Powering a Pipe-Laying Revolution

Caterpillar engine drives unique polyethylene pipe fusion welder.

Not many two-year old companies can claim to have revolutionized their industry, but that’s exactly what Fast Fusion of Grand Junction, CO, is in the process of doing.

Starting from scratch, Fast Fusion designed, developed, and produced an entirely new system for fusion welding polyethylene pipe in the field, a system that dramatically increases the productivity, efficiency, and profitability of pipeline contractors who use it.

Polyethylene pipe is widely used for a variety of applications including water and sewer lines, chemical transfer, food processing, irrigation, mining and dredging, geothermal power generation, telecommunications, and oil and natural gas collection and transport. The primary advantage of polyethylene pipe over its metallic and PVC competitors is the fact that it can be joined by fusion as it is installed, creating what is effectively a joint-free pipe of virtually any length required.

Fusion joining is a mature and wellproven technology, and there are a number of equipment suppliers in the industry. The traditional approach is to create a "welding station" at some convenient point along the right of way, and then move the pipe through the welding system. This is not as simple as it sounds, however, because the joint must be protected from environmental contaminants while it’s being made, which means the "welding station" is typically housed in a protective structure of some kind.

"Considering that polyethylene pipe is used everywhere from the Canadian Arctic to the deserts of the American Southwest, placing, moving, and maintaining a ‘welding station’ structure can be a big job," explains Fast Fusion President Dick McKinley. "It also takes a lot of people and equipment to move the pipe through the ‘welding station,’ and you inevitably put a lot of strain on the newly-welded joints in the process.

"Our approach is to turn this model completely around and bring the welding equipment to the joint. The Fast Fusion Trac20 is a self-contained fusion welding system on tracks that moves along the right of way and makes the joints in place. Once it’s joined, the pipe experiences only minimal movement.

"A Trac20 can be equipped with any welding system the customer prefers," McKinley continued, "and it incorporates our patented cooling technology that significantly cuts the cycle time for a weld. The net result is that a Trac20 effectively doubles the number of joints that can be assembled in a day and reduces the cost per foot by 50% while simultaneously improving joint quality.

"We knew from the very beginning that we would have to design the Trac20 to appeal to customers in some very conservative industries," McKinley says. "After all, we were asking them to change their whole approach to fusion welding, and that approach has been working just fine for a half century or more. The idea was new, but the equipment had to be familiar and rocksolid for us to have any chance at all."

"We did our homework before we finalized the Trac20 design," McKinley says. "I spent months on the road visiting potential customers to talk about their needs and preferences. Two things quickly became crystal clear. First, diesels are strongly preferred over gas engines, and second, Caterpillar is far and away the engine supplier of choice for this group of customers."

"That actually came as something of a relief," McKinley says, "because the engineers working on the design already had strong relationships with Caterpillar based on past experiences. Our local distributor, Warren Cat (Oklahoma City), came aboard early in the project and was a great help in getting the Trac20 launched on the extremely tight timeline we had established."

The Fast Fusion Trac20 is powered by a Cat 3054C, a four-cylinder, turbocharged and aftercooled diesel engine that meets Tier II/Stage II emission requirements. It is directly coupled to the hydraulic pump that powers the Trac20’s hydrostatic track drive, and also powers a 6,000-watt generator and an air compressor via an auxiliary belt drive.

The generator provides current to the fusion welding system’s heating elements, and the compressor is part of Fast Fusion’s patented joint cooling system. The engine also supplies power for the cab air-conditioning system, as well as the usual complement of engine accessories.

"The folks at Warren Cat worked with us to optimize the engine selection," McKinley says. "They supply the whole package, from radiator to flywheel, and all we have to do is bolt it in place and make the connections. That saved us a lot of engineering time during the design phase, and it certainly simplifies the assembly operation."

Cat 3054C engines are designed to facilitate simple maintenance procedures. For example, all of the service points are carefully positioned for easy access, and the engine oil change interval is a full 500 hours. They are also compact and quiet, both of which were important to Fast Fusion.

"The Tier II/Stage II off-highway emission compliance was also a big plus for the Cat engines," McKinley says. "Polyethylene pipe is very popular in Europe, and we expect that to be a big growth market for us. We can sell the same machine here in North America or in Europe with no engine modifications. And, of course, the availability of Cat service and spare parts around the world is also a huge advantage for us."

Since announcing the availability of the Trac20 in North America in January of 2005, Fast Fusion has sold 22 and has already received orders for a second machine from three of the original customers. Fast Fusion anticipates a similar response from European customers as soon as negotiations with an international distributor are completed. Five Star Industries of Knoxville, IA, is the preferred manufacturer of the Fast Fusion product.

Fast Fusion is not resting on its laurels. It has already produced a version of the Trac20 intended for the offshore oil industry. The MFT21 is essentially a barge-mounted version of the Trac20, minus the tracks and hydrostatic drive system. The first unit is now at work laying pipe in the Gulf of Mexico.

Also on the horizon is a bigger version of the Trac20, the MFT 36 and the MFT 48, which will be able to handle pipe in the 18 to 48 in. dia. range. These machines, which will be the size of a Cat D8 bulldozer, will also be powered by Caterpillar.

"We are a small start-up company in Grand Junction, CO," McKinley says, "our customers don’t know us yet, but they do know Cat and that’s a major selling point for our equipment. "I like to tell them the Trac20 may be red and white on the outside, but its heart is pure yellow."

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