Coiled tubing plays a critical role in a wide range of industries, from food and beverage, medical, and oil and gas. It features a long and continuous construction that is flexible enough to be wound and unwound around a reel without fracturing. Compared to the design of conventional stick tubing, its design offers a number of advantages that make it a more effective and efficient solution for many applications. We highlight some of these below.
At SSP when we say “Made in America”, we mean it. We mean it 100% of the time, every time we say it.
There are many factors to take into account when running long lengths of high pressure stainless steel tubing, especially larger diameters (1/2” to 1”). The conventional method is to weld 20 foot lengths of ‘stick’ tube together. With proper installation, mechanical fittings can provide a leak free connection. When done properly however, a weld is technically more suitable than using a mechanical fitting, but there is still a potential for leaks. Welding sticks of stainless tubing is also costly due to the labor involved, which includes the requirement of inspection of each weld.
With advances in heat treat technology, coils of large diameter seamless stainless tube can be specially annealed to allow for enough malleability to safely coil the tubing during manufacturing, and permit safe uncoiling in the field. Uncoiling is best accomplished with a special uncoiling or straightening tool.
In a previous blog, I wrote about interchanging tube fittings. In this blog, I will discuss a more controversial topic - intermixing tube fitting components. Intermixing stainless steel tube fittings means using the components (body, ferrules or nuts) from one manufacturer with the components from another manufacturing.
This is the first of a two articles focused on interchanging tube fittings and intermixing tube fitting components. Part one deals with interchanging tube fittings. Part two will take up the issues in intermixing tube fitting components.
Energy consumption is an increasingly important issue to both domestic and foreign companies. In addition to the direct energy costs, environmental regulations and the associated taxes and penalties are becoming significant issues for companies and governments seeking to have companies reduce their carbon footprints.
Recently, I have been involved in discussions about substituting tubing and tube fittings in systems that are usually built using welded pipe and pipe fittings. This is not a new topic, but as system designers and equipment manufacturers continue to look for ways to save money, tube fittings provide a proven method for reducing installed cost while maintaining reliability.
There is a variety of stainless steel tube fitting designs and installation procedures available today. Tube fittings have proven to be a fast, cost efficient, and reliable method for constructing analytical and process instrumentation systems. Tube fittings are also heavily used in process control systems, CNG vehicles, and utility systems such as pneumatics, hydraulics, and steam.
