MACHINERY | PIPE JOINING
Above: McElroy pipe joining
equipment has helped in setting up an agricultural college in Rwanda
New college McElroy pipe joining equipment has played a part in setting up a new college in Rwanda. RICA (Rwanda Institute for Conservation and Agriculture) is an English-speaking university that combines research, education and extension services to students studying agriculture. It has a focus on conservation agriculture, which includes irrigating based on crop water use – to maximise profit and efficiency. The college exists entirely off-grid – so power is
Right: Huerner’s new socket welder is designed for all-purpose welding applications in PP, PP-R, and HDPE pipeline grids
generated by a solar field on university property and water must be pumped from a nearby lake. This is done by creating a water line from six-inch pipe, which was fused together using a TracStar 412 and a Pit Bull 26 from McElroy. The bulk of the ring main of potable and non-potable water for the gravity lines to supply student houses was welded with a Pit Bull 26 – a manual machine that combines functionality with a compact and rugged design. “From there, we welded a network of pipes connecting up to newly-built houses for the first-year students, as well as faculty housing for the teachers and kitchen,” said Jared Hall, an HDPE fusion specialist at Rwandan company Remote Group. “The system provides potable water for the teachers and kitchen, as well as non-potable water for fire suppression. We also connected water to barns for animals nears the students’ houses, along with water sources for chickens and cows.” The TracStar was used for an irrigation pivot that consisted of 200mm OD and 250 OD pipe. An earlier project at the university – from 2016,
at Lac Nasho – fused 55km of piping with 63 centre pivots to bring water to one of the driest areas in Rwanda. “For the Nasho project, we used two TracStar
900s, a TracStar 500, as well as two TracStar 618s,” said Hall. The soil there was dry and clay-like – with around
38 PIPE & PROFILE EXTRUSION | November/December 2022
www.pipeandprofile.com
2,000 small farm holders only growing crops when the rain allowed. After the project was complete, the farmers could plant at set times because they no longer relied on rain. “This increased their yield,” said Hall.
Saddle fittings Huerner of Germany showcased its HWT 160 SW–S socket welder – for saddle-style fittings – at K2022. It is designed for all-purpose welding applications
in PP, PP-R, and HDPE pipeline grids. It can make branch-offs of OD 20-90mm from
straight pipelines of OD 40-160mm. It is ued for making lines branching off from the pipe in a saddle position in tight corners – as well as work- shop applications meant for serial manufacture. Here, it uses a moveable right-hand and left-hand pipe clamp. The standard package includes the all-purpose pipe aligners for straight pipelines sized OD 40-160mm, a bracket compatible with various cord- less drills/screwdrivers and clamps for branch-offs in the saddle position – sized up to OD 63mm, allowing precision alignment of cylindrical and octagonal fittings.
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IMAGE: HUERNER
IMAGE: MCELROY
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