Tyco goes in deep with Subsea market

Tyco Valves and Controls have recently invested in its specialist testing facilities for ultra-deep water valves through its Flow Control Technologies (FCT) brand. Investment in two hyperbaric chambers is reinforcing FCT’s 30 year track record as an expert supplier of valve and actuator packages for the subsea sector.

The two hyperbaric chambers now added to FCT’s testing facilities are capable of simulating pressure conditions up to 3,000m depth and are used to fully test valve and actuator operation. Each chamber has an equipment vertical loading system and is built with sufficient penetrations for electrical, hydraulic or pneumatic instrumentation and ROV torque tools. This highly specialist equipment allows FCT to test valve and actuator packages for pressure and endurance to specific water depth, cycle testing to many times beyond their operational requirement.

Part of an ongoing investment programme, the hyperbaric chambers are the latest addition to FCT’s extensive in-house research, development, engineering and design facilities. FCT custom builds every valve package for the subsea sector, keeping all design and manufacture in-house. At the specification stage, the design team adapts proven designs to suit the pressure, temperature, and medium passing through the valve – its corrosiveness and state. Valves for critical applications are modelled using volumetric meshing and Finite Element Analysis, to examine special loadings and peak stress situations.

From approved designs, forged valve components are received in the workshop, where the in-house team complete manufacture, welding and assembly. Valve and actuator are then physically tested individually and as a package. As well as hyperbaric chamber analysis, physical tests carried out by FCT include PR2 performance requirement (API 6A), performance verification (API 17D), hydrostatic shell test with stress measurements, vacuum test, stepwise seat test, seat relief test, jam test, valve signature, individual seal testing, drift test, life endurance, and cavity self venting capability.

From its first trunnion mounted ball valve for shallow coastal waters in 1976, to work in progress on ultra-deep water fields of 3,000m depth and more, FCT has developed equipment capable of exceeding the demands of the extreme conditions offered by these remote, hostile zones. Laurent Pefferkorn, General Manager of FCT, reflects: “In the 30 years we have been working in the subsea sector, we have strode alongside our industry partners to deliver the control packages necessary to each new frontier. We are committed to investment in our facilities, to continue to meet the tremendous challenges that the operating environment presents.”

Tyco Valves and Controls Distribution Ltd, Tel: 01858 467 281
Website: www.tycovalves-eu.com

Published: 10th December 2010