Tube Products International March 2015

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30 Tube Products International March 2015
products & developments
Tube and pipe cleaning technology
The Compri Tube Clean System cleans
tubes by shooting a special projectile
with a jet of compressed air. The system
can be applied to tubes with an internal
diameter from 2mm up to a few hundred,
and lengths of 10, 100 or even 1,000m
(depending on the air capacity). It can
also be applied in the presence of 90°
curves, T or Y couplings or ball valves.
The system can clean tubes of all
types, from those used in hydraulic
systems, to air conditioners, from the
food industry to pharmaceuticals. It
can quickly and efficiently degrease,
lubricate and disinfect using, when
necessary, minimum quantities of
chemical products.
It can also be used to remove production
scraps (eg from cutting or welding),
and can be used for product recovery
in dosage tubes, or as an instrument
for regular maintenance and for quality
control on new tubes.
New tubes are sometimes dirtier than
might be expected, and can cause
contamination of the product circulating
in them, as well as malfunction of the
connected components. In regular
maintenance, dirty tubes can lead to
inefficiency of the systems, and can
cause sudden production standstill.
The Compri Tube Clean System is
claimed to have stronger cleaning power
than techniques using compressed air
or fluxing. It can be used on rigid or
flexible tubes and is compatible with
any material.
Alka Srl – Italy
New hoses with extreme durability
for the food industry
Most traditional polyester reinforced
hoses have a burst pressure of 400-
500psi. Using cutting edge techniques,
Artel Rubber has produced a hose for
the food industry that will withstand
pressures of up to 2,000psi. The
company manufactures and fabricates
silicone and rubber tubing and hose.
The company offers a broad product
range of tubing, hose and fittings.
With the introduction of its automotive
performance tubing, hose and fitting
products, the company can meet the
demands of various applications. The
company offers fast delivery of orders
for its core product lines. ISO 9001:2008
accreditation guarantees quality for the
rail, automotive, food, pharmaceutical
and defence industries.
Artel Rubber Company – UK
Preventing external threats to
natural gas pipelines
OptaSense, an expert in distributed
acoustic sensing (DAS) technology, has
successfully prevented external threats
to a natural gas pipeline in the Republic
of Yemen, according to a case study
paper presented by Total at the ADIPEC
oil and gas show in Abu Dhabi, in
November.
The paper notes “that since the
pipeline intrusion detection system was
installed, there has been a significant
improvement in pipeline availability and
regular LNG shipments.”
The OptaSense system was originally
installed as an integral part of the
pipeline security operation in late 2013,
on the 320km-long pipeline that runs
liquefied natural gas from Marib to
Balhalf in the Republic of Yemen. The
pipeline had previously encountered
a number of incidents that disrupted
product supply. The paper adds that
“no attempt at intrusion on the pipeline
resulted in damage to the facilities” as
a result of integrating OptaSense with
other security measures.
Magnus McEwen-King, managing
director at OptaSense, said, “We
are extremely pleased to work with
Total and its local partners to ensure
the availability of their pipeline. This
project demonstrates that through
the implementation of OptaSense
into operations, it enables pipeline
operators to reduce damage resulting
from third party interference to
zero. Ensuring pipeline integrity and
availability is essential to enabling
a continuous supply of product and
therefore revenue from their pipeline
assets.”
The project requirements were to
implement a security system to allow
early detection of potential threats,
and to minimise the amount of new
equipment installed in the field by
making use of already-installed fibre
optic communications cable.
OptaSense technology has applications
in a number of markets, including
infrastructure security where the
technology is already in use to monitor
13,000kmof assets, principally providing
leak detection and third party intrusion
detection for oil and gas pipelines.
OptaSense – UK