FRP Packer Repair for High-Pressure Pipeline Bends
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-pressure gas pipelines with infrequent maintenance access points pose challenges for effective repair due to the limitations of rigid steel sleeves, which cannot navigate bends and angles, and do not allow full contact with the host pipe, leading to incomplete repairs and potential methane leaks from corroded or cracked pipes.
Innovation Solution
A no-dig point repair method using thin and strong Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) sheets, such as SuperLaminate™, wrapped around an inflatable packer to reach and repair damaged areas without excavation, allowing for flexibility through bends and angles, and preventing galvanic corrosion with a dielectric barrier layer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If rigid steel sleeves are used for pipe repair, then structural strength is improved, but adaptability to bends and angles deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces rigid steel sleeves with flexible Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) sheets that can conform to bends and angles in the pipeline while maintaining structural strength. The FRP material is wrapped around an inflatable packer, allowing it to flex and adapt to the pipe's geometry during installation and remain structurally sound when pressurized and cured.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite FRP materials consisting of fiber reinforcement embedded in a polymer matrix, combining the tensile strength of fibers with the flexibility and chemical resistance of the polymer. This composite structure enables the repair sleeve to achieve both high strength and adaptability to complex pipe geometries.
2Strength
If rigid steel sleeves are used for pipe repair, then structural strength is improved, but contact with host pipe deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible FRP sheets can conform to the internal surface of the host pipe, ensuring complete contact and coverage of damaged areas. Unlike rigid steel sleeves that may gap or bridge over irregularities, the flexible FRP material adapts to the pipe's internal geometry, providing reliable contact and effective repair.
Solution Approach 2:
The repair system uses an inflatable packer that can be expanded to press the FRP sheets against the host pipe interior, ensuring complete contact. The system transitions from a compact transport state to an expanded installation state, dynamically adapting to achieve full contact with the pipe surface.
3Ease of operation
If traditional excavation methods are used for pipe repair, then repair accessibility is improved, but environmental impact and downtime worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the repair operation from the external environment by performing it internally through the pipeline. The FRP repair sleeve is inserted and installed from within the pipe using existing access points, eliminating the need for excavation and removing the harmful effects of digging operations on the environment and pipeline operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The inflatable packer serves as an intermediary device that enables the FRP repair sleeve to be installed internally through the pipeline. The packer is inserted through existing access points, inflated to expand the FRP material against the pipe interior, and then deflated for removal, facilitating trenchless repair without excavation.
4Adaptability or versatility
If FRP materials are used for pipe repair, then adaptability and contact with host pipe are improved, but material strength deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composite materials that combine the flexibility and conformability of polymer matrices with the high tensile strength of embedded fibers. This composite structure maintains both adaptability to pipe geometry and sufficient structural strength to repair high-pressure gas pipelines.
Solution Approach 2:
The FRP repair system utilizes a dynamic installation process where the inflatable packer is expanded to press the FRP sheets against the host pipe, ensuring complete contact and optimal bonding. The system transitions from a flexible transport state to a pressurized installation state, achieving both adaptability and strength.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables trenchless repair of high-pressure gas pipelines by providing a strong, flexible repair solution that maintains pipe integrity, reduces methane emissions, and minimizes downtime with remote-controlled deployment and rapid curing of the FRP materials, ensuring complete contact and structural reinforcement.
Implementation Method 1
Upon reaching the damaged area, the layers are pushed against the damaged pipe until full contact is achieved
Implementation Method 2
rapid curing of the FRP materials
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems of no-dig repair of relatively narrow pipelines, with infrequent repair access points, are disclosed where multiple stitched or bonded layers of woven or nonwoven resin-saturated fabrics are wrapped around a partially deflated packer, which is pushed or pulled to the point of repair. At the point of repair, the packer is remotely inflated to push the stitched layers of fabric to the inside wall of the pipe and the pressure is sustained until the resin is cured or partially cured. Then the packer is deflated and retracted from the pipe. The fabric layers are stitched or bonded together in such a relative arrangement that each layer will overlap itself after the stitched layers are wrapped around and attached to the pipe.