Innovation Portfolio

Grupo IPB has 40 years of experience in the Oil & Gas Industry offering customers complete, customized and innovative solutions. Far beyond just being a parts supplier, IPB does custom designs, manufactures, test and certify the products. Always coming with new and innovative solutions to customer problems.

Due to all these years of experience, and the good relationship with customers, IPB is often directly invited to solve their most complex problems.

Here is some of these successful cases, and some of the best technology innovations designed by Grupo IPB:

SUBSEA VOLUME COMPENSATION SOLUTION

FMC Brasil directly invited Grupo IPB to solve a pressure and volume compensation problem on subsea equipment. FMC’s initial solution was a complex system of steel compensators, skids and hoses. Implying in a high cost solution with complicated installation. FMC had confidence that Grupo IPB would come up with a reasonable and profitable solution.

IPB designed the best possible solution  for this complex problem with just a special bladder system with 1% of the original cost and with an easy and quick installation.

Due to the immense operation success in Brazil, this solution was also exported to the United States and Singapore.

SOLUTION FOR BOWL PROTECTION WITH WEAR BUSHING ON USAGE OF PUMPING MODULES – MOBO

FMC / Shell invited Grupo IPB to solve the problem of a heavy equipment, difficult to handle, all metallic, with several loose parts, and weak articulation pins that broke under impact. Besides it did not adequately protect the sealing surface.

IPB found a perfect solution, a double face protector, with rubber outside and metal inside, and a manual opening system, without metal hinges and without loose parts.

The opening system permits installation or removal of the protector with the drill column in position.

IPB double-face protector has an approximate weight of 540 pounds, against 1700 pounds of the original steel protector.
Effectively one third of the original weight!

After the huge success of the double-face protector, Grupo IPB received the following message from the FMC’s project engineer:

“O protetor do MOBO já está sendo utilizado offshore, funcionou bem, foi muito elogiado pela facilidade de manuseio e leveza, em comparação ao equipamento antigo.”

“The MOBO protector is already being used offshore, worked well, was highly praised for its ease of handling and lightness compared to the old equipment.”

SOLUTION FOR BOLTS STRESS CORROSION CRACKING (SCC)

Petrobras directly invited Grupo IPB to solve a problem of SCC on flange bolts of Production Adapter Bases (PABs) weakened by Hydrogen Stress Corrosion that, losing connection, could cause leaking and serious damage to the environment.

According to client’s design requirements, Grupo IPB designed and engineered the installation of a special protection system, using ROV-operated caps in order to block the cathodic protection field around the PABs flange bolts.

IPB developed a complete solution. Together with the protective caps, was also enhanced the ROV handling rod, increasing system flexibility without losing electrical contact between handle and the protective cap.

The system was tested and qualified by the technicians of Petrobras Research Center(CENPES) in our Macaé base, and was applied in the field without any reported failure .

A proof of IPB’s ability to meet customer expectations, creating completely innovative and exclusive solutions to challenges never faced before.

SOLUTION FOR GASKET INVENTORY OPTIMIZATION

Besides the tremendous performance success of previous gaskets supplied for Tenaris Confab, IPB pro-actively noticed a large number of gasket models needed in inventory and started to think of a solution.

Grupo IPB designed and manufactured a single special extruded profile able to supersede all this great variety of Gasket models, and fit pipe nominal diameters from 9” do 40”, with 10,000 PSI maximum test pressure.

Beyond inventory optimization, this system brought a number of other benefits, like increased working life, and ease of installation and removal.

SHEAR GASKETS

Developed for applications where it is necessary to ensure that equipment such as “Running Tool” and “Wear Bushing” are installed perfectly in the production system. They are calibrated to break with a specific traction load and do not restrict the fluid passage.

Grupo IPB has appropriate devices to simulate the real working conditions to ensure that the shear only occurs within the required range of project specification requirements.

With 40 years of experience on this product, Grupo IPB currently supplies to the leading offshore equipment manufacturers and is capable of designing customized models to meet customer needs.

IPB has more than 10 models of shear gaskets, ranging from 20,000 lbf to 50,000 lbf, in it’s product line, developed for several type of equipments and several customers.

SUBSEA PIPELINE LIFTING TOOL

Every tool used to assist in the maintenance and repair of subsea pipelines is designed for unique set of specific conditions (subsea floor resistance, size/weight of the pipelines, and etc.).

Grupo IPB designed a solution that is able to meet a wide range of these conditions, like self adaptability to soil resistance, and pipeline diameters ranges from 4” to 30”.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:

• Maximum operating depth: 3.000 msw;
• Working range: 4” to 30” diameter pipelines;
• Maximum lifting load: 25 tons;
• Maximum pull up: 2 meters;
• Shoes have independent motions;
• Approximate weight: 4 tons.

OPERATIONAL ADVANTAGES:

• The shoes are designed to operate in different soil types and have a horizontal and vertical leveling system;
• Lifting control;
• Opening / closing control;
• Fully ROV operable;
• Supplied with spare parts and in open top special container, to facilitate maintenance;

Petrobras has qualified the project as in compliance with all required specifications.

SHOCK ABSORBER SYSTEM – “BULL NOSE”

Developed to cushion and absorb impacts and can be adapted to several usages.

Robust equipment made of a metallic body coated with special IPB rubber compound.

Completely manufactured by Grupo IPB, the “Bull Nose” shock absorber was designed and customized in our Engineering and Production departments.

The IPB’s project enhancements resulted in easier manufacturing, achievable and functional, meeting customer expectations.

With application of engineering and use of IPB special rubber compound, resistant to shocks and weather, a product that would initially be used only as a protector, may have many other uses, like shock and energy absorption, and be adapted according to the customer needs.

NEW – INNOVATIVE IPB TECHNOLOGY OF TOTALLY NON-METALLIC PRESSURE COMPENSATORS

The hydraulic volume compensator is an special application of the hydropneumatic accumulator. Its functioning is based on the large volumetric expansion capacity of the bladder and the capacity of the cylinder to withstand hydrostatic pressure and limit bladder expansion.

The big differential of the new IPB technology is that they have about 1/8 the weight of traditional compensators, high offshore environmental resistance, and is eco-friendly. They are also much simpler to install and easy to maintain.

All these unique features result in a huge operation money saving.