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| For the manufacture of large pipes Cannon have supplied in the past year several large spray machines for the continuous foaming plants of the leading manufacturers of oil and gas piping systems based in the Arab Emirates, India and Austria. All these supplies are characterised by high-pressure metering machines, able to supply up to 40 kg per minute of rigid foam, dedicated - and recently developed - L-shaped spray heads, their supports and all the ancillary equipment required by an automatic foaming process. This includes the ReCo Air system, a pneumatic closed-loop controlled device acting in real time on the head's nozzles position. The computerised flow control monitors the performance of the pumps every few milliseconds, and immediately reacts to any deviation from the set values commanding a readjustment of the relevant nozzle on the mixing chamber. This guarantees that the mixing operation, occurring just before the spray nozzle, is performed at constant values of pressure, for a repeating and precise application of the foam. In all cases, the winning factor to get the contracts was the availability of a spray head able to minimise the overspray rate: this term refers to the amount of foam which gets lost around the pipe during the application of the spray patters. The absence of air while forming the spray pattern helps in optimising the projection over the target and in obtaining a very regular thickness of foam across the whole sprayed surface. Superior foam quality and reduced overspray - compared with their existing foaming equipment - were immediately noticed by all the clients, when foaming trials were executed in Cannon Afros R&D labs in Italy. Thanks to the application methods, the continuous foaming technologies allow for consistent production and a relative saving in materials: filling densities can be optimised, and foam overpacking is not necessary. Applying an external casing over a stabilised foam also considerably reduces the thickness of the outer plastic layer, thus providing a further cost saving. On the other hand, the continuous system is more suitable for long runs of production of the same diameter, it involves a certain loss of efficiency when setting up the size of the new pipe to be insulated, and requires a capital investment in equipment superior to that needed for a discontinuous foaming plant. Discontinuous manufacturing techniques Discontinuous production usually involves the injection of foam in the cavity between the steel inner pipe and the outer high density polyethylene casing pipe. Standard steel pipe lengths for this process are 6, 12 and 16 m. Depending upon the size of the pipes, the injection technique involves the manual or mechanically assisted insertion of the inner steel pipe in an outer plastic casing, normally keeping them at regular distance using hollow plastic spacers with a annular design. After this preparation, both the ends of the pipe are sealed with caps, the pipes are placed over an inclined support and the injection of foam is performed inserting the nose of a mixing head in a pouring hole placed in one of the ends. The foam flows throughout the entire cavity and fills it evenly. To make sure that no air voids gets trapped in the rising foams, various techniques are employed to help venting the air out of the cavity. Some foam overpacking is common, especially when the section to be filled is reduced and the length of the pipes constitutes an obstacle to the flow of the liquid formulation. Cannon have recently supplied various complete plants, for small and large diameter pipes, in France and Russia. These orders are the fruit of a combination of factors that Cannon have been able to offer to their customers: a superior mixing technology for high quality foams the capacity to handle entire projects, from the large storage tanks for the raw materials till the mixing head, including all safeties and production planning & control protocols the capacity to speak the customer's "language" technology-wise, proposing solutions tailored on their actual needs and not on "off-the-shelf" equipment a local presence with direct offices, offering qualified service technicians and stock of spare parts an international experience upon the latest news and developments in several fields of the PUR technology, easily and quickly transferable from one to another continent. This allowed Cannon to gain significant contracts - even exceeding one million Euro value each - from customers that were regularly buying from Cannon's most qualified competitors in the Polyurethane equipment field. Piping business: small or large, few or many, talk to the local Cannon office. We can offer you some smart ideas! | ||
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| For further information: marketing@afros.it www.cannon.com - www.afros.it | ||
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