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January 2016 Tube Products International

55

Pipe rehabi l i tat ion & repai r

Freeze sealing for pipe repairs

Contractors and maintenance personnel

involved in repairing pipework in

buildings and other constructions have

long faced the problem of making repairs

on tubes and pipes when they are full

of fluid and may not be economically

viable to drain.

The Accu-Freeze

®

pipe freezing system

is able to freeze a plug in fluid either side

of a repair zone, isolating it, to allow

work to be carried out without draining

the whole system.

Luke Keane, technical support at

Huntingdon Fusion Techniques (HFT),

said, “Accu-Freeze utilises liquid

nitrogen (LN

2

) in a controlled way to

freeze stationary liquids in a selected

section of pipe or tube.

“By controlling the surface temperature

of the pipe or tube, Accu-Freeze can

accurately and safely form an in-line ice

plug, capable of withstanding 136 bar in

diameters up to 12" (300mm).”

To form an ice plug, the water or liquid

inside the pipe or tube is brought to a

static condition and a specially designed

insulated jacket is placed around the

section to be frozen, upstream from the

repair zone. Once the plug is formed,

maintenance and repair can take place

without draining or shutting off the entire

system.

The controlled ice plug only forms

beneath the Accu-Freeze jacket. It does

not expand outside of this area and

does not create enough pressure to

affect the integrity of the pipe.

The primary advan-

tages of the patented

Accu-Freeze system

include the increased

freezing capability of

LN

2

and the ability

to control the pipe

wall

temperature

throughout the freeze

process.

The LN

2

injections

are automated, which

reduces the operator’s

workload and reduces

the amount of LN

2

that

is consumed.

Accu-Freeze

can

also be operated

remotely, which makes

it suitable for use

inside ‘hot’ nuclear

areas where personal

exposure must be

kept below certain limits. The Accu-

Freeze technique is able to freeze large

diameters and control the entire freeze

process.

Huntingdon Fusion Techniques

– UK

pipefreezing@huntingdonfusion.com www.huntingdonfusion.com

Accu-Freeze uses liquid nitrogen to freeze stationary liquids,

to form an ice plug inside the tube

Clamps vs composites

Composite repair specialist IMG

Composites has published a new white

paper on the subject of composite pipe

repairs versus the more traditional repair

technique of utilising clamps.

The paper, which was published on a

free-to-view online platform accessed

via the IMG Composites website,

provides detail on the benefits and

disadvantages of using each method.

The technical department at IMG

Composites works on studies of

many aspects of the composite repair

business, often writing technical service

reports for the information of clients

and internal development. The paper

is primarily the work of technical

support engineer Stuart McKay,

whose background is in mechanical

engineering, and who previously worked

on designs for steel fabrication before

joining the technical team behind the

award-winning CompoSol

®

repair

technology in 2013.

The white paper looks at the definition

of the two different repair types before

exploring the selection process,

operation aspects, technical aspects

and commercial aspects, and then

drawing conclusions. This is followed

by an examination of case studies for

both the traditional and new techniques.

MG Composites commercial manager

Ian Taylor stated, “The article is an

excellent addition to our technical

database, which serves as an invaluable

information resource for our personnel.

We chose to publish this in order for our

clients and partners to better understand

the issue.

“It is not a matter of pretending com-

posite pipe repairs are a panacea for all

problems; instead the article is designed

to help clarify areas where composite

pipe repairs are more advantageous

than clamps and vice versa.”

The subject of clamps vs composites

is also briefly explored at www.

compositepiperepairs.com

, an IMG

Composites website dedicated to

composite pipe repairs.

IMG Composites Ltd

– UK

contact@imgcomposites.com www.imgcomposites.com