LIDERROLL LAUNCHES NEW EXOWAY TECHNOLOGY FOR PIPELINE DEPLOYMENT ON STEEP TERRAIN: HILLS, MOUNTAINS, AND SLOPES

publicada em 20 de janeiro de 2021 às 12:00 3 Comentários

Even during the pandemic, Liderroll’s team of engineers have continued to develop new projects for the company. Liderroll has now just registered, in several Intellectual Property Institutions worldwide, its latest patent: a revolutionary system for building pipelines on hills and mountains called ExoWay. The purpose of the new solution is to cross hills and mountains with up to 90 degrees of inclination, both in ascending and descending. In the case of 90 degrees, it is perfect for building vertical shafts. The president of the company, entrepreneur Paulo Fernandes, believes that with this new technology for pipeline construction methods, Liderroll fills a gap particularly important when eliminating a series of risks that the teams are subjected to during the construction of pipelines in steep terrain. The larger the diameter of the ducts, the greater the concern:

“The risk involved in all pipeline construction, whether uphill or downhill, is enormous,” says Paulo Fernandes. “The work involves large and heavy pieces. Huge pipes are especially difficult to handle on steep terrain. Extreme care is required so that there are no accidents with workers or damage and severe slips with wet soil, overturning side booms, excavators, power generators, and welding machines. The combination of these factors increases risk, along with low-quality materials which compromise the integrity of the pipes”.

“Look, it is a creative solution that has already been tested thoroughly in our factory with full-scale prototypes: 1×1 with a 28-inch X 12-meter pipe. The constructive methodology consists of setting up a small bed at the base of a hill (fire line), mountain, or slope. It is there that all facilities and worksite resources, including inspections, repairs, and coating are installed. Everything is done there. All logistics, cafeterias, power generation, medical center, supply, and management of all these activities are concentrated in a single place.”

– Can this new technology already be used in new projects?

“Yes, of course. We already have two proposals out. Due to COVID-19, and market conditions, the outcome of said proposals is delayed. This new Liderroll technique will make many sections of projects where there is a mountain in the middle of or near the route, eliminating all the high-risk operation that comes from the need to remove a lot of vegetation from the forests and cause irreparable damage to the environment. In general, it is necessary to deforest at least a 20-meter-wide strip for the circulation of trucks and side booms, alongside all auxiliary equipment and tools. The new ExoWay technology consists of assembling an exclusive directional strip with lattice geometry, customized per project, without the need to deforest more than a narrow strip of one meter in width for the installation of two pipelines of up to 30-inches in diameter each. Or a maximum of three meters for four pipelines with the same diameter. Is the evolution evident?

– And what is her capacity?

“It can build and launch one, two, three, four, or more pipelines at the same time. To expedite pre-assembly, we use a lightweight material such as carbon fiber, hard aluminum (Dural), or a composite material, to make a modular structure. Everything is easy to transport and assemble by fitting and fixing piece by piece. All of them are quick-fit and screwed by battery-powered machines, like in Formula 1, with its fixation to the ground through rock anchors with thixotropic epoxy resins or with small rotating piles of portable probes.”

– And what generates the movement?

“On these trusses, the Liderroll generation 3 driving rollers will be installed. They will move the entire column of already welded pipe sections up or down, inspected and painted, up the mountain, following the path of the truss. The time, the quality of the welded column and the safety of the entire operation has no parameter for comparison with the techniques known so far. It is a simple and ultrafast operation, which eliminates the concentrations of tension and stress in the tubes, especially at its inflection points and at the turns of the mountain ridges, since all the stresses in the ducts are discharged at anchors pre-defined by the line’s flexibility studies, fixed at strategic locations on the guide truss itself.”

– What about the economics of the process?

“There`s no comparison. With our method, there will be no need to dig ditches or blow up rocks, a common practice in this type of installation. It does not require, as already mentioned, any type of anchoring to stabilize the duct in its inflections in the peaks and ridges. It will no longer be necessary to recompose the soil, such as filling and compacting the ditches, in addition to recomposing the vegetation or recovering damage to the duct’s anti-corrosive coatings. The piping in this section will be apparent and will be safer than buried, since it will be 100% stabilized and anchored every 12 meters, giving it total stability, regardless of the type of soil.

– Is there a risk of vandalism?

“To avoid vandalism, the truss itself will make access difficult, as well as allow visual inspection if any vandal trying to plug in drain outlet points. This will be quickly detected, conversely to when the pipeline is buried. You can never know where these drains are and the theft sneaks undercover. Also, if the client wishes, special steel plates can be welded along the truss to the closing of its entire area where presence sensors would be installed to detect entry of someone in the inside of the enclosure, preventing access to the pipeline. Nowadays anyone can dig half a meter of sand or soil, and they already have direct contact with any pipeline built in the country and have access to pipelines, depending on the depth x diameter of the pipeline.”

– So ExoWay is already on the market?

“No doubt. We have just registered the solution now. We were recently consulted by two operators: one in Santos and another in Barcarena, Pará, where our new solution was highlighted as a revolutionary constructive option. I would say that it would be decisive for the success of these projects.”