Industrial project management and instal- lation company Ocean24 has pioneered the use of polyethylene multilayer (PLOMYclick) piping for replacing galvanised material for compressor and airline pipelines.
Ocean24 project estimator Colin Rothery explains that fluid conveyance products supplier Incledon imported PLOMYclick for the plumbing industry and he recognised its potential in the compressor and airline pipelines market.
“I worked closely with Incledon and plastic piping manufacturer DPI Plastics to test and prove PLOMYclick’s suitability for compressed-air applications and it works very well,” he says.
PLOMYclick offers cheaper and quicker installation costs, owing to the flexibility of the 100 m rolls in which it is available. It also takes considerably less time to install than galvanised piping because the pipes require less joining.
Rothery says that the application has had some objections from the market about being considered ‘too plastic’ and that, in the manufacturing environment of moving machinery, the piping could easily be damaged.
“The piping is not too plastic, as it is multilayered, with a cross-linked polyethylene peroxide (PE-Xa) and ethylene vinyl alcohol oxygen barrier,” he says.
The PE-Xa contains cross-linked bonds in the polymer structure that changes the thermo- plastic to a thermoset, which results in the thermoset becoming permanently hard and rigid when heated or cured.
The risk of damage to the piping in a workshop is low, as the piping is usually mounted on a beam, says Rothery.
The product is inert to various glues, gases, acids, cleaning chemicals and oils and is resistant to ultra-violet rays. It is not affected by corrosive water or other agents and prevents lime scales and the build-up of Legionnaire’s disease bacteria. It has a life expectancy of 50 years at a working temperature of 70 ºC and a pressure of 10 bar.
The product is suitable for, amongst others, compressed-air applications of quarter-, half- and one-inch galvanised water piping currently used in laboratories, panel and spray painting, service stations, motor dealers, vehicle manufac- turers and workshops where computer numeri- cally controlled machines have been installed.
“In areas where volume is a concern, the PLOMYclick can be used at the end of the line to supply air to tooling points,” he says.