bandsaw, which has reduced the cutting
time for the product from 18 hours to
just six hours. The more accurate cutting
path has reduced waste material, and
the company reports that this amounts
to cost savings in the region of £1,500
for each valve. Further cost savings
have been achieved by the use of a
new type of carbide saw blade that has
a life of more than 50 times that of the
previous machine.
Shop manager Adam Leggett
commented, “We have been very
impressed by this new Danobat
machine. It is far more accurate and
much faster compared to our previous
system, and has created huge cost
savings. It has also been responsible
for relieving bottlenecks in production,
causing work to flow more smoothly
through the workshop. Danobat and
Prosaw have been with us every step
of the way with this project, giving us
excellent service and full sales and
technical support which has assisted us
greatly in bringing this product along.”
danobat
– Spain
Prosaw
– UK
bel Valves
– UK
Actuators for South African solar
power plant
Flowserve Corporation, a provider of
flow control products and services for
the global infrastructure markets, has
received an order for 307 Limitorque
MX10 actuators to support the Kaxu
project, which is building a major solar
power plant in Pofadder, Northern Cape,
South Africa.
The Kaxu project will deliver the first
parabolic trough solar plant in South
Africa. Once operational, the plant will
use a heat transfer fluid and molten salt
energy storage design that can produce
power for up to three hours after sunset.
The Limitorque MX actuator features a
redundant absolute encoder that does
not require battery backup, and includes
a built-in self-test (BIST) design for self-
diagnosis. The Safety Integrity Level 3
capable certified MX is equipped with
LimiGard circuitry, which safeguards the
actuator from spurious electro-magnetic
interference. The MX torque-sensing
feature can support torque output up to
2,304Nm (1,700ft-lb), and is available in
a wide variety of configurations.
“The MX actuator continues the rich
Limitorque legacy of innovative and
reliable electric actuation solutions
for the most severe and critical
applications,” said Lynn White, general
manager, Flowserve Limitorque. “Since
most concentrated solar plants use
molten salt that can reach temperatures
of 350°C (662°F) as a result of solar
heat, the use of the MX actuator –
previously in concentrated solar power
(CSP) applications – ensures it can
exceed this 100MW solar plant’s most
challenging conditions.”
In 2013 Flowserve won the contract for
all of the project’s critical pump services,
including the boiler feeds, condensates,
main and auxiliary heat transfer fluids,
and molten salt. The contract also
includes equipping the pumps with
Flowserve mechanical seals.
Flowserve corp
– USA
The cutting edge
A Danobat bandsaw with the workpiece in
place
