TPi May/July 2020

Products & developments

‘World-first’ technology developed to improve performance and safety for pipeline industries

Friction stir welding is a solid-state welding process, which generates enough frictional heat to soften or plasticise the metal without melting it, allowing metal components to be forged together at the joint line. The development of the FSWBot is ongoing with the project due to be completed by end of January, 2021.

successfully solve challenges in the nuclear industry. So, our technology is tried and tested in harsh environments. “There’s a fantastic opportunity for other businesses in the UK and across the world, whether that’s other nuclear operations, or oil and gas, renewables, and perhaps areas we haven’t even thought of, to make use of that technology, and to share their challenges so we can develop the FSWBot in ways to help them.”

A new pipeline technology, which is said be a ‘world-first’ and is set revolutionise performance and safety in industries around the world, has been presented at trade fairs and conferences this year. The development of the first ever FSWBot, Friction Stir Welding Robotic Crawler for internal repair and refurbishment of pipelines, has been designed to transform the way industries deal with pipeline issues. Led by Forth Engineering in Cumbria, UK the FSWBot project was first showcased in Aberdeen, Scotland in November and since then the technology has been featured in a presentation at the 4 th Annual Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) UK and Ireland Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) Chapter Conference held at the University of Manchester in January and at an Offshore Pipeline Technology Conference in Amsterdam in February. It was also set to be presented at the Friction Stir Welding International Symposium in Kyoto, Japan in May. Peter Routledge, Forth Engineering project manager, said: “We are getting a lot of interest and inquiries about the FSWBot from across the globe. Interest is really building, including from Saudi Arabia, America, Canada, France and Spain.” The project, which has been sponsored by Innovate UK, seeks to integrate several state-of-the-art technologies including friction stir welding, milling, patch deployment and ultrasonic NDT, onto a robotic system, which can be deployed to conduct repairs on pipelines without the need for the pipeline to be closed down for the duration of the repair. If successful, it is envisaged that the system could be further developed to carry out a range of repair and fabrication tasks. Mark Telford, managing director of Forth, said: “As a company we have developed a worldwide reputation for developing a range of robotic solutions for use in harsh environments. The tools we have developed over the years have been for, and used by, Sellafield, to

Forth Engineering www.forth.uk.com

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