AMPO POYAM VALVES R&D: Severe field tests into the sea

AMPO POYAM VALVES is currently working on the development of the most reliable offshore and subsea valves, and that is why it has performed diverse field tests into the sea in order to analyze material resistance against seawater corrosion. The main objective of this AMPO’s strategic research and development project was to evaluate the seawater corrosion and fouling resistance of different hardfacing materials used to protect internal valve components against wear and galling.

This project has been developed in collaboration with some of the most renowned technological centers and companies such as Tecnalia and consisted on the performance of some tests in two different sea locations. On the one hand, on the exposition of a wide material range for seven months in the open sea testing area Biscay Marine Energy Platform (BIMEP), which is located 1,7 km far from the basque coast. This environment presents severe corrosion conditions to materials exposed in the splash zone.

And on the other hand, we also installed a test tubes’ structure for twelve months (from august 2017 to august 2018) on Tecnalia’s floating jetty in Pasaia port, Gipuzkoa, Spain. During whole the year, diverse inspections were done in order to evaluate the project as well as the natural events such as the fouling, corrosion crevices and corrosion resistances.

At AMPO POYAM VALVES we know that only the best performance can ensure a reliable product without any degradation of corrosion, adhesion, abrasion or erosion and in this way extend the valve life. Therefore, that is why we are currently involved in this R&D project.