 GRE Pipe Curing Heaters >>
With over 15 years experience of curing GRE pipe joints First Trace boasts enviable product range of heater curing blankets. Giving high performance results coupled with long lasting durable products in one of the harshest production environments our products have proven reliability. The following information and temperature profile graph give an insight to the construction and experience that has gone into the manufacture of our products. The varying pipe joint diameters and poor conductivity of GRE present a unique challenge for heating and maintaining temperatures evenly. To cope with different pipe diameters heaters are normally overlapped at the top of the pipe as this is naturally the easiest way of the operator to mount them. This can cause other manufactures blankets to overheat at the overlap point where two heated surfaces come into contact. This hot point is compounded after a period of time by heat rising from the bottom of the pipe. Whilst the top of the pipe can be very hot and in some cases burnt, the bottom and sides are barely at the minimum cure temperature leaving little margin for error. First Trace incorporate a system of varying power densities though out the blanket delivering extra power to the bottom and sides of the pipe. The overlap area has been designed to compensate for the diameter variation giving the same heat profile performance over a range of pipe diameters. The use of a close tolerance thermostat and extruded silicone spacers (on larger diameters) to separate the overlapped parts allowing air flow limits the possibility of over temperature or burning of the pipe surface. Cable damage in such a harsh environment is not to be unexpected. However to provide long life and durability First Trace use a high tear strength silicone cable with tough PTFE insulated cores. Vulcanised to the heater and coupled with strain relief our power cable give exceptional performance. Durability is further assured as the heater uses multiple strands of resistance wires twisted together and layered between high grade silicone polymers. Running these wires widthways across the heater prevents any stress being applied when being wrapped around the pipe or rolled up for storage. The finish of the heaters is via a tough woven fabric impregnated with silicone. This gives a smooth dry surface that is easy to clean and handle. Silicone cured printing on the surface of details such as pipe diameter, voltage requirements, warning information etc all go together in helping the operators use the heaters in a safe and responsible manner. |
