TPI May 2013

business & market news

Guide to welding positions, electrodes and standards A free guide to ASME IX/ BS EN ISO 6947 welding positions is now available from ESAB. The simple guide is clearly illustrated to show basic welding positions and the correct ASME/BS EN ISO 6947 code, such as 2G/PC for horizontal/ vertical welding.

inspection within a quality control regime. The guide also explains the latest British/European MMA welding electrode standards, as a number of these have been re-designated into new BS EN ISO Standards.

As well as showing all the different positions, the guide provides information on the recommended ESAB electrodes when welding mild steel across a range of applications.

It is suitable for those involved in welding as part of a production engineering department, in fabrication work, design, welder training or welding

ESAB – UK info@esab.co.uk www.esab.co.uk

New lease of life for pipeline GPS PE Pipe Systems has supplied over 36km of PE piping for the refurbishment of a 130-year-old large diameter trunk main as part of United Utilities £3.6bn investment programme for the North West of England. supply during transit without excessively reducing capacity in the trunk mains.

Phase 2 of the refurbishment programme is expected to be completed in 2015, and will be followed by a third and final phase to clean and refurbish Lines 1 and 2 between Malpas and Prescot WTW along with Line 3 between Malpas and Norton Tower.

To carry out the lining operation the contractor will pull a pre-welded string of PE pipe through a reducing die, which will temporarily reduce the diameter of the PE pipe allowing it to be inserted into the existing pipeline in a single operation. Once the insertion pulling force has been removed, the pipe will

Carrying 210mn litres of water a day to 900,000 people in Cheshire and Merseyside, the trunk main consists of three parallel pipelines that run fromLake Vyrnwy in Powys, through Oswestry Water Treatment Works to Prescot Water Treatment Works near Liverpool. Lines 1 and 2 were constructed as unlined cast iron mains in the 1890s, while Line 3 is a bitumen-lined steel main that was laid in the 1930s and 40s. Iron and manganese deposits in the water supplied from Oswestry WTW and the risk of internal corrosion in the unlined cast iron mains have prompted the refurbishment to avoid the possibility of discoloured water due to iron deposits. The refurbishment scheme has already seen main contractor Balfour Beatty clean around 44km of Line 3 using specialist high pressure jets and line the section of Lines 1 and 2 that run between Oswestry WTW and New Crickett. For phase two of the programme, the contractor will draw down (reduce diameter) 1,030mm diameter Excel New Blue in SDR51 supplied by GPS to line the Crickett to Malpas sections of Lines 1 and 2, creating a tight-fitting, thin walled internal lining for the pipelines that will prevent iron from entering the

GPS PE Pipe Systems – UK www.gpsuk.com

begin to revert back to its original size until it fits tightly against the wall of the host pipe. GPS has supplied the piping in 13.5m lengths to reduce the number of joints required to create the PE string for insertion. Nick Preston fromUnited Utilities commented, “PE pipe provides an ideal solution for lining operations such as this as it offers such flexibility and can be used in a large diameter with a thin wall without compromising on pipe integrity or capacity. This major improvement to the main not only maximises the service life of the existing pipeline asset but also safeguards the quality of water supply with minimum environmental impact.”

GPS supplied PE piping for the large diameter trunk main refurbishment

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May 2013 Tube Products International