Advanced Welding Repair and Remediation Methods for In-service Pipelines

Fast Facts
Technology and Commercialization
Research Entity:	Edison Welding Institute, Inc. 1250 Arthur E. Adams Dr. Columbus, OH 43221-3560
COTR:	James Merritt, james.merritt @ dot.gov, (303)638-4758
Contract #:	DTRS56-03-T-0009
Project #:	129
Contact Info:	Nancy Porter Edison Welding Institute 1250 Arthur E. Adams Drive Columbus, Ohio 43221 Direct (614) 688-5194 Tel (614) 688-5000 Fax (614) 688-5001 nancy_porter @ ewi.org
Partners:	PRCI TransCanada
Technology Demonstrated?	Yes
Commercialized (in whole/part)?	Yes
Commercial Partner	BUG-O Systems, Inc. Main Telephone Number: 1-800-245-3186 http://www.bugo.com
Net Improvement	The development of an automated system that takes 30 minutes to mount on the pipeline and 36 minutes to make all the fill passes (1.1 hours total) at an estimated cost of $176.00 per reinforcement sleeve (Type A). If welding was done manually, it could take 2.5 hours total to make the entire fill pass at an estimated cost of $280.85 per sleeve. The new automated system is approximately 2.3 times faster and 62% cheaper than manual welding. Work continues by Bug-O Systems to reduce the system mounting time in order to further improve cost effectiveness when compared to manual welding.
Financial and Status Data
Project Status:	Completed
Start Fiscal Year:	2003 (09/09/2003)
End Fiscal Year:	2007 (06/01/2007)
PHMSA $$ Budgeted:	$414,929.03
$$ Co-Funded:	$450,000.00
Total Project Cost:	$864,929.03

Project Categories

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Repair/Rehabilitation

Main Objective

Develop low-hydrogen gas-metal arc-welding (GMAW) and flux-core arc-welding (FCAW) processes. Mechanize welding with multi-axis welding carriage and adaptive control/tracking for higher quality repair welds. This will allow in-service repair welding on future high strength/pressure pipelines where manual repair welding is not suitable.

The overall objectives of the research are as follows:

Develop an automated welding system for use on in-service pipelines;
Implement a real-time adaptive control system to ensure reliable welding conditions;
Evaluate system performance by performing laboratory trials; and
Validate the system and gain regulatory approval by qualification of procedures, complying with recognized industry standards, and performing field trials.

Final Report

DTRS56-03-T-0009 Final Report