PRODUCTION • PROCESSING • HANDLING
FLEXIBLE T
Your friend
A fl exible cylinder hone can play a critical role in oil & gas maintenance operations
hroughout the oil and gas industry, ongoing maintenance is often required to remove rust, corrosion and other accumulated material from the
inside diameter (ID) of valves, pumps, piping, diesel engines, motors, natural gas compressors and other large bore equipment. Failing to do so can have severe consequences, including reducing equipment service life, causing unplanned shutdowns and degrading performance. But corrosion – even at the staggering total estimated annual cost of US$1.372 billion to the industry according to NACE International – is only part of the equation. For much of this equipment, critical ID tolerances of cylinders and bores must be maintained to ensure proper performance of everything from hydraulic cylinders used in pumps to big bore engines. Nowhere is this illustrated more clearly than for two relatively ubiquitous pieces of equipment in the oil & gas industry: reciprocating natural gas compressors and sophisticated pipeline fl ow meters. Reciprocating compressors require a tight seal between piston rings and cylinder bores to maximise compression while pipeline fl ow meters require a fi ne microfi nish on the ID of piping to ensure accurate readings.
GAS AND AIR COMPRESSORS Petroleum refi neries, as well as natural gas processing plants, petrochemical and chemical plants utilise natural gas compressors to pump intermediate and
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To repair cylinders, workshops use an industrial hone to get to size then complete the fi nishing work with the Flex-Hone, seen here within a cylinder
end-product gases in pipeline service or within the refi nery. Although there are varying types of
compressors, common reciprocating compressors utilise an electric motor to turn a crankshaft that causes a piston to rise and fall within the cylinder to compress the air or gas. To create a proper seal, piston rings are required. Depending on the type of gas, these rings are made of Tefl on, high carbon, low carbon, or non- metallic ringed.
As in any motor or engine application,
it is particularly important that the piston rings maintain 100% contact with the walls of the cylinder bores. Otherwise, performance problems such as compression blow-by and oil leakage can occur, reducing effi ciency. Providing the needed consistent contact between piston rings and cylinder
almost always requires honing, either because the bores are not perfectly round, have been damaged by previous ring or piston failure, or due to other wear factors. T is type of work is often completed by shops, such as USA-based H & S Valve Services, a company that manufactures and repairs the component parts of most major brands of reciprocating natural gas compressors, including valves, rods, liners, and starters. T e majority of that work involves reconditioning worn, undersized or scratched cylinders from 2in-32in and replacing the piston rings. “If there is a bad seal or the cylinder is out-of-round and you install a set of piston rings they will run unevenly and you can lose compression and reduce the overall effi ciency of the compressor,” says Joe Salinas, shop foreman at H & S Valve Services.
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