APPLICATION TECHNOLOGY


An enlightened approach


The UK’s knowledge bank of engineering expertise continues to be much in demand in South East Asia. In particular, a combination of “open minds” and a hunger for achieving bolted joint integrity has seen the region become one of the strongest growth areas for RotaBolt, pioneers of tension control technology.


T


he company’s track record of success in the region goes back to the 1990s and today its tension control technology is being used in a variety of applications from petrochemicals to offshore cranes.


RotaBolt’s most recent success story has been in Taiwan


where leak-free operations have been achieved in petrochemical processing, and this has opened up a wealth of opportunity for the technology. “Explaining how and why tension control works is part of our


daily life,” commented Rod Corbett from RotaBolt, “traditionally there is an expectation of complex answers to perceived complex issues and people are naturally suspicious of simple answers. In South East Asia, it has been refreshing to see an openness to what is a simple and scientific approach to achieving joint integrity. Accurately achieving and measuring tension across the bolted joint is essential for reliability – it’s a simple fact, but it’s something that traditional tightening doesn’t do.” The first substantial ‘door-opening’ for RotaBolt in the region


was actually at one of the Offshore Technology Conferences in the United States in the late 1990s. An initial enquiry from a crane company which was based in Malaysia eventually led to RotaBolt®


technology being fitted on


their crane slew bearings in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Gulf oil fields. The fastener’s ability to achieve the correct design tension


across the critical slew bearing joint and then accurately maintain it, made it an attractive proposition. In addition, the maintenance benefits of being able to instantly finger-check the bolts for correct tension turned it into a rapid success story. Applications on bolted joints in pressure containment


became the next development area in Malaysia. Challenges on maintaining the integrity on reactors at a propane dehydrogenation facility presented RotaBolt with an opportunity to clearly demonstrate that the science of measurement through tension control could have immediate and dramatic results. Six reactors at a major plant were all fitted with RotaBolts


following a prolonged history of leaks. For the first time, the reactors were leak-free on start-up and then during production. More recently, a major new silicone plant in China has seen over 4,000 RotaBolt®


tension control fasteners used on high


integrity pipe work, vessels and large body flanges. The fasteners were selected based on two main criteria -


firstly, RotaBolt’s ability to ensure that a minimum bolt tension could be achieved, maintained and monitored throughout the life of the plant and secondly, the operator’s requirements on the control of materials were more than met by RotaBolt’s own


In addition, the company has now decided to incorporate the


science of RotaBolt’s tension control technology into its own training regimes and has been successful in securing support for the training from the Taiwanese government. News of the success has also quickly spread to 60 other plants operating in the area.


154 Fastener + Fixing Magazine • Issue 67 January 2011


assurance procedures which see every fastener being 100% load test calibrated. In Taiwan, a major chemical plant is now planning to use


tension control technology on a variety of applications following a dramatic success story on one of its combined feed exchangers at an aroma production plant. The exchanger had leaked during hydro testing, on start up


and again during production. In May last year it was fitted with 56 RotaBolt fasteners and it has not leaked since. The operators described it as a “miracle” and initiated plans to use the technology on a variety of reactors and heat exchangers.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188