TPT March 2011

T echnology U pdate

Two-stage spiral pipe plant

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 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 CO 2 . 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

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 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: calibration@bibby-scientific.com Website: www.techne-calibration.com

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: w.zimmermann@pws-gmbh.info Website: www.pws-gmbh.info

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: imi@magnetics.com Website: www.magnetics.com

Techne industrial fluidised bath

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M arch 2011

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