Pure Technologies announced recently that it had acquired the assets of PipeEye Intl., a Las Vegas-based pipeline inspection company. Concurrent with the transaction, PipeEye’s key technical and business development staff has joined the Pure Technologies team.
The acquisition allows the company to offer expanded capabilities for electromagnetic testing of water transmission and sewer force mains constructed with prestressed concrete cylinder pipe (PCCP), a process marketed
under the P-Wave trade name. The assets include a powerful, tracked robotic system that had been
used by PipeEye primarily to undertake long-range CCTV and sonar inspections of gravity sewer
pipe.
Prior to the acquisition, Pure had been working with PipeEye to integrate its P-Wave equipment with the PipeEye robot and found it to be an effective tool for inspecting small- to medium-diameter PCCP pipe. The system can operate in water pressures up to 70 psi.
Sheldon Franchuk, Manager of P-Wave Inspections for Pure Technologies, said, “I was impressed with the tool’s ability to traverse long, low friction pipelines with apparent ease."
Pure has been using its existing P-Wave technology since 2002 to inspect pipes of 36-in. diameter and greater, but it was necessary for technicians to push the equipment through the pipelines. This type of manned access requires full dewatering and significant confined-space entry support.
The robotic device eliminates these constraints. “The device requires only an 18-in.-diameter access opening into a depressurized pipeline. The robot is then inserted into the pipe and can inspect over a mile of pipe in each direction from the manhole,” said Franchuk. In addition, to the electromagnetic inspection, it will also provide a detailed video record of the internal surface of pipelines.
