New Products & Services

The Flowserve Multi-Z is designed to handle high-pressure drop applications where entrained solids are a problem, and it is ideal for system start-up and boiler-feed water recirculation, the company says. The Multi-Z features a multistage trim design that eliminates cavitation and provides extended trim life. The addition of a venturi outlet nozzle provides further trim and seat protection from high velocity, cavitation, and flashing. Its linear multistage plug design provides high rangeability and throttling resolution. The Multi-Z multistage trim design is available as unbalanced or pressure-balanced, with the number of stages optimized for specific service conditions. The valve can be installed so the flow assists either opening or closing.

Pressure mapping

Sensor Products Inc. has introduced Tactilus, an electronic tactile force and pressure-indicating sensor. Tactilus allows an engineer to monitor how force is distributed between any two contacting or mating surfaces in real-time. Any application or test where pressure levels are between 0.1 psi to 2,000 psi is a viable candidate for Tactilus technology. Maritime applications where a need exists to measure or monitor surface pressure distribution such as between gasket surfaces, vacuum chambers, bolted interfaces, and heat sinks in contact with electronic components are ideal uses for Tactilus.

Overhead line safety system

Proline is an overhead line safety system that Proteq developed to protect employees working at heights within the oil and gas industry. The company says the system is low maintenance, cost efficient, and easily installed, and can help protect employers from the costs and consequential losses arising from an accident on site. Tested to BS EN 795 category C, the Proline system has two or more safety lines running parallel beneath the roof of a building, which allows independent access for two or more operatives to undertake tasks and ensure that there will always be a second line available to assist an injured employee in the case of emergency. The lines are installed either by fixing a proof load tested anchorage to the existing roof trusses or by clamping a purpose designed fixing bracket onto the flange of the beam. The special overhead lines are plastic coated, which provides a smooth running of the fall arrest attachment used with conventional safety harnesses.

Continuous concrete coating

Continuous coated pipe from CRC-Evans Pipeline International Inc. provides negative buoyancy for lengthy sections of pipe that must be weighted, such as wide river crossings or offshore lines, the company says. Concrete coating is available via machine or form-applied coating. Prepared at the job site to any thickness, form-applied coating saves the cost of transporting heavy-coated pipe over long distances. The process includes application of a circular outer form to the pipe and filling of that annular space with concrete.

Pipe inspection camera

JW Fishers has developed the PIC-1 pipe inspection camera. This autonomous underwater camera (AUV) can inspect pipelines of any length, the company says. Completely self-contained with no umbilical cable, the system's waterproof housing holds a high-resolution digital video camera, a recorder, lighting, batteries, and a computer system. The PIC-1 uses the natural flow of water through the pipe to provide its propulsion, eliminating the need to shut down the flow. With a water flow rate of 2 ft/sec, a 1-mi pipeline can be inspected in less than one hour, the company says. The system can traverse pipes with 90° turns, and up or down vertical shafts. As it travels through the pipe with the water flow, the PIC-1 videotapes a clean, well-illuminated picture of the pipe walls, ceiling, or floor. The up, down, or straight-ahead viewing angle is operator adjustable. The videotape can be viewed on any TV and still pictures can be produced on a PC or printing or e-mailing.

Double-E rubber rod guides for high-temperature wells

Designed to handle well temperatures of 250° F, Double-E rubber rod guides can help reduce oilfield production costs by extending the life of sucker rods and tubing while increasing lifting efficiency, the company says. They reduce rod and tubing wear – and related maintenance expense – by acting as bushings that hold the rod couplings away from the tubing. The guides enhance lifting performance by helping the rods fall straight, without buckling, for a longer pumping stroke. Double-E manufactured the guides using an ultra-durable rubber compound for long life and efficient service under hot conditions. They are field replaceable and incorporate larger wear surfaces to provide superior longevity versus competitive brands, the company says.

Electro-chemical protection

To prevent formation of biofilms for underwater optical instruments, French researchers at the Electro-Chemical Systems and Interfaces Laboratory (LISE) at France's Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) have developed an electro-chemical protection process. The principle is based on electrolysis of seawater, which produces free chlorine at the surface of the camera porthole to be protected. With this ecological process, the portholes of undersea cameras remain clean for up to five months. The electro-chemical process developed within the framework of a CNRS-IFREMER partnership consists of coating the porthole with a film of tin dioxide that acts as a transparent electrode. This is polarized by an amount that enables the local production of bleach from the oxidation of chloride ions present in the seawater.

Super-austenitic stainless steel

UK steel founder Noel Village has developed Vistar, a high-strength stainless steel for operating temperatures of -196° C to +150° C, which offers major full-life-cost savings, the company says. Immune to intergranular-corrosion, hydrogen-embrittlement, and sulphide-stress-corrosion-cracking, this steel resists sour chloride environments, high-temperature chloride-stress-corrosion-cracking, and pitting/crevice corrosion while being weldable. In cast form proof-stress is 430 N/sq mm. Shell uses Vistar valves on its Troll A platform in the North Sea.