Parker Highlights Instrumentation Products for Oil and Gas Facilities at OTC .07 in Houston
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HOUSTON, April 17, 2007- At the 2007 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC .07), being held from April 30 - May 3 in Houston, Parker Instrumentation is showcasing several products within its full line of high-quality instrumentation products used by oil and gas facilities all over the globe.
Products being shown in the Parker Instrumentation section of Parker Booth
#4317 include Phastite®, a revolutionary development in instrumentation tube fittings; CCIMS®, an innovative instrument mounting solution; and MPI tube fittings, a product line that eliminates time-consuming "coning and threading" practices.
Revolutionary development in instrumentation tube fittings
Parker Instrumentation's Phastite is a radical new design of tube connectors that can deliver huge cost savings to builders of industrial equipment involving fluids. Assembled by means of a simple push-fit operation, the new connectors from Parker Instrumentation provide permanent connections for fluid systems operating from thin to heavy wall, instrumentation grade tubing.
For permanent connections and elevated pressures, system builders would typically use either welded or "cone and thread" style fittings, which are time-consuming and expensive to install. Compared with these products, Parker Instrumentation estimates that Phastite connectors have the potential to reduce installation costs by 50 percent or more.
Phastite employs a compression assembly principle using a novel form of toothed profile, which makes the seal. The connectors are supplied as one-piece components. To make a joint, all that's required is to insert the tube, and then push the collar along the connector body until it reaches a dead stop. This operation takes seconds and is performed by an easy-to-use handheld hydraulic tool. The tool assures users of right-first-time connections. By comparison, welded or "cone and thread" style fittings can require anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes of installation time and additional installation costs if dye penetration or x-ray inspections are needed. And when used to replace a welded fitting, the Phastite connector eliminates any need for a "hot work permit", another major equipment building expense.
Inside the Phastite connector is a unique sealing system, based on a collar, which slides along a tapered body, in the process compressing a number of circular profiles into the tubing. At the end is a vertical face, which provides "dead stop" confirmation of correct assembly.
The higher pressure ratings of Phastite open up an extremely large potential marketplace. The Phastite range includes straight union, union elbow, T and union cross connector shapes in sizes from 1/4 to 1/2 inch, or 6 to 12 mm.
In January 2007, Parker launched an interactive website dedicated to Phastite. Available at parker.com/phastite, the site provides a wealth of information for instrument and piping engineers to understand the benefits of Phastite technology, including value calculators.
Innovative instrument mounting solution
Parker Instrumentation is also highlighting what it believes is the most significant advance in instrument mounting technology in 40 years. Called CCIMS®, the integrated mounting and manifold block connects instruments directly to process piping in a fraction of the time previously taken, dramatically reducing the number of joints - and therefore potential leak paths.
CCIMS (Close Coupled Instrument Mounting Solution) supports the direct connection of differential pressure transmitters - one of the most common types of process instruments - to process pipe work. Parker Instrumentation believes that CCIMS is the first mounting solution to provide a practical solution for 'close coupling' these instruments, used in quantities of hundreds of thousands a year, for flow measurement in industries including oil and gas, petrochemical/chemical, and power generation.
CCIMS allows pressure transmitters to be mounted directly onto an orifice plate assembly in less than 30 minutes, typically replacing hand-crafted assemblies of discrete tubing, joint and valve components that can take anywhere from one to three man-days to fabricate. The labor saving from this aspect of CCIMS alone could save industry hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
Further significant gains are derived from the 'close coupled' nature of the connection delivered by CCIMS. A traditional connection, or 'hook up,' for a differential pressure transmitter can involve 20-30 joints, every one of which is a potential leak path.
Parker's breakthrough CCIMS mounting solution has two interlocking elements. A pipe interface module connects to the instrument interfaces on the two flanges, and incorporates two primary isolation valves; this module features an innovative 'universal tubing joint' to compensate for all alignment problems associated with the flanges. An instrument mounting module - available with a range of manifolds to suit the application - then clips on top of this, by means of a new mechanical interface developed by Parker.
Parker offers an interactive CCIMS website. Available at parker.com/ccims, it provides educational resources and a calculator that helps instrument and piping engineers see how much time and money could be saved for an application via the use of CCIMS.
MPI tube fittings eliminate time-consuming "coning and threading" practices
Parker is also showing its breakthrough family of rapid-assembly compression tube fittings for pressures up to 15,000 PSI in liquid and gas instrumentation systems. Various fitting sizes provide an ideal solution for handling the high-tensile, duplex, and super-duplex tubing often favored for running down high-pressure deepwater wells.
MPI tube fittings are based on the familiar, industry-standard compression assembly technique. This allows a fitting to be installed in seconds by simply tightening a nut, eliminating the time-consuming "coning and threading" practices that usually need to be performed in the field when applying traditional medium-to-high-pressure fittings. Using MPI fittings, instrumentation engineers working in deepwater exploration and production areas can now assemble tubing systems in a tiny fraction of the time previously required. They also avoid the need for specialized training in installing traditional high-pressure fittings, and the close attention to quality control procedures typically required during assembly.
The product extends the MPI sizes Parker offers for small instrumentation tubing applications, adding the 3/4 and 1 inch options to the existing choices of 1/4, 3/8, and 9/16 inches. The fittings are available in a variety of shapes and flow arrangements including straight connections, elbow and tee joints, bulkhead unions, reducers and adapting interfaces.
About Parker Hannifin - With annual sales exceeding $9 billion, Parker Hannifin is the world's leading diversified manufacturer of motion and control technologies and systems, providing precision-engineered solutions for a wide variety of commercial, mobile, industrial and aerospace markets. The company employs more than 57,000 people in 43 countries around the world. Parker has increased its annual dividends paid to shareholders for 50 consecutive years, among the top five longest-running dividend-increase records in the S&P 500 index. For more information, visit the company's web site at www.parker.com, or its investor information site at www.phstock.com.
For high resolution images, please go to:
http://parker.mediaroom.com/file.php/mr_phstock/spinsite_docfiles/403/Parker_MPI.jpg
http://parker.mediaroom.com/file.php/mr_phstock/spinsite_docfiles/402/Parker_CCIMS1.jpg
http://parker.mediaroom.com/file.php/mr_phstock/spinsite_docfiles/404/Parker_Phastite.jpg
Contact: David Bush, Instrumentation Products Division
Phone: (256) 885-3889 E-Mail: dbush@parker.com