Design and development of a corrugator machine and mould blocks for production of corrugated pipes with large diameters with single or double-wall made out of high density polyethylene

• Grant number: 15/22321-9
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: July 01, 2016
• End date: June 30, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Mechanical Engineering Design
• Principal Investigator: Henrique Frossard
• Grantee: Henrique Frossard
• Company: Techduto Indústria e Comércio de Máquinas e Artefatos de Plásticos Ltda
• Pesquisadores principais: Saulo Frossard

Abstract

The pipe construction market is extremely diverse with many kinds of products, sizes, shapes and materials. Historically dominated by PVC and concrete, the market products with applications in sewage and storwater, for the past 15 years, has given much room for high density polyethylene for having much better resistance to chemicals aggression than PVC and greater resistance to earthworks, installation procedures and internal abrasion than concrete. In particular, the HDPE double wall corrugated pipe, which has a corrugated outer wall and a smooth inner wall, gather all these characteristics plus light weight and therefore lower cost production and easier installation than their competitors while maintaining high soil resistance to compression. Techduto has already being operating in the HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) corrugated pipes industry for over 10 years, however with diameters range from 16mm to 160mm, while competitors, who are using foreign technology, can meet diameters up to 1200mm.Through this project we will develop a 100% national technology to manufacture HDPE double wall corrugated pipes with diameters from 400 to 1000mm, with application in sewage and storwater. Given that the technology used by the current competitors to manufacture such pipes comes completely from countries as Germany, Canada and Italy, this development is a complete innovation in the country, which will be the first domestic technology to manufacture corrugated pipes of large diameters. (AU)