Who on earth would go to the Finnish freezing cold at the request of a customer to set up a complete mobile deicing plant under harsh conditions, with a tight deadline and without any previous experience with the problem? Our guys would! Thanks to a great deal of improvisation and perseverance, a lot of guts and broad technical knowledge, they even succeeded! Feel free to use this to your advantage!
Thick layer of ice
The client in question had to deal with the problem that an enormous amount of pipelines was covered by a thick layer of ice. These had to be cleared of ice in a short period of time and loaded onto a ship. And of course without damaging the coating layer in particular. Earlier attempts by the customer himself to have employees tackle the ice problem manually with hoses and hot water took way too much time. Bizarre pictures of exhausted men covered in mud and water still serve as proof of the harsh conditions under which they had to work.
Improvised ice crusher
Building on broad and profound technical knowledge with totally different projects and using techniques in other industries (best practices), our concept engineers investigated all sorts of possibilities. The choice fell on a combination of ice crushing by moving large wheels with nails around the pipes (which actually looked like some medieval torture device) followed by a hot water shower where the recycling of the used water was also considered. As applying for building permits was no serious option, the deicing ‘plant’ had to be temporary, yet have a solid foundation and be mobile for use in future deicing projects elsewhere.
Hot water shower
This was solved by covering the deicing line with a tent and having large concrete foundation plates brought over from the Netherlands. The same goes for enormous boilers that were needed for the masses of water for the hot water shower. For the handling and internal transport of the pipelines, conveyor belts and robots were used. Moreover, we have developed a tool to detect the so-called ‘end cap’ of the pipelines and to spare the aluminum nodes, which act as lightning rods against corrosion. The result is a plant that is unique in the world. You can watch a beautiful time-lapse video of the entire installation here.
What’s in it for you?
There may be some lessons to be learned from this story for your company as well, namely:
- You can call on us for the ‘craziest’ surface treatments that fully meet your needs. For example, we can also print labels(brand and/or production data) on the pipes with the help of a marking robot. But even more important: as we at Selmers have both in-depth and broad technical knowledge, we can quickly navigate through several options. Thanks to our own creative concept team we are extremely agile, both with (new) technologies in our own market and outside of it (best practices).
- Because we don’t have to reinvent the wheel, our approach and experience allow you to quickly get a custom solution. Also, and perhaps especially, if you operate in a niche market.
- As a player in the pipe coating or other industry you can also come to us ‘only’ for surface treatments. No matter how ‘crazy’ they may be……
Wondering how we can make the impossible possible for your company too? Just call your sales contact or send an email to sales@selmers.com.
