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To guarantee a safe and effective
performance, facilities for the
extraction, storage and transport of
petroleum and natural gas need to be
inspected, maintained and repaired
regularly. This happens often under
extremely poor conditions and partly
under water.
Typical application tasks are cleaning,
decoating and derusting as well as
cutting and demolition.
As a promising technology to solve all
these tasks, high pressure water jet
technique can be used.
For this technique, newly designed
plunger pumps and a set of exclusively
developed tools for ultra high pressures
are available. The pumps are equipped
with the WOMA central valve head.
Further on, WOMA offers an exclusively
designed water jet unit which is
licensed for offshore applications.
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Why High Pressure Water Jets? |
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The range of tools is extremely large. Using a basic unit a large number of different applications - such as cleaning, derusting, cutting - can be done. |
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The tool dimensions are small. It is possible to work in narrow areas and in areas with difficult access. |
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A geometrically exact material removal is possible, including a linear movement. Therefore, it is not a problem to follow welding seams. |
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The tools generate small reaction forces. The body sound can be neglected. |
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The amount of deposits can be reduced significantly. Compared to grit blasting, up to 98 percent less waste material needs to be removed. |
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The technique works dust free. This allows the parallel work of other trades, such as coating. Also, dust sensitive areas can be maintained side by side with the surface preparation. |
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It is possible to remove multilayered coating systems selectively. |
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Water jets act extremely gently. Sensitive parts, such as welding seams and connections, will not be damaged. |
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Standards which are published in the meanwhile allow the exact evaluation of the quality of water jet derusted surfaces. |
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The salt level of the surfaces can be lowered significantly because the water jet enters even the smallest depressions. In contrast, the grit blasting closes the pores and traps contaminants. |
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The prepared surfaces give an excellent adhesion behaviour. Submerged applications are possible. |
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An exclusively developed abrasive water jet tool enables the cutting of almost any technical material. There is no generation of steam, dust or slag. |
The Range of Materials |
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The following materials can be
removed reliably from steel and
concrete surfaces by high pressure
water jets:
adhering multiple layered coatings,
intumescent coatings, bitumen,
chemical contaminations, loose paint
layers, rubber, resin, lacquer, marine
growth, oil, rust, and impurities.
The following materials and
components can be cut by abrasive
water jets:
constructive steel, coated steel
constructions, tanks, pipelines, heavily
reinforced concrete members, fibre
reinforced materials, multilayered
constructions, glass, ceramic.
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The Technique |
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Basically, WOMA offers complete
systems for pressures up to 3,000 bar
which consist of high pressure plunger
pump, guiding elements, and water
tools.
The Offshore-Ecomaster developed by
WOMA, which is accepted for the
application on oil platforms during the
active oil extraction, can be used. This
unit is characterized by the following
safety features:
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Crash-frame according to DNV 271. |
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Explosion protection of the electrical system according to EExe de CT4. |
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Connecting to ground of critical parts. |
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Pneumatically or electrically driven pump control system. |
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Protection: IP 56. |
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To run two tools simultaneously
in the ultra-high pressure range the
WOMA Twin Jet is available, which is
based on two in-line high pressure
pumps.
The WOMA offshore programme also
includes the following tools:
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Hand-held lances for decoating and cleaning. |
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Rotating hand-held tools for processing of sensitive surfaces and selective material removal. |
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Tools with combined mechanical and hydrodynamical action for cleaning of clogged pipes. |
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Emission-free performing tools
for cleaning and decoating with
simultaneous suction of water and
removed material. |
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Rotating nozzle heads for surfaces preparation. |
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Abrasive water jet systems for linear and circular cutting and for trenching. |
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Reaction force reduced hand-held tools for submerged applications. |
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Special, exclusively designed tools. |
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Gullfaks Gas and Oilfield - At the platforms A and B, several WOMA Ecomaster systems are used successfully for surface preparation, pipeline maintenance and tank cleaning
Submerged cleaning using a reaction force reduced underwater tool
Exclusively designed WOMA Ecomaster unit for offshore applications
Derusting and decoating of steel surfaces using a water jet tool
Demolition of rubber coated pipe elements using the Eco Top Cutter
Derusting of bottom boards using the emission-free performing Vacu Jet
Lizard with remote control for emissions-free large-scale surface preparation
Oseberg Twin-Platform in the North Sea WOMA Ecomaster has been used here successfully for surface preparation and derusting of steel surfaces
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