Ashok Leyland, India’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturer were looking to setup a new component test lab at their Techncial Centre in Chennai. Having experienced the countless issues and hence the downtimes caused by welded hydraulic hardling in their old component test lab they were looking for a non-welded piping solution.Consequently they chose Cenergy Offshore (CO) to execute the job as CO had already implemented the hardline for Maruti Suzuki Test Labs.
Scope of Work
End-to-end Implementation of large bore Non-Welded Hydraulic / High Pressure / Hardline Piping system for the Component Test Lab Actuators (42 points 1st Stage and 37 points 2nd stage). Pre-fabricated piping system would be installed at the site and commissioned, resulting in the lowest possible project time. The tap-off piping had to be designed to take a vibration frequency of 60Hz. Hardline of approximately 2 km had to be laid out in the trench.
Piping Design
The pipe had to be laid in a trench at the Component Test Lab and hence supplying a pre-fabricated hardline was ideal to save time and costs. A site-inspection-survey was done by Cenergy Offshore Team to measure the trench dimensions and support welding plate distance. The survey report was then sent to Tube-Mac® Canada (TMI) to begin the design process. Customer had specified the flow rate, number of tap-off points for the actuators and the accumulators, and further had also shared the hydraulic schematic drawing, Civil & RC Detail Drawing. To and fro discussions were done with the client with different approaches and options, and a final drawing was arrived at with their approval. Based on the actuator count, HPU capacity, For the pressure header, 6″ SCHXXS pipe was used to provide the required flow rate and
Pre-Fabrication of Hardline
After drawing approval, the fabrication of the pipe spools commenced and likewise other components like (o-rings, clamps) were sourced. As the project was very large in scale the shipment was shipped in 2 lots. The first lot would have the piping and components required to start the job and carry out substantial work before the 2nd lot arrives to complete one stage of the test lab.
Installation of Hardline
The support brackets were welded to the support plates on the trench walls and the hardline was placed in the trench. A team of 2 supervisors and 4 workers and 2 cranes simultaneously operated to carry out the installation of the hydraulic hardline in the test lab. The flange bolts were tightened to a torque specified by Tube-Mac®.
Flushing & Pressure Testing the system
Before flushing, a pneumatic pressure test was conducted to verify that all joints were properly assembled and tightened. The hardline was then looped at each actuator tap-off using hoses and flushed until a NAS cleanliness level of 5 was achieved. Subsequently, the system underwent hydraulic pressure testing in three stages—100, 210, and 315 bar—with the final test pressure of 315 bar held for 15 minutes to check for leaks or pressure drops. After the client witnessed the successful test, pressure in the system was released, and the system was connected to the HPUs and actuators. Flushing and pressure test certificates were signed by the client for record-keeping.
Commissioning
The system was commissioned by the client with support from Cenergy Offshore technicians, ensuring it operated to the client’s satisfaction. Upon completion, a project report was prepared and signed by the client, formally marking the project’s conclusion.
