Oil, especially across the heartland of America, continues to be a hot topic. We were recently involved in a project to provide safe control of the flow.
A Canadian oil and gas pipeline valve manufacturer presented us with a challenge to produce a right angle gearbox to manually actuate a pipeline valve. They had been originally building these gearboxes themselves. But as larger oil flow control valves were being introduced, they preferred to find a supplier to eliminate using internal resources and to reduce component costs. Before approaching us, they had difficulty finding a supplier willing to meet their custom needs at an affordable price.
The standard system design included a special hand wheel operated worm reducer with a gauge that indicated valve position. A sleeved jack shaft is then sunk up to 20 feet into the ground and connected to a bevel gearbox. This bevel gearbox is then flange mounted to the valve that controls oil or gas flow through the pipeline.
Because of the nature of the application and due to the inaccessibility of the gearbox after installation, several critical specifications were required. First of all, a high safety factor was necessary to assure added strength and long service life. Custom flanging was required to connect the jack shaft sleeve and to attach the gearbox to the valve. Special housing material was necessary to assure maximum rigidity and strength for safety concerns and to accommodate temperature variations. Finally, the gearbox had to meet budgetary limits.
Because the gearbox would only rotate a maximum of 90 degrees, a different set of calculations was utilized. In this case, component material strength values could be considered instead of the bearing life ratings typically used in gearbox capacity calculations. Analysis of the mechanical strength of all gears, shafts, and key connections were performed to determine the minimum gearbox size possible to satisfy the task and meet the safety factors required.
Standard flange designs were then modified to mate with the jack shaft sleeve flange and the valve connection flange. A modified hollow bore was also provided to accept the valve input shaft.
The gearbox housing, bearing supports, and flanges were manufactured out of steel, instead of the normal cast iron, to provide the high rigidity and added strength required to meet the safety requirements. While special coatings were offered to protect against corrosion and ground water seepage, the customer opted to select their own solution, which they used to protect their valve.
Because of the extensive range of spiral bevel gearbox designs available within the standard Tandler brand program, and because of the custom design and manufacturing capabilities available, we were able to provide a gearbox that met all the operating and safety specifications. Several standard components were utilized, along with the modified and custom components, which allowed us to keep the overall solution price within the budgetary limits.
Up to fifty percent of the orders DieQua receives for spiral bevel gearboxes include either options, modifications to standard designs, or complete special designs. This makes DieQua the premier supplier of customized spiral bevel solutions, as well as other gear types, to meet specific customer needs.
Along with supplying a standard product range, DieQua has provided customized gearbox solutions to a variety of industries, including automation, packaging, processing, aerospace, marine, material handling, energy, printing, food processing and paper and plastic converting. If you have a special drive requirement, contact our gearbox consultants. We probably have the solution you are looking for.
