WATER MAINS CLEANING DEVICE SCOOPS NATIONAL INNOVATION AWARD

Gateshead based Hydrascan Ltd cleaned up at this year’s United Kingdom Society for Trenchless Technology (UKSTT) Awards for its innovative ‘Typhoon’ system designed to clean water mains.

The typhoon system was developed in response to a challenge set by Northumbrian Water for an efficient means of cleaning the larger trunk mains as part of its four-year £30 million mains cleaning programme. The scheme will improve drinking water quality to 500,000 people in South East Northumberland, North Tyneside and the north of Newcastle.

In 2007, the water company tested a number of systems during field trials and awarded Hydrascan - a subsidiary of Killbride Industrial Services - a contract with Lumsden & Carroll Civil Engineers to clean approximately 50 miles of water mains in Northumberland.

The system is now attracting interest from water authorities and contractors across the UK.

The new water jetting technology which uses a tethered ‘pig’ system developed from technology used in the oil & gas industry and enables contractors to clean pipes ranging from 6 to 60 inches in diameter.

Requiring only a single entry point the system cleans up to 1km of pipe at one time and will save water authorities and their contractors millions of pounds in the cost of excavating and re-routing traffic for extended maintenance projects in both rural and urban environments.

Northumbrian Water project manager Stuart Tilley said:

“The Hydrascan system has proved well suited to working in urban environments due to its small site set-up, the achievement of high specification cleaning over long lengths and the ability to negotiate bends, valves and fittings in the network. The environment is at the core of what Northumbrian Water does – an added benefit to this technology is that the water re-cycling feature clearly contributes to the low carbon footprint of the system.

“I’d like to congratulate the team on their well deserved award and look forward to working with them in the future.”

Hydrascan technology achieves high levels of cleaning in pipes lined with concrete, cement, bitumen or PE and can be fitted with imaging equipment for surveying pipe condition.

Technical director, Dr Neil Stutchbury, explained:

“The hydro powered pig is jetted along a length of pipe where it will switch between propulsion and cleaning operations.

“On its return, multi directional controlled water jets remove any build up on pipe walls allowing for expedient, thorough and environmentally friendly cleaning at ranges of up to 500 meters – totalling 1km in both directions from a single entry point.

“We have been working on the Typhoon system since May 2007 and today believe we have the most effective and cost efficient system on the market.

“Compared to the Typhoon system, current ‘pigging’ and ‘swabbing’ methods require substantially more plant, equipment and machine operatives on site - each pipe length that requires cleaning necessitates an excavation at each end of the pipe length as access to both ends of the pipe is required and only average cleaning results can be obtained.

“The Typhoon system requires access at a single point only, it can clean up to a valve face and its plant and operative ‘footprint’ is as small as it gets within the industry – which is ideal for urban areas. Most importantly Typhoon’s cleaning results are excellent.

“This product is set to make a major contribution to the maintenance of mains water infrastructure in the UK and beyond. With the help of our contracting partners we can achieve the ultimate aim of leaving a lasting legacy which is cleaner water for all. In theory any good quality jetting company could provide this level of service with this equipment and appropriate training’’.

Hydrascan engineers have a professional background in the design of tethered and free swimming pigs in the oil and gas industries and the system is able to pass around pipe bends and flush out all waste to be pumped off-site and disposed of.