TDW Services Can Cut ANY Size of Pipe
Some fifty years ago, hot tapping and plugging of crude oil pipelines became necessary so that pipe sections could be relocated or lowered to accommodate the interstate highway system. Who would have thought that TDW Services would now be applying those same concepts to all types of industries — where any type of a product flows through any size pipe.
"We can cut a hole in any size pipe," says Ron Watkins, manager of the Tulsa Service Center. "And if something flows through that pipe, we can stop it, and even re-route it around a trouble spot to keep the line in service while work is being done.
A copper mine? Yes! At 10,000 feet? You bet! But what is there to tap and plug in a copper mine? The copper ore is transported from the open pit mines by conveyor into a facility where it is mixed with water into a slurry with the consistency of a thin mortar mix. Then, it is transported down the 10,000 foot mountain through ten- to 24-inch pipelines to the coastal sea port of Antofagasta where it is loaded in ships and taken to a smelter.
As was the case in many of TDW's tapping and plugging applications, this mine, in La Escondida, at 10,000 feet in the Andes Mountains above Antofagasta, was expanding. Eighteen-inch lines supplying water to one slurry mixing facility had to be cut and removed to make room for construction of an additional mixing facility and the installation of new water lines.
After several meetings and training sessions to ensure all those concerned had a good understanding of the work to be performed, the project began. Two reservoirs provided water through 18-inch carbon steel lines which joined at a tee prior to entering the mixing facility. Fittings were welded to the lines upstream from the tee, and 12-inch holes were tapped in the two lines. Model 1220 pluggers were used to insert 18-inch folding plugging heads through the 12-inch tapped holes. When inside the line and opened, the plugging heads made a seal and flow was stopped. The above-ground lines were cut out and removed. These two lines would be replaced by a 24-inch line. An additional 10-inch SHORTSTOPP® 60 Plugging machine was used between the new and old facility to assist in connecting lines between the two facilities. This completed phase one of the project, which required nine days.
Technician Sam Ellis returned to Chile six weeks later to complete phase two. This consisted of making 20 and 24-inch taps to tie in the water supply to the new facility through a 24-inch line. A Model 1200 tapping machine was used for this work. Next, Ellis went down the mountain to the port facility and completed six 10-inch hot taps into stainless steel tanks to handle additional slurry capacity from the mountain. This completed the work to the customer's satisfaction.
This is just another indication that TDW Services and T.D. Williamson hot tapping and plugging equipment belong wherever there is pipe, something flowing through that pipe, and a problem to solve, whether it be repairing a leaking valve, tying in a new line or line relocation.
In recent years, the mining industry has begun switching from steel to high-density polyethlene pipe for both handling water and slurry operations. Seen more and more in the mining environment these days is TDW's butt fusion equipment for fusing sections of PE pipe. HDPE pipe is "user friendly" to the mining industry. Its lower friction co-efficient facilitates movement of slurry materials through the pipe. In the mining environment the pipelines lay along the ground surface, running for hundreds of feet to miles, depending on use, with the sections heat fused together. When the pipe is no longer needed at that location, it can be cut into sections, moved and used again by re-fusing the sections together.
HDPE pipe is used for different purposes in sizes 2 to 65 inches. Larger diameter pipe is used for slurry operations with the smaller being used for various water uses. One of the common water applications for smaller pipe is de-watering strip mine areas.
T.D. Williamson, Inc. now provides CentreFuse® butt fusion equipment for use in 1 through 42-inch sizes. The CF14 accommodates 1through 4 inches; the CF28, 2 through 8 inches; CF618, 6 through 18 inches; and the CF1442 14-42 inches. This range of machines will handle 4 through 42" Ductile Iron Pipe sizes (DIPS). As polyethylene pipe expanded into new applications such as the mining industry, the size of the pipe increased and so did the size and expense of the machines. Many pipe distributors also became distributors for TDW equipment. Distributors will either sell or rent fusion machines, and in many cases, provide a technician to operate them. Distributors often specialize in a certain industry such as water, gas distribution, waste water, mining, or even telecommunications, and will carry a line of products to support that industry.
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