The system was developed by Dr. Mo Ehsani, President of QuakeWrap, a supplier of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) products for repair and strengthening of structures.
Joint-free pipes
Joints are the primary source of leakage and environmental pollution in pipelines.
Conventional pipes are made with solid walls in short segments that are joined together in the field. The walls of InfinitPipe are made of a lightweight honeycomb core with carbon fibre composite as skin reinforcement. This reduces the weight of the pipe to nearly 10% of conventional pipes.
The construction procedure does not require any heavy mixing equipment or furnaces, lending itself to onsite manufacturing.
According to Ehsani, “the mobile manufacturing unit can produce the pipe in a continuous joint-free manner, burying the finished pipe in a pre-cut trench as the equipment travels along the trench.”
Cost savings
| The ability to produce pipelines on-site has far-reaching implications for remote locations and developing nations which have little to no infrastructure for natural gas discovery and water delivery systems. As the mobile manufacturing units are developed and the process becomes more efficient, the resulting cost savings, not only in terms of the pipe itself but also on equipment and freight costs, will be substantial.” |
| Mo Ehsani, President, QuakeWrap |
The primary market targeted for InfinitPipe is water transmission lines where pipes in diameters ranging from 2-8 ft are commonly used. Eliminating the shipping charges for such large diameter pipes is a major advantage of InfinitPipe.
InfinitPipe pipelines will also offer long-term savings resulting from reduced leakage and maintenance.
As a part of the study a series of test will be performed at the Louisiana Tech University’s Trenchless Technologies Center.
- Ehsani's first pipeline product, PipeMedic™ carbon laminates, are in use by utilities to repair high-pressure gas transmission lines.
