Volume 4, Number 2 May/June 1996
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center has entered into a Space Act Agreement with Specialty Plastics, Inc. of Baton Rouge, La., to develop innovative joining and fitting technologies for advanced composite piping systems that could save the U.S. offshore oil and gas industry billions of dollars.
Louisiana State University (LSU) Mechanical Engineering Department staff also will participate in the effort.
The NASA, university and industry experts are developing a method to manufacture low-cost, high-strength, light-weight composite pipe fittings and a method to join the composite pipe segments together. The team's goal is to move high-performance composites into mainstream manufacturing.
The cost of manufacturing and erecting offshore oil and gas production platforms could be reduced significantly if a portion of the heavy metal piping used at present could be replaced with lighter, corrosion-resistant composite pipes, said Specialty Plastics President Richard Lea.
The Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) estimates that reducing the topside weight of deep-water offshore rigs (known as tension leg platforms in the oil and gas industry) required to access deep water petroleum reserves will result in a cost savings of $250,000 per meter of water depth or about $150 million per unit.
The Marshall Space Flight Center, Specialty Plastics, and LSU team is developing high-performance composite materials, such as those that blend polymers with glass or carbon fibers, to make the pipes dramatically stronger and more durable. So far, designing and manufacturing hardware from these materials has been too costly and complex, so their uses have been restricted to national defense and the manufacturing of high-performance sporting goods.
Other industries could benefit from the work being conducted by the team. The petrochemical, pulp and paper, and marine industries spend about $20 billion annually fighting corrosion damage to metal pipes. Pipes made of composite materials could be used for fire-water piping, sea-water cooling and drainage systems without corrosion worry.
The NIST awarded Specialty Plastics a $1.8 million Advanced Technology Program (ATP) grant to help finance this research. It is the first Louisiana company to receive a NIST research and development grant.
Lea said ATP provides cost-shared funding to industries to undertake high-risk research and development projects which could spark important, broad-based economic benefits for the United States. These leading-edge technological projects might not otherwise be pursued-or sufficient resources dedicated-because of financial or technical risks, Lea said.
| Cooke Nutriceuticals, Inc. | New amino acid-based products that slow the progression of atherosclerosis. |
|---|---|
| Decision Point, Inc. | Multi-media CD-ROMs and other electronic information on public policy issues. |
| BCL Computers | Powerful software tools that automatically interpret document structures into computer databases. |
| ITv Corporation | Inexpensive device that hooks to a television and ordinary telephone line for access to the Internet. |
| Skywatch Information Services | Disaster information to emergency services and media using data from NASA planes and satellites and its own mapping software. |
| ClearSight | Transparent computer display visor so pilots can see landscape and navigational data simultaneously. |
| Strata Systems, Inc. | Computer hardware/software system that enhances photographs. |
| Nano-Photonics Corporation | Three-dimensional, non-destructive test and measurement instruments system. |
| Virtual-Time Software, Inc. | Software allows industry-standard, real-time operating systems and Windows to work together on a single PC. |
| Intaglio | Patented system for recording multiple CD- ROMS simultaneously, permitting cost-effective, in-house recording. |
| Extempo Systems, Inc. | Software development tools for advanced interactive systems using "improvisational computer characters" that enable new modes of interaction between users and computers. |
| Millennia | Products for voice recognition remote command and control of PCs. |
| Microport | Enterprise-wide networking systems that provide electronic medical records for the health care industry. |
| Technology Change Management, Inc. | Products that dramatically improve productivity and reduce costs associated with software renovation and maintenance and platform migration. |
| Cyberprint | Traditional print business applied to the Internet with special software for easy design of a variety of print jobs. |
| Interval Logic Corporation | Powerful, sophisticated software for scheduling and organizing large, complex systems such as the Hubble telescope for which it originally was designed. |
| Pangaea Reference Systems | Intention to become a premiere vendor of specialized information services and data mining tools for the Internet. |
| Galileo Laboratories | Food products and pharmaceuticals that promote optimal cell functioning for people under stress or illness. |
| Ice Management Systems | De-icing systems for the aircraft and automotive industries. |
| Real-Time Innovations, Inc. | Computer software and tools for developing large real-time systems. |
| Digital Records | Integrated, international network of high-volume, low-cost medical and other transcription services. System is output independent. |
| Kairos Software, Inc. | Suite of personal development and business development Internet information services. |
| Pragmatic Communications, Inc. | Remote wireless audio, video and data communications equipment; its PC on TV system allows for interactive use of the Internet and television. |
| Communication Network System | Wireless voice, data and video communications systems. |
| EDGE Software, Inc. | Family of windows client-server software products to perform work flow documentation, analysis and improvement. |
| Mindmap | Object-oriented MicrosoftWindows software for rapid application development and diverse multimedia data presentation without programming. |
| SciBus Analytical Inc. | Commercialization of national lab technologies relating to standardization and automation of lab procedures, instruments and analysis. |
| Fourth Planet | Three-dimensional virtual reality visualizes real-time data in three dimensions. NASA originally used it to program planetary explorer vehicles. |
For more information about the technique, contact Dr. Elizabeth B. Rodgers at Marshall Space Flight Center. Phone: 205/544-2647, E-mail: elizabeth.rodgers@msfc.nasa.gov Please mention that you read about it in Innovation.
