A perfectly spaced pipe is a critical element of a successful pipeline installation. Well-chosen spacers can save time, money and prolong the life of your pipeline. Below we outline seven factors to consider when choosing spacers for your next pipeline project.
Designed and developed by drilling professionals, kwik-ZIP spacers have been helping the pipeline industry centre or strategically place pipelines within a casing for a number of years.
Manufactured from high grade thermoplastics with a unique injection-moulded segment design, kwik-ZIP spacers are recommended by numerous regulatory agencies and international engineering consulting firms.
kwik-ZIP maintains a focus on price effectiveness, simplicity and rapid on-site assembly, to ensure that its systems deliver significant cost, time and operational advantages to end user customers.
Here’s seven reasons to try kwik-ZIP today.
1. Abrasion protection
Standard acetal POM is well known among engineering plastics as being one of the best performers when it comes to applications requiring excellent abrasion/wear resistance and a low coefficient of friction.
Standard Acetal POM is better than materials such as nylon and HDPE in this regard kwik-Zip’s HDX spacer range is constructed with wear pads on the runners, made from an acetal polyoxymethylene (POM) material called Kepital TS-25H that has been specially modified to attain even better abrasion resistance and a lower coefficient of friction than standard and other specialty grades of acetal POM, especially under high load conditions.
2. Reduced insertion forces
The material composition of kwik-ZIP spacers actually allows for greater run lengths and the use of lower insertion forces during installation.
The use of lower insertion forces in particular allows contractors to reduce the size of machine required to complete an installation, saving money, energy and physical space at the job site.
3. Damage prevention
As a pipeline is pushed through a casing pipe, there is potential for the pipeline being installed to be damaged in the process.
When a kwik-ZIP spacer is used, it creates a clearance of between 38 and 125mm between the pipeline and the casing it is being installed into, protecting the pipe against any abrasion which may occur during installation, and over the lifetime of the pipeline.
4. Adjustable size
Typically, spacers will be manufactured to fit a particular pipe diameter. This means that different sizes of spacers are required for different pipe diameters.
kwik-ZIP however manufactures adjustable spacers, meaning that the same spacers can be used for varying pipe diameters – adding an extra layer of flexibility.
If you order too many spacers, they can just be used on your next job, and if your job requires a variety of annular clearances, the same kwik-ZIP spacers can be adjusted to meet the needs across a project.
5. Short lead times
Many suppliers to the Australian market are providing a foreign product – which means longer lead times. When you choose kwik-ZIP, you are choosing an Australian product, which can be shipped to your job site quickly and cost-efficiently, no matter how quickly you need them.
6. Low co-efficient of friction
The runners on kwik-ZIP spacers have a very low coefficient of friction, allowing for the quick and easy insertion of carrier pipe inside a casing.
7. Under pressure
Using a unique ‘load sharing runner’ system, each kwik-ZIP spacer unit maximises its weight-bearing capacity by distributing the pipe load across multiple runners.
This reduces point loading at any one location, boosting and optimising the overall support capacity of the spacer exponentially as pipe size increases.
The ‘load sharing runner’ system also delivers a suspension and dampening effect, resulting in a reduction in the transfer of potentially damaging vibration and movement from the outer casing to the carrier pipe.
This may be beneficial in tectonically active regions or high traffic areas where ongoing external vibration affects the outer casing.
This partner content is brought to you by kwik-ZIP. For more information, visit kwikzip.com.
