Pneumatic Transport – State of the Art – Desk research

FoodTubes will, for example in the UK, build a circle or loop of pipelines of 1,000 kilometers or more, in which capsules will, for example, travel north up the western arm and south down the eastern arm. The FoodTube will link all major food distribution centres including farms, wholesale markets, food factories and retail supermarkets. It is envisaged that flexible, lightweight capsules will operate inside rigid pipes of 1 meter (3ft 3ins) diameter and 2 metres (6ft 6ins) long. Capsules will have wheels or 3 or 4 bands around or embedded in them with roller-bearings in the bands; and the capsules will have flexible collars at both ends, or a single collar in the middle, to form an air-tight, non-rigid, low friction seal with the pipes. The capsules will be, short-life, free running, be made of flexi-materials to allow for slight bending, but are unlikely to be floating or suspended by magnets, air or fluid in the pipes. The roller-bearings or wheels may be on springs to deal with small, uneven pipeline blemishes.

The pipelines will be built of strong materials but the capsules will be lightweight and disposable. Some capsules may be designed to also serve as instant shop display cases to reduce handling, packing and unpacking.

All capsules, empty or full, will travel round the loop/circle of the pipeline. Each will carry an electronic address and gate-control system which will open valves to conduct the vacuum/pressure air flow to side-loops or exits for loading and unloading.

Air Pumps (possibly specially adapted LIMs (linear induction motors) driving capsules, which in turn drive air flows) will be located every 1/2 to 3 kilometers, depending on gradients. Thus each capsule is subjected to pushing and pulling forces. Approximately 200 capsules of 2 metres long spaced 3 metres apart will occupy a 1 kilometer run of pipeline. The gradient, the weight of these capsules and the weight of the volume of air in the pipeline will dictate the power of the pumps and the engines that drive them. The pumps’ engines could be electric, drawing clean energy from renewable power resources (tidal, wave, wind etc).

Internet Search Results:

USA - 230 MID-CONTINENT TRANSPORTATION SYMPOSIUM 2000 PROCEEDINGS – HENRY LIU

Pneumatic Capsule Pipeline.Basic Concept,

Practical Considerations, and Current

Research – by Henry Liu

Pneumatic capsule pipeline (PCP) uses air blown through a pipeline to propel capsules (wheeled vehicles carrying cargoes) through the pipeline. It is a modern and large version of the century-old technology of “tube transport” used rather widely and successfully in the first half of the 20th century in major European and U.S. cities for transporting mail, parcels, telegraphs, documents, cash, and other lightweight materials.

Modern PCP systems, such as those used in Japan for transporting limestone to a cement plant, use large wheeled capsules moving heavy cargoes through pipes of 3-ft diameter, approximately. Each capsule can carry almost two tons of cargo. The system is driven by blowers located near the beginning of the pipeline, and it is highly automated (by computers and programmable logic controllers). The system is being used very successfully in Japan, with a high reliability record. Yet, only limited use exists today due to its high unit freight transportation cost in $/ton as compared to that by truck. The unit cost is high due to low system throughput (freight capacity). Major improvement in throughput can be made by replacing the pumping mechanism from blowers (which are used currently), to electromagnetic pumps (for the future systems), and using off-line loading/unloading. Research in such improvements of PCP is currently underway at the Capsule Pipeline Research Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Key words: capsule pipeline, PCP, pneumatic capsule pipeline, tube freight, underground freight transport.

http://www.ctre.iastate.edu/PUBS/midcon/Liu.pdf

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY – STATE OF THE ART FINDINGS

1850’s TECHNOLOGY: The vacuum pipeline has been used since about 1850 and is widely known. It has been used or proposed as a method for transporting goods and people for 150 years. Today there are pneumatic engineers in all countries and pneumatic pipelines are used for a wide diversity of practical purposes.

NO DIRECTLY COMPARABLE SYSTEM: It seems there is no comparable system in use, as working examples of the capsule system proposed for FoodTubes. The flexibility and inexpensiveness of using road vehicles (low wages and low fuel prices) has discouraged investment into alternative transport for the past 50 years or more. The most similar, recent conceptualization seems to be by scientist Henry Liu in the USA (see INDEX) http://www.ctre.iastate.edu/PUBS/midcon/Liu.pdf

SMALLER, SIMILAR SYSTEMS: The Paris pneumatic postal system transports capsules of about 8cms ( 3 inches) diameter carrying packets around an extensive network of tens of kilometers. The capsules are ten times smaller than envisaged for FoodTubes and have no wheels or roller-bearings. In modern times the capsules are fitted with electronic addressing systems. Such systems date back to 1850 and are well understood.

LARGE, HEAVY INDUSTRY, CAPSULE SYSTEMS: There are numerous examples of 1 metres diameter capsules being used in modern industry to carry ore, coal and similar cargos through vacuum pipelines. The capsules are made of heavy duty iron, steel or aluminium, to cope with the heavy contents, and run on wheels.

FOOD PIPELINES FOR POWDERED FOOD: There are many modern examples in the food industry of powders being blown into suspension in air streams and transported at speeds of 20-40 KPH around factory sites. Such air-stream systems are also found in the chemical industries. Air-stream suspensions are particularly useful for feeding mixers, grinders and furnaces – e.g. coal dust being fed into fires.

The technology for these processes is modern and evolving. Pipes are generally narrow and no larger than 15cms (6 inches) diameter. FoodTubes can probably benefit from the knowledge of valves and switching air flows, used in the industry.

LARGE DIAMETER PIPES FOR OIL, GAS AND WATER TRANPORT: Technology for transporting water, sewage and oil & gas through large diameter pipelines over long distances is sophisticated and constantly evolving. Modern pipelines of up to 3 metres diameter are laid or constructed in various parts of the world. The know-how is current in the civil-engineering industry.

CAPSULES: There seems to be little modern technology concerned with making, directing and addressing capsules. Perhaps some of the knowledge needed for FoodTubes can be found in the maintenance sector which makes “pigs” and “smart pigs” – that are sent through pipelines to clean and repair them. Capsules that “float” within pipelines on cushions of fluid, air and electromagnetism are in use but FoodTubes may be able to rely on simple, lightweight capsules running on bearings or wheels.

LOGISTICS and NETWORKS: FoodTubes will rely heavily on the skills of the transport industry in planning routes and in the skills of the computer industry. Both are highly active and accessible.

FLUID DYNAMICS: Pushing air through pipes, with and without capsules, is a part of the science of fluids. This discipline dates back thousands of years and the mathematics and laws that govern fluids are well understood.

PIGS AND SMART PIGS

pig

A pig, also known as a “smart” pig, is a generic term signifying any independent, self-contained device, tool, or vehicle that is inserted into and moves through the interior of a pipeline for inspecting, dimensioning, or cleaning. These tools are commonly referred to as ‘pigs’ because of the occasional squealing noises that can be heard as they travel through the pipe.

RICE UNIVERSITY - Several inline pipe inspection systems dominate industry. The most common systems used are “pigs” or “smart pigs” that utilize fluid pressure to flow along the pipeline and can reach velocities of up to seven miles per hour depending on driving pressure. Different types of pigs serve a variety of functions such as batching or separating dissimilar products, cleaning pipes, and inspecting internal pipe surfaces. They have a simple structure, are economical to use, and thus many large pipelines are currently designed with pigging maintenance in mind. however, pigs must have high fluid pressure, cannot stop at arbitrary distances, and cannot maneuver through various pipe configurations such as elbows. Inspection pigs utilize drive cups on their front to transfer fluid pressure into a driving force. Thus, inspection pigs must have a diameter close to that of the pipe ID and they may get stuck due to material buildup or pipe deformations. To maintain high enough fluid propulsion, inline inspection pigs are usually large (24 inches to 36 inches in diameter) with the smallest commercially available pig 6 inches in diameter [2].

They cannot get through smaller pipes, tight turns, and some valves. Other types of

commercially available inline pipe inspection systems include tethered robots, which have limited range and mobility

The Pneumatic Post of Paris 1866-2006

by J.D. Hayhurst O.B.E.

Edited by C.S. Holder

Prepared in digital format by Mark Hayhurst

Part 2 of 3
Part 3 of 3

Part 1 Introduction

The first half of the 19th century saw an unprecedented acceleration of communication through the introduction of the electric telegraph. Its principal application was to commercial intelligence for the merchants on the stock exchanges for whom fortunes could be won by the receipt of advance information, but the gain in speed from the telegraph could be lost if a message took a long time to get from the telegraph office to the stock exchange. It was to avoid this delay that in 1853 J. Latimer Clark installed a 220 yard long pneumatic tube connecting the London Stock Exchange in Threadneedle Street with the Central Station in Lothbury of the Electric Telegraph Company which had been incorporated in 1846. There were similar installations in Berlin in 1865 between the Central Telegraph Office and the Stock Exchange, and in 1866 in Paris out of the place de la Bourse.

Other cities followed and tube systems were opened not only for the transport of telegrams but also for individual letters and for letters in bulk. The transport of letters in bulk required large diameter tubes such as exist today in Hamburg and as once existed in a number of American cities. Provision for the transport of individual letters was made in Vienna and Prague, Berlin, Munich, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Naples, Milan, Paris and Marseilles. There were ephemeral installations for private letters at the South Kensington Exhibition of 1890, at the Karlsbad Philatelic Exhibition of 1910, and at the Turin International Exhibition of 1911.

Today, the pneumatic post survives only in Paris and Italy. Pneumatic tubes are still however widely used for the transport inside many cities of the world of small batches of telegrams, express letters and air mail letters. These tubes are generally of a diameter of about 3 inches and the messages are carried in cylinders which are propelled along the tube by an air pressure differential from the back to the front, attaining speeds of around 25 mph. Letters and cards which have been transported in the tubes are invariably creased where they have been rolled up for insertion in a cylinder.

The Parisian Network

The network in Paris was commenced in 1866 by the construction of an experimental line between the telegraph offices at Grand Hotel and place de la Bourse. This was extended in 1867 into a one-way hexagon from place de la Bourse through the telegraph offices rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, rue de Rivoli, rue des Saints-Peres, the Central Telegraph Office (rue de Grenelle), rue Boissy d'Anglas, and back to Grand Hotel. During the following decade single line polygonal systems were linked to this hexagonal system and a double tube (two-way) was laid between Central and Bourse, but the network remained always within the limits of the pre-1791 octroi of Paris, roughly corresponding to the inner arrondissements.

Figure 1. Map of the Parisian Pneumatic Post Network.

In 1879, with the opening of the service to the public, there was a new motive for expansion and, in 1881 plans were approved to extend the network of tubes across the whole of Paris. There were to be four stages each taking about one year to achieve: by 1 February 1882 the 16th and parts of the 15th and 17th arrondissements; by 1 April 1883 the rest of the 17th, the 18th, and part of the l9th; by 1 February 1884 the rest of the l9th, the 12th and 20th; by 15 December 1884 the rest of the 15th, the 13th and 14th. The system of tubes running across the whole of Paris (generally located in the sewers) consisted of tubes of 65 mm diameter but from 1888 many tubes of 80 mm diameter were installed and today about one-third of the system uses the larger diameter. Also from 1888 began the elimination of the one-way polygonal networks and their replacement by double tubes.

Since the end of the l9th century there have been numerous detail changes of the network inside Paris but only one tube has gone outside Paris: that to Neuilly opened in 1914. It had been intended to extend the tubes widely through the suburbs but the 1914-18 war suspended the project and it was never revived. Nevertheless, in 1907 the transport of pneumatic mail beyond the limits of Paris was made possible by the employment of special messengers operating in 19 suburban areas. By 1916 these messengers were on bicycles and operating in most of the towns of the department of the Seine and also in Enghien-les-bains, Sevres, and St Cloud in the department of the Seine et Oise. Raincy was added in 1921.

Today, the service works inside Paris and to Neuilly by the tubes and thence outwards throughout most of the suburbs by messengers on motorcycles. Inwards the service uses post office vans between the suburban post offices and those offices on the limits of Paris which are on the tube network.

There is also another network between French government offices radiating from Central but with one line joining the Senate and the -Assemblee Nationale with the Journal Official. Along this line pass the transcripts of the parliamentary debates which are printed and published within twenty-four hours.

The cylinders are propelled along the tubes pneumatically, ie by air either compressed or depressed: they are either blown forwards or sucked forwards from one office to another. The pressures come from compressors feeding groups of offices; these compressors were originally simple heads of water, then driven by steam engines, and finally by electrical machines. There are today 7 such installations, supplying pressure to 12 offices in the network.

For a long time the cylinders went from one office to the next where their contents were sorted for the next stages of their journeys. Much time was spent in the manual redirection of cylinders but, after experiments in 1931, automatic navigation was introduced using apparatus which could accept or pass on cylinders according to the setting of electrically conducting bands encircling the cylinders.

Figure 2. Pneumatic Post cylinders, new and old, showing the electrically conducting bands introduced after 1931.

The administration of the senice started with the Télégraphes since it was then intended for the transport of telegrams and the first network connected offices of the Télégraphes which were quite distinct from those of the Postes. In 1878 the Postes and the Télégraphes were joined and became the Postes et Télégraphes. Later, the Télephones was added to make the P. T. T. which still today remains the familiar designation of the Postes et Télécommunications. Inside the larger organisation, the responsibility for the pneumatic service remained with the Télégraphes or its successor the Télécommunications. The cooperation between the separate parts of the ministry is well illustrated by the events of 1927 when floods put the Segur telephone exchange out of action; telephone subscribers were allowed to send letters by tube for 30 centimes, the cost of a telephone call, instead of the normal 1.50 franc charge. Although not operated by the Postes, the service must still be considered to be postal since the addressee receives the original manuscript (or typescript) message of the sender on a letter, or card, or letter-card each of which falls within the generic term 'pneu'.

The service does not have its own offices but pneus are posted in special boxes which have slits narrower than those for conventional mail. The fusion in 1878 of the Postes and Télégraphes led to a rationalisation of their of fines and the purely telegraphic of fines gradually disappeared. At the end of 1879, the first year of public use of the pneumatic tubes, there were 36 of fines in Paris with pneumatic installations but only 6 of them provided a postal service; before the end of the century all solely telegraph offices had been closed. The telegraph of fines had been numbered serially in 1871 and the post of fines in 1863; as the two merged the joint offices took the postal number. Up to their individual closures the few telegraph offices which remained were allotted postal numbers as, for example, Ecole Militaire,which had had the number 15 as a telegraph of fine in 1871, was given the number 46 in the postal series until its closure in 1891. These office numbers had a purpose: an instruction of 1871 required that each telegram (and hence, later, each pneu) should carry in its top left-hand corner the two digit number of the office of despatch preceded by the number of that telegram as recorded in the daily register. Thus the 341st pneu sent out on one day by Bourse (98) would carry 34198. Since the first nine post of fines were numbered only by a single digit their telegraph counters used the post office numbers preceded by a zero. These office numbers were not initially used to indicate the destination of a pneu. At the office of posting, the name of the office nearest the addressee was written in the top left hand corner so as to facilitate its navigation through the tube network; just after the turn of the century there was a gradual replacement of the office name by the office number.

There was a curious situation in 1900 when the seven post of fines at the International Exhibition were temporarily allotted telegraph office numbers from 10 to 16, numbers which were being used at the same time by the normal Paris post of fices 10 to 16. To avoid confusion, the pneus from these of fines were recorded in each daily register starting at 501; thus the 27th pneu sent out on a particular day from Alma (12) would carry 52712.

Shortly afterwards, the practice of numbering pneus was discontinued.

Part 2 of 3

Pneumatic tube

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Pneumatic tubes, also known as capsule pipelines or Lamson tubes, are systems in which cylindrical containers are propelled through a network of tubes by compressed air or by vacuum. They are used for transporting physical objects.

Pneumatics can be traced back to Hero of Alexandria in the 1st century AD. The Victorians used capsule pipelines to transmit telegraph messages, or telegrams, to nearby buildings from telegraph stations.

While they are commonly used for small parcels and documents - now most often used at banks or supermarkets - they were originally proposed in the early 1800s for transport of heavy freight. It was once envisioned that networks of these massive tubes might be used to transport people.

Pneumatic Post

Pneumatic post or pneumatic mail is a system to deliver letters through pressurized air tubes. It was invented by the Scottish engineer William Murdoch in the 1800s and was later developed by the London Pneumatic Dispatch Company. Pneumatic post systems were used in several large cities starting in the second half of the 19th century, but were largely abandoned during the 20th century.

It was also speculated that a system of tubes might deliver mail to every home in the US. A major network of tubes in Paris was in use until 1984, when it was finally abandoned in favor of computers and fax machines. In Prague, Czech Republic, a network of approximately 60 kilometers for delivering mail and parcels still exists. However, due to damage sustained during the 2002 European floods the service has been put on indefinite hiatus.

Typical current applications are in banks and hospitals. Many large retailers (such as Home Depot or CostCo in the US) use pneumatic tubes to transport checks or other documents from cashiers to the accounting office. One system lists a speed of 10 m/s. [1]

Pneumatic post stations usually connected post offices, stock exhanges, banks and ministries. Italy was the only country to issue postage stamps (between 1913 and 1966) specifically for pneumatic post. Austria, France, and Germany issued postal stationery for pneumatic use.

Historical uses of pneumatic post

(Pneumatic Transportation of People

Here refers to the transporting of people inside pneumatic tubes; other forms of transportation that use pneumatics for propulsion are not considered.)

In 1812, George Medhurst first proposed, but never implemented, blowing passenger carriages through a tunnel.

Brunel built an atmospheric railway on an 83.7-kilometre section of the South Devon Railway between Exeter and Plymouth, England in the 19th century It was also tried on the London & Croydon Railway in 1845, but was soon abandoned.

In 1861, the London Pneumatic Despatch Company built a system large enough to move a person, although it was intended for parcels. The October 10, 1865 inauguration of the new Holborn Station was marked by having the Duke of Buckingham, the chairman, and some of the directors of the company blown through the tube to Euston (a five minute trip).

A 550 metre (m) pneumatic passenger railway was exhibited at the Crystal Palace in 1864. This was a prototype for a proposed Whitehall Pneumatic Railway that would have run under the River Thames linking Waterloo and Charing Cross. Digging was started in 1865 but was stopped in 1868 due to financial problems.

In 1867 at the American Institute exhibition in New York, Alfred Ely Beach demonstrated a 32.6 m long, 1.8 m diameter pipe that was capable of moving 12 passengers plus conductor. In 1869, the Beach Pneumatic Transit Company of New York constructed in secret a 95 m long, 2.7 m diameter pneumatic subway line under Broadway. The line only operated for a few months, closing after Beach was unsuccessful in getting permission to extend it. (Though widely believed to have been demolished to make way for the current subway system, some think the system may still exist buried beneath the city. An old pneumatic tunnel is seen in the theatrical movie Ghostbusters 2 and in the direct-to-video movie An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island.)

In the 1960s, Lockheed and MIT with the United States Department of Commerce did feasibility studies on a vactrain system powered by ambient atmospheric pressure and "gravitational pendulum assist" to connect cities on the East Coast of the US. They calculated that the run between Philadelphia and New York City would average 174 metres per second.

When those plans were abandoned as too expensive, Lockheed engineer L.K. Edwards founded Tube Transit, Inc. to develop technology based on "gravity-vacuum transportation". In 1967 he proposed a Bay Area Gravity-Vacuum Transit for California that would run along side the then-under-construction BART system. It was never built.

Current usage

The technology is still used on a smaller scale. A large number of drive-up banks use pneumatic tubes to transport cash and documents between cars and tellers. Most hospitals have a system to deliver drugs, documents and specimens to and from laboratories and nurses' stations. Many factories use them to deliver parts quickly across large campuses. Many larger stores use systems to securely transport excess cash from checkout stands to back offices, and to send change back to cashiers. NASA's original Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas had pneumatic tubes connecting controller consoles with staff support rooms. Denver International Airport is noteworthy for the large number of pneumatic tube systems, including a 10-inch diameter system for moving aircraft parts to remote concourses, a 4-inch system for United Airlines ticketing, and a robust system in the parking toll collection system with an outlet at every booth.

Present uses:

P neumatic transportation uses compressed air for propulsion; air is blown through an airtight tube, propelling a capsule, canister or other vessel. It has had some success, although efforts to use it to transport people have failed.

Pneumatic transportation dates back to the 1860s, when engineer T.W. Rammel won a huge contract with the British Post Office for a network of pneumatic tubes to carry mail throughout London. By the turn of the century, New York City had an extensive system that moved letters and parcels in a loop around Manhattan, with an extension into Brooklyn. Enough pressure was used to propel a canister containing 700 letters at 30 miles per hour. Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and St. Louis all employed pneumatic systems for mail distribution. By the 1950s, all of the systems had been abandoned in favor of newer technology – trucks.

Pneumatic systems on a smaller scale were used in retail stores, where a salesclerk would forward a customer’s money to a central cashier in a small canister; change and a receipt would be returned via the canister.

A pneumatic system to transport people was developed by Alfred E. Beach in New York City in 1870. Using his own money and operating in secrecy, Beach managed to dig a block-long subway tunnel right across from City Hall. A huge rotary blower, dubbed the Western Tornado, produced one hundred thousand cubic feet of air per minute and drove the subway car at about ten miles an hour on a gentle cushion of air. The public clamored by the thousands to pay $.25 to ride the pneumatic subway which featured a luxurious car, complete with upholstered seats, oil paintings and chandeliers.

While it captured the public’s fancy, the high cost of producing enough air to transport trains, along with the difficulty of controlling the pneumatic power for the frequent stops needed for a subway line, doomed Beach’s effort. Such economic and technical failures are common to transportation futuristics.

Previous failure did not deter Lockheed engineer L.K. Edwards from trying to resurrect the idea of a high-speed tube transport in the 1960s. Lockheed eventually decided to drop its research in this area, but Edwards persisted, forming Tube Transit, Inc. to exploit “gravity-vacuum transportation.” He made presentations to federal and local transportation officials extolling the virtues of his concept, but his pneumatic subway ultimately was no more successful than Alfred Beach’s.

Pneumatic transportation survives today as a means for moving commodities, usually through pneumatic capsule pipelines (PCPs). Research is focused on developing larger diameter pipelines with greater capacity, but the problem of how to compete economically with freight movement by truck or rail persists. http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/news_events/futuristics/pt/

Powdered goods and powdered foods:

There are numerous modern systems which pump powders without capsules through pipelines. The pipes tend to be relatively narrow, less than 12inches diameter. The powders are suspended in jets of air and are usually transported short distances within industrial complexes.

EG 1 - FLSmidth-Pneumatic Transport is a worldwide leader in pneumatic bulk conveying for the process and materials handling industries. We offer innovative technology and broad experience in all aspects of material handling systems.

Our experience speaks for itself. Since Fuller began in 1926, our pneumatic conveying systems have moved millions of tons of dry bulk solids in numerous applications.

Up-to-date technology and proven equipment are only two of our strengths:

We excel at system engineering, designing and installing complete bulk material transfer systems.

Let us put our experience to work for you.

EG 2 – The ENGINEERING TOOL BOX USA - Some common solids as flour, sugar, cement and many more, can be suspended and transported in air - referred as pneumatic conveying. A pneumatic conveying system may transport solids up to approximately 50 mm size. The powder or solid must be dry, with no more than 20% moisture and not sticking.

In a pneumatic conveying system, most of the energy is used for the transport of the air itself. The energy efficiency of a pneumatic conveying plant is therefore relatively low, but this is often outweighed by easy handling and, in well designed systems, dust free solutions.

In general the length of a pneumatic system should not extend 300 m for each pneumatic unit. The products can be conveyed over long distances by connecting the systems in series.

There are three basic designs of pneumatic transport systems:

· dilute phase conveying at a high gas speeds (20 - 30 m/s)

· strand conveying at a limited gas speeds (15 - 20 m/s)

· dense phase conveying at a low gas speeds (5 - 10 m/s)

Pneumatic systems can operate with both positive and negative pressures - vacuum. The working pressure should not extend 40 kN/m².

The maximum temperature rise during pneumatic compression is seldom above 5^oC, which makes pneumatic transport systems suitable to sensitive products as medicines, food or similar.

EG 3 – Research in Germany - Pneumatic transport of coarse grained particles in horizontal pipes

Authors: Molerus O.¹; Heucke U.

Source: Powder Technology, Volume 102, Number 2, 3 March 1999, pp. 135-150(16)

Publisher: Elsevier

Keywords: Pneumatic transport; Coarse grained particles; Elevated static pressure; Plugging limit; Strand flow type of conveying; Fully suspended type of conveying; Self-sustained particle transport; Pressure drop

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1016/S0032-5910(98)00204-6

Affiliations: 1: Lehrstuhl fur Mechanische Verfahrenstechnik, Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg, Erlangen, Germany

EG 4 – COAL DUST - The use of pulverised coal in integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant is currently under development. The results of a project to determine the suitability of Chinese coals for dry feed to the entrained flow gasifier that forms part of the above cycle are presented. This paper also includes some basic material characterisation of the pulverised coal.Pneumatic conveying test rigs were used in conjunction with a mathematical model to generate conveying characteristics for coal at high back pressures. The overall strategy was to test both coal and surrogate at atmospheric back pressure to compare the two materials' performance, under similar conveying conditions; and to test the surrogate material at elevated back pressure, and use this data to validate a mathematical model. The similarity of behaviours of the two materials then allowed the model to be applied to the data measured for coal and so generate conveying characteristics at conditions typical of entrained flow.The mathematical model used to scale the results to high back pressures, which characterise entrained flow processes, is based on the assumption that the influence of the pressure drop due to solids is independent of the back pressure, in the range of conditions considered. Conveying characteristics were generated at a variety of back pressures ranging from 1 to 25 bar. A brief analysis of the minimum conveying velocity is also presented. Authors Cowell A, Mcglinchey D, Ansell R

Large Pipelines, Building and Routing

Water - 72inch (6 feet or 1.83 meters) Pipe - In 1998 it was determined the population growth rate in the service area of the North Texas Municipal Water District’s (NTMWD) North System would eclipse the population and demand projections. It was decided an additional parallel transmission line was needed to serve the increased demands of the region. The first parallel line needed was a 72-inch transmission line approximately seven miles in length through mostly developed subdivisions and crossing under two major highways, State Highway 121 and US-75. State Highway 121 is currently being widened to a six-lane highway with frontage roads and US-75 is currently a six-lane highway with frontage roads. Multiple routes were considered for the construction of the Allen/Plano/Frisco/McKinney 72-inch Pipeline. The route chosen had the most impacts to existing roadways, highways, utilities and subdivisions. Even with the number of impacts, it was chosen because it was the shortest and most economical route. The route is along the median of Exchange Parkway in the City of Allen which currently is a four-lane divided roadway with a future six-lane section at build out. The pipeline was constructed under the two major highways within a 90-inch tunnel totaling 1250 feet. The SH 121 crossing was especially challenging because it crossed under five, six foot by nine foot multiple box culverts and was located under a 16 foot high retaining wall at a bridge approach for the main lanes of State Highway 121. The pipeline was split in two bid packages, Phase I and Phase II. The first phase was bid in the fall of 2004 and was awarded at $13,197,000 and the second phase was bid in the fall of 2005 at a cost of $8,813,000. This paper discusses the methodology used in the pipeline route selection process and the design and construction issues associated with construction of a large diameter pipeline in a highly urban setting.

Waste Water – 90 inches or 2.28 meters pipe - The Interconnect Pipeline Project is one of three projects that make up the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) Interconnect Program. CH2M HILL was the designer for the Interconnect Pipeline Project and also provided construction inspection services. This project and two others were combined into a single active construction program for which CH2M HILL was selected to provide construction management services. The Interconnect project includes construction of a 16,300 foot (4,968m) 90-inch (228cm) raw wastewater transfer pipeline, a 13,500 foot (4,115m) 36-inch (91cm) recycled water line and 20,000 feet (6,096m) of fiber optic cable. The second project, the Interconnect Modifications Part B, includes raw wastewater connections at the Salado Creek WRC and the Dos Rios WRC. The third, the Dos Rios Recycled Water Pump Station Project, consists of a recycled water pump station at the Dos Rios WRC, and a recycled water pipeline terminal connection at the Salado Creek WRC. The primary purpose of this project is to link the Salado Creek WRC and the Dos Rios WRC together to optimize future operations. The project will allow the transport of raw wastewater to the Dos Rios WRC from the Salado Creek sewershed. At present, the Dos Rios WRC has excess treatment capacity. The link will allow SAWS to decommission the Salado Creek WRC, thereby saving approximately $5 million per year in operating costs. The recycled water pipeline will permit the use of Dos Rios WRC treated wastewater in the San Antonio recycled water system. This will maximize the yield of recycled water from SAWS’ wastewater treatment facilities. The fiber optic carrier included in the Salado to Dos Rios Interconnect Project will provide for the future Installation of DCS between the two water recycling centers.

EUROPE - CONCAWE:

Pipelines are a long-established safe and efficient mode of transport for crude oil and petroleum products. They are used both for short-distance transport (e.g. within a refinery or depot, or between neighbouring installations) and over long distances. An extensive network of cross-country oil pipelines in Europe meets a large proportion of the need for transportation of petroleum products.

For more than 30 years CONCAWE has been collecting facts and statistics on incidents and spills related to European cross-country pipelines. A yearly report is published and a special report was issued in 2002 compiling 30 years of pipeline performance statistics and including a map of Refineries & Oil Pipelines in Western Europe.

Other activities in this area include responding to various legislative initiatives concerning pipelines, particularly from the European Commission, but also from national governments.

This field of CONCAWE's activity is open to all companies operating oil pipelines in Europe, whether or not they are a CONCAWE Member Company. It provides a forum for the exchange of information between pipeline operators on technical progress and lessons to be learnt from incidents. In addition, a COPEX (CONCAWE Oil Pipeline Operators Experience Exchange) seminar is organised every four years for the benefit of all pipeline operators in Europe.

Europe: Assessment of Energy Saving in Oil Pipelines (AESOP).

Objectives and problems to be solved:

Oil transportation companies are experiencing a need to increase their efficiency and transport capabilities. It has been shown that the frictional pressure drops or drags, responsible for energy losses and limiting the throughput of oil pipelines, can be significantly reduced by injecting long-chain polymers (the so called flow improvers). However, the technique is not widely used by oil-pipeline companies because of the lack of design and operation knowledge at industrial scale.

The main objective of the project is to reduce the energy consumption and to increase the transport capabilities of oil pipeline networks by developing the techniques required to use long-chain polymers as Drag Reducing Agent (DRA) in European oil pipeline networks.

Description of work:

The research activity starts with experimental studies of the effect on oil product characteristics when high DRA rates are added. This task also includes the laboratory tests and analysis necessary to determine how long-chain polymers can be broken and the study of the effect on internal combustion engine and others parts of the vehicle.

In parallel, large scale experimental studies of the efficiency of long chain polymers on pipeline oil transportation systems with low DRA rates are carried out (oil products properties are not affected with these low rates). Different pipe diameters, polymer concentration and products are taken into account. At conclusion of this task, the same experimental studies are done with higher DRA rates. The data obtained serves as a basis for obtaining a model of how the polymers behave and how the injection rate affects the operation. Once the model is developed, a methodology for the use of polymers is established, considering specific instrumentation and computer aided design programs to establish the optimum design parameters regarding number of injection points and quantities to be injected and the optimal way of operating the pipelines.

Expected results and exploitation plans:

The expected results of the project are computer programmes for designing and optimal operation of oil pipelines using DRA as well as an assessment of the benefits obtained by the technique. The expected results in the installations are a reduction of more than 25 % in the energy required for ton-km of the base products and an increase in the capacity of more than 30 % in terms of ton-km.

A reduction of the oil transport cost will imply a reduction of the price of energy and this will contribute towards the competitiveness of the oil pipeline partners and of Europe and on employment prospects in general. The increasing transport capabilities that can be obtained with this technology could make other transport solutions, mainly truck fleet, become only marginal. An important social benefit can be obtained combating the saturated European road and highway system.

The results will be exploited by the two end-users in their own pipelines and also by selling the developed software to other companies.

Revolution, geopolitics and pipelines
By F William Engdahl

After a short-term fall in price below the $50 a barrel level, oil has broken through the $60 level and is likely to go far higher. In this situation one might think the announcement of the opening of a major new oil pipeline to pump Caspian oil to world markets might dampen the relentless rise in prices.

However, even when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed on June 15 to raise its formal production quota by another 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), the reaction of NYMEX oil futures prices was to rise, not fall. Estimates are that world demand in the second half of 2005 will average at least 3 million barrels a day more than the first half of the year.

Oil has become the central theme of world political and military operations planning, even when not always openly said.

Caspian pipeline opens a Pandora's box
In this situation, it is worth looking at the overall significance of the May opening of the Baku to Ceyhan, Turkey, oil pipeline. This 1,762 kilometer long oil pipeline was completed some months ahead of plan.
The BTC (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) pipeline was begun in 2002 after four years of intense international dispute. It cost about US$3.6 billion, making it one of the most expensive oil projects ever. The main backer was British Petroleum (BP), whose chairman, Lord Browne, is a close adviser to Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair. BP built the pipeline through a consortium including Unocal of the US, Turkish Petroleum Inc, and other partners.

It will take until at least late September before 10.4 million barrels can provide the needed volume to start oil delivery to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea. Ceyhan is conveniently near to the US airbase Incirlik. The BTC has been a US strategic priority ever since president Bill Clinton first backed it in 1998. Indeed, for the opening ceremonies in May, US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman attended and delivered a personal note of congratulations from US President George W Bush.

As the political makeup of the Central Asia Caspian region is complex, especially since the decomposition of the Soviet Union opened up a scramble in the oil-rich region of the Caspian from the outside, above all from the US, it is important to bear in mind the major power blocs that have emerged.

They are two. On the one side is an alliance of US-Turkey-Azerbaijan and, since the "Rose" revolution, Georgia, that small but critical country directly on the pipeline route. Opposed to it, in terms of where the pipeline route carrying Caspian oil should go, is Russia, which until 1990 held control over the entire Caspian outside the Iran littoral. Today, Russia has cultivated an uneasy but definite alliance with Iran and Armenia, in opposition to the US group. This two-camp grouping is essential to understanding developments in the region since 1991.

Now that the BTC oil pipeline has finally been completed, and the route through Georgia has been put firmly in pro-Washington hands, an essential precondition to completing the pipeline, the question becomes one of how Moscow will react. Does President Vladimir Putin have any serious options left short of the ultimate nuclear one?

A Guide for the Construction Inspection of Large Diameter Water Pipelines

Russell Gibson,1 P.E.

^{1Principal, Water Resources, Freese and
Nichols, Inc., 4055 International Plaza, Suite 200, Fort Worth, TX 76109;
rlg@freese.com}

The construction of large diameter pipelines is a large investment for any water utility. Achieving a quality construction project is critical to the overall performance and reliability of any water transmission system. Quality construction can also insure a longer service life for the pipeline. Therefore, the quality of the constructed pipeline is critical to the success of any water utility. The construction inspection of large diameter pipelines offers many challenges to the Owner's construction inspection teams. Large diameter pipelines typically use more complex pipe materials, bedding and backfill materials, appurtenances, corrosion protection requirements, and construction methods than do smaller diameter pipelines. Often the subtle differences between large diameter pipelines and small diameter pipelines are overlooked by inexperienced inspection teams. This paper includes an explanation of the critical components of large diameter pipeline inspection, and includes a convenient checklist for the field inspectors. The inspection checklist was developed from the author's pipeline design projects, as well as forensic engineering of pipeline failures. The paper focuses on the use of large diameter steel and concrete cylinder pipelines for water transmission service. The checklists cover important inspection and testing procedures such as right-of-way clearing and restoration; pipe handling; pipe material inspection before installation; trenching; pipe-laying; bedding and embedment around the pipe; backfill over the pipeline; internal pipe inspection after installation; inspection of appurtenances; patching of coating and lining; installation through tunnels; and hydrostatic, compaction, and non-destructive testing of pipelines.

Overtrawling of large diameter pipeline trials JIP

Fishermen have been concerned in recent years about the laying of large diameter pipelines in the North Sea.

The perception is that these pipelines could provide an enhanced hazard to safety because they provide a larger obstacle and increase the likelihood of their fishing gear becoming snagged.

To address these concerns the DTI requested that instrumented overtrawling fishing trials with load cells and accelerometers be carried out over the Exxon-Mobil Skene pipeline to confirm that the pipeline did not present an increased hazard compared to existing pipelines, which are up to 40" diameter.

Jee set up a Joint Industry Programme (JIP) to:

The final deliverable was a report that represents the culmination of a series of tasks that have been performed in consultation, and agreement, with the fishing industry and with the participation of the Fisheries Research Services Marine Laboratory.

The benefits to the sponsors and fishermen can be summarised as follows. The work carried out by the JIP showed that:

Jee, Hildenbrook House, The Slade, Tonbridge, Kent. TN9 1HR. United Kingdom
Tel +44 (0)1732 371371 Fax +44 (0)1732 361646

Very Large Diameter FRP pipe from Future Pipe Industries

Future Pipe Industries produces large diameter FRP pipe in sizes up to 158” (13 ft) in diameter. Our Fiberstrong™ FRP pipe are the largest commercially produced pipe system in the United States; no other FRP pipe manufacturer comes even close to the large diameters produced by FPI.

Manufacture

Fiberstrong pipe are produced on our own state of art computer-controlled Continuous filament winding machines that allow pipe of any transportable length to be produced. Pipe produced with this process and equipment are consistently uniform in wall thickness, composition and physical properties, insuring compliance with applicable specifications that include AWWA C950, ATSM D 3517 and ASTM D3262. They are available in sizes from 16” all the way through 158”; all in standard 40’ lengths (other lengths are available). Pressure classes range from 250 to 100 psig depending on diameter.

Applications

Fiberstrong large diameter FRP pipes find many uses in infrastructure projects such as:

• Large potable water transmission pipeline ( NSF^®listed )

• Slip lining of corroded large concrete sewer pipe & tunnels

• Large gravity sewer and storm water drains

• Large siphons and culverts

• River & Seawater intakes & outfalls

• Power plant circulating & cooling water lines

• Large Power plant penstocks

• Large Irrigation pipelines

• Large Pump station headers

Joints

For standard buried applications, pipe is provided with FRP Reka couplings featuring two elastomeric rubber seals as shown below. These joints allow for angular deflections ranging from 3.0 degrees up to 0.5 degree depending on pipe diameter. They are easy to assemble and provide a water-tight joint under all normal operating conditions for all diameters. Internal joint testers are available to eliminate the need for expensive sectional pressure tests on large diameter pipelines.

Pipes can be provided with plain ends for butt-wrap joints. High axial strength pipes can also be supplied for installations where restrained joints are required and thrust blocks cannot be utilized as shown below.

Advantages of Fiberstrong large diameter FRP pipe

Excellent corrosion resistance

FRP pipe is inert and will not corrode from all known and naturally occurring soil and ground water conditions. Because the pipe is inherently corrosion resistant, it is maintenance free; requiring no periodic coating or lining. For sanitary sewer service, Fiberstrong pipe meets the stringent chemical resistance requirements of ASTM D3262.

Electrically inert

Because FRP pipe are non-metallic, they do not require any cathodic protection systems nor are they affected by stray electrical currents and can be safely installed in the vicinity of cathodically protected steel pipelines.

Long life and low life-cycle cost

Fiberstrong FRP pipe have a minimum 50 year design life. Invariably FRP pipe provide owners with the lowest life-cycle costs when compared to conventional large diameter pipe such as steel or concrete pipe, due to its long life, and maintenance-free and corrosion-free service.

Light weight

Fiberstrong FRP pipe are light weight and easy to handle. They weigh ¼th the weight of steel pipe and 1/10th the weight of concrete pipe per foot. Most pipe sections can be handled on-site with a small excavator or small crane. When used off-shore, it is common to pre-assemble 3 x 40’ pipe sections as shown below to allow 120’ of pipe to be installed underwater in one underwater operation, significantly reducing installing costs.

Excellent hydraulic characteristics

The smooth inner bore of Fiberstrong FRP pipe (Hazen Williams ‘C’ factor = 150) results in very low friction losses and reduced pumping costs. In most projects, a smaller FRP pipe diameter will provide the same flow as a larger Concrete or cement lined steel pipe. Unlike conventional pipes, the flow characteristics of FRP pipe remain the same year after year.

Long lengths & fast installation

Large diameter Fiberstrong FRP pipe is available in standard 40 foot (12 m) laying lengths. In open areas, installation rates of more than 1000 ft (300 m) per day with one crew are typical with the standard Reka couplings. Unlike steel pipe, Fiberstrong FRP pipe does not require expensive and time consuming welding.

ISO 9001 accreditation

FPI’s Gulfport, MS plant is certified to operate a quality management system meeting the requirements of ISO 9001:2000. It’s your assurance of a reliable, dependable and quality product.

Complete piping system

Our large diameter product line is complete; including fittings such as elbows, tees, reducers and flanges in pipe sizes and pressure classes produced.

Experience

The Future Pipe group is the undisputed global leader in very large diameter FRP pipe production, with tens of thousands of feet of pipe from 100” to 158” installed in mostly pressure service. Some of the world’s largest power plants rely on FPI’s FRP pipe for their sea water intakes and cooling water requirements.

Floating Capsules

Title:		Dynamic simulation of the motion of capsules in pipelines
Authors:		Feng, J.; Huang, P. Y.; Joseph, D. D.
Publication:		Journal of Fluid Mechanics, vol. 286, p.201-227
Publication Date:		00/1995
Origin:		WEB
Bibliographic Code:		1995JFM...286..201F