Allison Crabtree, Yogesh Kumar, Jessie Allen
Papers # 2016 Berlin
This paper presents a technology for locating plastic pipe buried underground. The technology was developed for the water market in India and, through intra-company collaboration, has been introduced to the water and gas markets in the United States. Information regarding product technology and end-use considerations is presented.
This paper presents the technology for a unique locatable pipe solution and history of its development in India along with the collaboration within a global company structure to launch this technology into US markets.
This fully locatable polyethylene pipe solution which provides precise traceability of the underground networks and also offers helpful features like depth measurement and GPS coordinates. It carries a co-extruded highly conductive copper wire encased in a high density polyethylene web along the entire length of the pipe. The co-extruded web is designed to provide excellent adhesion to the pipe and protection to the tracer wire to withstand the rigors of underground installation. This wire carries a signal from a battery operated transmitter that is easily sensed and received by a hand held locator. The exact depth and location of the buried pipe is displayed on the receiver to provide exact geographical coordinates.
This locatable pipe technology was developed in India where it is widely accepted in that region for open-cut installations. Global collaboration of inter-company teams and the sharing of best practices and product innovation have led to the introduction of this product into the US markets where pipe location and tracking is in high demand. Case studies are presented on the successful use of this product in India and Oman for opencut installations. Case studies are also presented detailing a variety of trial installations performed with the City of Arlington, TX as part of the market introduction of this product into US markets. These case studies include a variety of installation methods including open-cut, horizontal directional drilling and pipe bursting.
