TPi January 2015

Copper tubes

Copper piping system for hospital expansion project

performance, durability, versatility, reliability, resistance to corrosion, and ease for bending and fabrication made it the chosen option for this project. According to Michael Duffy, project manager for Binsky & Snyder, “Given the radius of the building, the bending required and the weight of the piping, it was much easier for us to work with copper than steel pipe.” CDA has released a video case study to highlight the new copper piping system installation at the hospital. Copper Development Association Inc – USA www.copper.org

During the installation of the plumbing and mechanical system at the Nemours/ AI DuPont Children’s Hospital, the shape of the new building created some unforeseen challenges for the contractor. The semi-circular design of the new $215mn, five-storey hospital building in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, required a large-diameter piping system that was lightweight, malleable and easy to work with. Black steel pipe – the material originally specified for the project – did not meet the criteria and was proving to be difficult for the job. As a result, Binsky & Snyder, Skanska USA and AEI Engineers, as a group, decided to contact the Copper Development Association (CDA) for assistance. “We got a call from the engineer on the project asking about bending copper tube in sizes up to 2½ and 3" so that they could have it wrap around two football-shaped additions,” said Dale Powell, project manager and piping application specialist for CDA. “Following discussions with the engineer and installing mechanical contractor, it was determined that the amount of bend required would be well within the limits for copper tube and could easily be accomplished by several local pipe bending companies.” On the advice and recommendation of CDA, the hospital opted to use a copper piping system instead of black steel pipe. Copper tube of various sizes is being installed for domestic hot and cold water service, HVAC systems, and for medical gas distribution. Copper’s

Copper tubes were installed for domestic hot and cold water service, HVAC systems and medical gas distribution

The project design team worked at an off-site warehouse to pre-fabricate the plumbing modules

PlasmaANNEALER for small copper tubes Plasmait has introduced a new PlasmaANNEALER for precision, thin- walled and small diameter, tubes. The annealer can be used for tubes made of copper, titanium, alloy, stainless steel and nickel alloy. the finished tubes. Plasma annealing can be performed in-line with tube welding or drawing substituting multiple lines of a traditional tube furnace.

accuracy. Rapid heating and reduced time of recrystallisation results in fine grain size with uniform crystal structure. This in turn improves material formability, and its susceptibility to bending and further drawing.

The annealer features compact design, high energy conversion efficiency, very low gas consumption and gives the operator the ability to target mechanical properties with a great degree of

Plasmait – Germany info@plasmait.com www.plasmait.com

Plasma improves annealing speeds on small diameter and small cross-section tubes and improves surface quality of

48

Tube Products International January 2015

www.read-tpi.com