Blog Category: ENGINEERED SPRING SUPPORTS | Piping Technology & Products, Inc.

RFID Tag for Pipe Supports

February 18, 2000

Piping Technology & Products, Inc., in conjunction with other sponsors, has completed the first pilot test of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for the receipt and tracking of pipe supports material at construction jobsites.

The RFID tags and RFID handheld reader used by Piping Technology & Products, Inc. at the Red Hills Power Plant.

The material shown here arrived from PT&P’s manufacturing facility in Houston, Texas with an RFID tag affixed to each pipe support assembly.

Piping Technology & Products, Inc. shipped approximately 150 pipe supports to the Red Hills Power Plant with radio frequency identification (RFID) chips affixed to each pipe supports. The RFID tags and RFID handheld reader were provided by SAT Safetrac. Field personnel were trained on the use of the new technology. The RFID-tagged pipe support assemblies were then received by field personnel. Videos of the RFID receiving process were taken for the purpose of comparative time and motion studies.

16,000 Lb. 33 1/2" Travel Horizontal Constant Load Hangers

February 10, 2000

In January 2000, Piping Technology & Products, Inc., a manufacturer of high quality engineered products, designed and built two 33 1/2 inches travel and two 25 inches travel constant load spring hangers. These constant load spring hangers will be in service at a geothermal production well in Hawaii, where they will be used to support a pipe that carries hot water discharged from a geothermal production well to a separator.

The well will produce 2.8 Million gallons of water per hour at a discharge temperature of 680° F, and a pressure of 2800 psi. These custom designed constant load spring hangers provide extraordinarily large travel distance. The 33 1/2″ travel and the 25″ travel constant load spring hangers are designed to provide a constant 16,000 lbs. and 6,000 lbs support for a pipe moving a vertical distance of 33 1/2″ and 25″ respectively.

Want to learn more about constant hangers? Visit our webinar archives today!

Replacing a Spring Coil With Stainless Steel Bellows

October 21, 1997

Spring coils are so pervasive in design of pipe supports that our collective paradigm limits our ability to consider alternatives. The photograph below shows an example of a pipe support designed for the special environment of an off-shore platform which uses a stainless steel metal bellows instead of a spring coil.

Stainless Steel Bellows Used as Spring Coil

This customer was concerned about the corrosive environment and the salt water which will occasionally flow over the pipe support. The rolled plate on the left will be welded to a structural pipe on the platform. A riser clamp (not shown) will be attached on the right. The stainless steel bellows was designed with the proper spring rate and movement.

In need of a spring coil? Let us price one for you today!

Testing Proves Spring Coils Will Function In a Hot Environment

August 15, 1996

An engineer with a major Houston E&C firm had concerns about the effect the temperatures in the furnace his company was designing would have on the coils in the spring supports used to support the tubing. PT&P engineers put the same question to the major suppliers of coils in the U.S.A. No one seemed to have the data to prove the coils would withstand the temperatures. The E&C firm included a requirement to test for relaxation of the coils with their purchase order to PT&P.

A random sample of coils of the size required was selected from PT&P’s inventory. The loads required to compress the coils through ten inches of travel were recorded and the coils were placed in a furnace at a controlled temperature of 176 degrees F for forty-eight hours. After the coils were cooled they were again compressed. No difference in the loads required was observed.

We did not expect any relaxation of the coils, but it was nice to have the experimental data to back our judgment.

Specially Designed 120,000 lb Load Big-Ton Spring Supports

June 8, 1994

Pictured above are Big-Ton Spring Supports specially designed by Piping Technology & Products, Inc. These types of supports are used in supporting large and heavy units such as compressors, vessels and pumps in power and petrochemical plants. The ones below were used to support vessels in excess of 120,000 pounds. The Big-Ton Spring Support are designed to allow limited movement in confined areas. By doing this, it saves the customer from having to entirely redesign the piping system and saves thousands of dollars.

Do you need a big ton for one of your upcoming projects. Let us price one for you today!

Specially Designed Upthrust Constants

March 8, 1994

Piping Technology & Products, Inc. announces the latest design of their “Horizontal Upthrust” base type constant support. The table or load flange move straight up or down as the weight of the pipe is transferred to the helical coil (spring) via the internal camlinkage. PTFE, 25% glass filled, slide bearings on the four corners eliminate the possibility of binding if undue axial or lateral forces are exerted. Also, PTFE, 25% glass filled, or graphite slide bearings can be added to the table to ease movement along the axis of the pipe. The Big-Ton and Type F Base Constant Supports are still available for other applications.]

Are you in need of constant supports? Receive a quote within 48 hours!

Constant Effort Supports for Generating Facilities

Piping Technology & Products, Inc. has designed and built thirty-two constant effort supports ranging in loads from eighty to eighty-seven kips with seven and one half inches of total travel on each.Six of the thirty-two are shown in position and they will support critical portions of the heater. The balance in other parts of the plant will support equally critical lines such as main steam and boiler reheat.

Located near Calvert, Texas, this is the second generating facility for Texas – New Mexico Power at this site. Piping Technology & Products, Inc. supplied the same material on the previous installation for this client.

Learn more about our constant supports, visit the webinar archive today!

Constants for a Radiant-tube Support System

January 8, 1994

The photograph above shows a large number of specially designed constant spring supports being prepared for shipment to Chile. These constants are the key component of a reforming furnace, radiant tube support system designed for one of the world’s major engineering and construction firms.

Piping Technology’s engineers designed these units to fit in the limited space available inside the furnace and provided optional bolting patterns so attachment to the supporting structure could be made even if the radiant tube support system assumed a competitor’s design.

Do you require constant spring supports in an upcoming project? Get pricing today!

Refurbished Constant Supports

December 3, 1993

The picture above shows the “before” and “after” of constant supports refurbished by Piping Technology & Products, Inc. Customers ship these units to our plant during a turn-around in a wide variety of conditions. In this case it was cheaper and faster to refurbish them than to rebuild. In either case each unit is completely tested in a load cell to assure performance and a new name plate is attached to record the load, travel and other parameters. Four of these horizontal upthrust supports can be seen above, ready for return to the customers. Power plants, petrochemical plants and paper mills are the primary users of this service.

Want to learn more about constant supports? Check out our live webinar archives!

45,000 lb. Load CAD Spring Support

November 25, 1993

The photograph above shows a CAD Spring Support to handle over 45,000 lb. Load with movement in excess of 4”. This is a PTP-8, size 22 Type F Spring Support utilizing four stacked hellcat coils with eliminates the possibility of binding or squirming, problems which baffled others attempting development of such a design. Travel stops hold the coils in compression to cold load, while hydrostatic test spots prevent the coils from “bottoming out” during line tests. The spring casing and baseplate, which eliminates the need to weld after galvanizing, are paramount to the success of this design.

Do you require a spring support for an upcoming project? Let us price one for you today!