What is Magnetic-pulse forming?
Magnetic-pulse forming was a popular manufacturing method before the advent of deep-draw presses. Now the technique has been restructured for construction and repair of pipelines. In its simplest version, the procedure calls for a conductive sleeve to be placed over the ends of two less-conductive pipes to be joined. A capacitor-fired conductive coil put over the sleeve induces a powerful but very short-lived current in the sleeve. The resulting radially directed magnetic field in the sleeve causes it to contract over the pipe ends.
The Magnetic Pulse Forming Process and History
The magnetic pulse forming process is a revolutionary technique that is used to fuse or bond metals. The technology has been used successfully in the past by the major automotive manufacturers to couple the U-joint with the drive shaft of an automobile. Conventional welding methods are not suitable for this application because of the necessity for this bond to be true and balanced.
State of Current Technology
The current state of technology for joining pipelines, whether it is for natural gas, oil, water or waste transmission, has not seen major technological improvement in many years. Essentially it takes 4 different steps to weld a single joint in the field. What is not widely known is that there is a simple process that will create a leak proof seam in one easy step, replacing the current system at a fraction of the cost.
Alvin A. Snaper feels that the time has come for the development of this technology. He has been engaged in scientific research and development of products and processes for over thirty years. His well known inventions include the IBM Selectric type ball, Tang and the NASA Apollo Photo-pack. In addition to these, he has been awarded approximately six hundred other patents, many for significant industrial products and processes.
What are the benefits?
The technique is extremely beneficial in oil drilling operations where well-casing segments have to be threaded together. Welding large-diameter oil and gas pipes is very hazardous and threading them together is difficult and time consuming. This new method of cold pipe joining uses a very safe and exceptionally efficient magnetic pulse to join abutting pipes.
Today, all industrialized countries in the world are building pipelines to carry such commodities as natural gas, oil and water. The present method of joining the pipe sections is with a conventional welding process that is very time consuming, expensive and relatively unreliable. The magnetic pulse forming process is a proven technology that could be applied to such an application with the proper research, development,and marketing program.
Competitive Advantage
The existing system of pipeline construction universally uses welding. Welding requires a labor-intensive crew of skilled, certified (high paid) welders. After welding, inspection of the joint by magneflux, ultrasonics and x-ray are required by law to certify the weld joint, the quality of which is wholly dependent upon the skill of the welder. This system eliminates the human skill factor, reduces the labor costs and can eliminate post-joining inspection requirements. It is anticipated that once field experience is gained, inspection regulations can be changed to reflect this new technology.
Magnetic pulse joining can provide an advanced and cost effective method of joining or repairing pipe sections for industries such as natural gas, oil, gasoline, water, sewage and chemical. The process reduces the cost and dangers of open flame or arc welding and produces joints without heating (which can alter the temper or crystalline properties of the pipe material). The potential of reducing the cost of post joining inspection alone will be a significant factor.
Technology Status
During the Proof of Principle procedure a number of pipes have been joined and thoroughly pressure tested. The initial results were outstanding. Proof of principle has been established on pipe sections in 2", 4" and 8" diameter. In the case of the 2" pipe, the required break strength for commercial use is 2100 psi. Our joint was tested at a Minnesota University and held up to pressures of 3500 psi. The Milwaukee School of Engineering also performed a proof of pressure evaluation on the magnetic formed pipe joints. The sample was exposed to a static pressure differential of 2500 psi for five (5) minutes. During that time the unit was examined for signs of leakage and none were detected.
The Opportunity
This is a well-researched Magnetic Pulse Joining technology used by General Motors and Ford for joining of small parts. To date this technology has not been used by anyone for application on a much larger scale. Alvin Snaper, one of the United States most prolific and successful inventors has completed the proof of principle and has in place the necessary patent. This process will eliminate the current 4-step pipeline welding process by replacing it with a one step, high quality, and extremely cost effective system.
The Business Potential
Current costs of welding a single 36" joint under average conditions, between two 80-foot sections of pipe in the field are approximately $1300.00 per weld joint. This estimate has been verified by three (3) separate sources within the pipeline welding industry. The average contractor can weld about 100 joints per day manually when all 4 welding crews are working at a standard pace. At $1300.00 per joint, this is an average cost per day of $130,000.00 and per month (30 working days/month for this type of work) a cost of $3,900,000.00. The 3 pipeline experts we spoke to estimate that even a 50% savings in welding time with this new technology would only translate to a 25% savings in pipe laydown time because the welding process is only one of several factors that affect pipe lay speed.
The main factor that presents a bottleneck for throughput is the terrain the pipeline must pass through, with rocky terrain presenting more of a bottleneck to production, and soft prairie terrain presenting virtually no bottlenecks, resulting in greater speeds of pipe lay down. Therefore we will assume 25% savings in production time for good terrain and none for difficult terrain. A one step joining process that yielded a 25% savings over a 4 step welding process, would provide savings of $3,900,000.00 x 0.25 or $975,000.00 per month to the contractor. In addition, this process of Magnetic Pulse Joining will eliminate the currently costly procedure of using the Alignment tool, which costs in excess of $40,000 per month (including back-up unit). The quality and type of joint applied will also eliminate the need to x-ray the pipe. It is important to note that the pipeline industry has proven itself willing to add new technology for welding techniques even if the technology only increases reliability and quality of the welded joints, without any improvements to the speed of welding. This process, in addition to consistently maintaining a quality joint, does so at a substantially reduced cost.
Other Industrial Applications
The above calculations are with respect to oil pipelines only. There are a whole host of industrial applications where welding of diameters smaller than pipelines and yet larger than small auto parts is required. All of these situations could benefit from this new technology. To date, no research has been done in these areas.
