Understanding Coiled Tubing Straighteners and Their Key Applications

Understanding Coiled Tubing Straighteners

Coiled tubing is a long, continuous length of hollow steel tubing that is wound onto a large reel. It has become an indispensable tool in industries like oil and gas, allowing operators to access and service oil wells without having to dismantle the wellhead. However, one challenge with using coiled tubing is that it can become bent or deformed after being stored on the reel for transport.

This is where coiled tubing straighteners come in. As the name suggests, coiled tubing straighteners are devices designed specifically to remove bends and deformities in coiled tubing, ensuring it is straight before being inserted into a wellbore. Having straight tubing is crucial for allowing tools and measurement instruments to be accurately guided downhole.

How Do Coiled Tubing Straighteners Work?

Coiled tubing straighteners utilize an array of roller dies to incrementally bend the tubing in the opposite direction of its natural curve. As the tubing passes through the straightening machine, each set of dies applies a slight counterbend until the tubing emerges straight on the other side.

High quality straighteners like the Mueller-Kueps model use 16 hardened ball bearing rollers. The rollers are CNC machined to ultra-precise tolerances, ensuring smooth and consistent shaping of the tubing. The heavy-duty bearing housing ensures perfect roller alignment under extreme pressure loads.

State-of-the-art straighteners are also equipped with hydraulic power systems. The hydraulic cylinders allow the roller housing to be adjusted, accommodating different tubing diameters. Operators can dial in just the right straightening pressure for the tubing size to prevent damage to the tubing walls.

Key Features and Benefits

Some of the standout features that enable top-tier coiled tubing straighteners to do their job effectively include:

• Hardened rollers - Hardness over 60 HRC gives exceptional durability and prevents damage to the tubing exterior
• Low-friction ball bearings - Ensure smooth adjustment of roller housing, preventing chatter marks or flat spots on the straightened tubing
• All steel construction - Heavy gauge steel withstands high straightening loads without flexing or deforming
• Hydraulic cylinders - Allow controlled adjustment to dial in optimal straightening pressure for each tubing size
• Removable side covers - Provide quick access for roller maintenance and replacement when needed

This precise engineering is what enables the latest coiled tubing straighteners to process tubing incredibly quickly while still being gentle enough not to compromise the tubing integrity. Operators also rely on straighteners to deliver 100% straightness without damaging tube ends, allowing immediate connection to injection headworks or piping manifolds.

Applications of Coiled Tubing Straighteners

Coiled tubing has become popular across a diverse range of industrial applications thanks to its flexibility, strength, and accessibility advantages. Some of the leading applications taking advantage coiled tubing straightening technology include:

Oil and Gas Production

The ability to run continuous lengths of tubing into and out of live oil wells without needing to stop production makes coiled tubing indispensible for servicing wells. Common applications include shooting nitrogen or chemicals for improved recovery, cleaning out debris, milling through obstructions, or logging reservoir conditions.

Pipeline Pigging

Pipelines have inspection gauges called "pigs" run through them to clean wax, scale buildup, and debris. Coiled tubing provides an easy way to insert and retrieve pigs without needing to de-couple pipe sections. Keeping the coiled tubing perfectly straight is critical for smoothly guiding the pig along the pipeline route.

Underground Boring

Straight sections of tubing can be attached to Underground Boring Machines (UBM). The UBM then drills a perfectly straight tunnel underneath roads, railways lines or other obstacles to run utilities through without trenching or excavating from the surface.

Having a dead-straight tube is essential for keeping the boring machine tracking accurately. The Mueller-Kueps straightener with its robust bearing design is ideal for conditioning tubing to feed through to UBM heads.

Choosing the Best Coiled Tubing Straightener

With the right straightening machine, fabricators and field technicians can process coiled tubing exceptionally fast while still achieving a blemish-free straightened tube. When evaluating your options, key factors to consider include:

• Roller precision and durability - The quality of the rollers ultimately determines straightness consistency and tubing surface condition
• Heavy-duty housing - The frame must maintain perfect roller alignment even under severe pressure loads
• Flexible hydraulic pressure - Ensure pressure cylinders have capacity to handle light-wall tubing as well large-diameter heavy pipe
• Easy maintenance access - Ability to quickly change rollers minimizes downtime
• Manufacturer reputation - Proven history delivering durable and reliable straightening solutions

With over 50 years supplying straightening equipment to demanding industries globally, Mueller-Kueps sets the standard for excellence in coiled tubing straightener performance and reliability.

Engineered using the finest materials and components backed by responsive customer service, Mueller-Kueps straighteners consistently help operators improve productivity and lower operating costs associated with straightened coiled tubing.

FAQs

What tube materials can be straightened?

Quality straighteners like the Mueller-Kueps model can handle steel tubing and pipe, stainless steel, aluminum, copper, and even plastic. The key is ensuring the machine capacity and roller hardness match the strength of the tubing material.

What tubing sizes are compatible?

Coiled tubing straighteners are available covering a wide range of tubing diameters from 1/4 inch all the way up to 5 inches. Larger heavy-wall pipe may require a more robust machine with greater straightening force.

How fast can tubing be straightened?

The latest CNC machined roller straighteners can process tubing extremely quickly - up to 15 feet per second. Speed must be balanced with straightening quality to avoid surface marking.

What maintenance is required?

Other than occasional roller changes as they wear, Mueller-Kueps straighteners are designed for maintenance-free operation. Easy access covers allow quick roller changes right on site to minimize downtime.