We recently had an order from a European customer in the LNG industry who was using a competitive inflatable weld purging system.
While welding large diameter stainless steel pipes on site, these competitive systems were bursting due to over inflation, causing the complete loss of valuable welds due to the entrance of atmospheric air. This in turn led to dramatic oxidation and metallurgical defects, which resulted in an extremely costly cut out and re-weld.
Having lost welds, the project suffered delays, additional costs and the Welding Engineer was looking at other options, including filling the entire pipes with argon, which would have had health and safety implications as well as a very high additional expense.
Upon browsing the HFT ® website and reading White Paper 27 – Weld Purging on LNG Projects, he discovered the QuickPurge ® System, which was developed in association with Mitsui Babcock, especially for large diameter stainless steel pipes.
The QuickPurge ® System suits pipe diameters from 6 – 96” and is fitted as standard with a special pressure relief valve, PurgeGate ®, which regulates the gas flow in such a way, that it will never burst due to over inflation.
This state of the art system is also manufactured with RootGlo ®, a central band that glows inside a dark pipe allowing the system to be aligned correctly, so the two sealing dams are a perfect distance away from the weld zone.
The customer contacted the HFT ® HQ, was given more technical information about the QuickPurge ® and was put in touch with his nearest Exclusive Distributor, who stocks our QuickPurge ® Systems.
After a satisfactory demonstration by the Distributor the very next day, the customer tried everyway that he could to over inflate the system and burst it, but found he couldn't. He immediately purchased his replacement products and was able to continue the job without any further loss of time.
To read the White Paper in full, please click here.
