New Gripper Design - Research and Development for Optimization

Offentlig prosjektsammendrag

The TDW inline isolation tool has been field proven through more than 350 successful isolations worldwide, since the start 20(+) years ago. The tool design has through all this time had the same gripping mechanism fundamentals, which is a demonstration of its robustness. The gripping mechanism is well known to create the required force for a sufficient grip. However, these forces are also found to cause stress magnitudes that sometimes limit/puts a cap on the allowable pipeline isolation pressure (differential pressure across the plug). This has even prevented the use of the plug when pressure reduction is found not possible. This applies to all pipelines in times when the demand for export gas is high and operations are increasing the pressure to higher pressures (than earlier), and pressure reduction is difficult to accept. New gripping mechanism will be developed to better suit pipeline maintenance requirement. The new plug will be thoroughly tested through gripping testing and strain measurements to verify that the overall target is met while safety of the isolation is not compromised. So, a successful outcome will allow higher isolation pressures and increased market potential of the inline isolation tools.