After gaining 25 years’ experience in designing and manufacturing measurement machines for food, carbon, paper and banknote industries, Konia has entered the petroliferous field with HTM-B and HTM-TT. These two hose testing machines can perform tests on every type of hose with a variable diameter from 4in to 24in, and even on hoses with different diameters at their ends.

They are characterised by the same qualities of Konia’s previous successful products: precision, reliability and innovation. HTM-B is a hose testing machine designed to perform static or fatigue bending tests; HTM-TT is for static or fatigue, tensile or torsional tests.

With both these products there is a high technological content, which is why they can guarantee extremely precise measurements and respect all the standards of the OCIMF 2009 normative rule.

Electric hose testing machines

When designing these two hose testing machines, from the outset Konia paid attention to several issues, including operating costs reduction, maintenance facilitation, energy saving and environmental pollution. All of this led Konia to adopt a fully electric solution combined with the use of top-quality, high-precision mechanical components.

A close-up of Konia HTM-TT’s torsional head with its lever-load cell system and geared synchronous servomotor with planetary gear units.
On the left, middle (yellow) and side (red) are Konia HTM-B's cradles. On the right, the electric cylinder Konia HTM-TT uses to perform static or fatigue tensile tests.
Konia HTM-B: a close-up of a sliding and rotating head.

In fact, HTM-B and HTM-TT are equipped with Siemens synchronous servomotors with incorporated absolute encoders. As this type of motor can work as a generator, it is possible to recover a remarkable part of the deformation energy from the hose. Absolute encoders can permit the reading of deformation values with a precision of 0.04mm.

Hose testing machine for bending tests

The HTM-B hose testing machine is designed for static or fatigue bending tests. It is fully electric, provided with Siemens synchronous servomotors with incorporated absolute encoders, a laser device to continuously check the value of the bending radius, and three cradles supporting the hose. This one is fixed onto two sliding and rotating heads.

Hose supports have been designed to not locally deform the hose’s wall. They can be manually adjusted or (optionally) automatically adjusted by remote control from Siemens PLC. The middle cradle slides on SKF low-friction linear guides and it is equipped with a Siemens geared synchronous servomotor with planetary gear units. The side cradles use SKF very low-friction life-lubricated thrust bearings.

One of the two sliding and rotating heads has a Siemens synchronous servomotor working as a master; the other one has the same device working as a slave. Both of them are also provided with load cells. As with the cradles, low-friction linear guides and very low-friction life-lubricated bearings have been used also with the heads.

Thanks to the combination of the two synchronous servomotors working as master and slave on the two heads, the HTM-B can perform static or fatigue bending tests on hoses with different diameters at their ends. The hose bending radius is continuously measured by a laser device, which is really important when performing fatigue tests.

Hose testing machine for tensile or torsional tests

The HTM-TT is designed for static or fatigue, tensile or torsional tests. It is fully electric, provided with Siemens synchronous servomotors with incorporated absolute encoders, three cradles supporting the hose and sliding on SKF low-friction linear guides, hose supports designed not to locally deform the hose’s wall. Hose supports can be manually adjusted or (optionally) automatically adjusted by remote control from Siemens PLC.

Tensile strength is supplied by an electric cylinder equipped with a load cell and a Siemens synchronous servomotor with incorporated absolute encoder. In the torsional test, twisting is performed by a Siemens geared synchronous servomotor with planetary gear units, and the rotation angle is measured by its incorporated absolute encoder. A lever with load cell measures the reaction torque of the hose.

During static or fatigue tensile tests, the electric cylinder supplies a maximum tensile strength of 75,000kg. Its encoder is able to read deformation values of 0.04mm and its load cell allows direct measurement of tensile strength. It has to be pointed out that, in this type of test, just the sliding motion of the three cradles on low-friction linear guides enables them to correctly support the hose: this is not what happens when performing static or fatigue torsional tests. In fact, in this case, the three cradles stay still but, being provided with rubber rolling tapes, what follows the twisting of the hose is just the rolling motion of the tapes themselves.

Advantages of fully electric hose testing machines

HTM-B and HTM-TT are equipped with synchronous servomotors only. These can work as generators and it is then possible to recover a remarkable part of the deformation energy from the hose. Compared to hydraulic machines, these offer an energy saving of about 80%.

Another important aspect is the absence of oil. Being fully electric, HTM-B and HTM-TT do not require a hydraulic plant or oil cooling plant, which means a great cost advantage.

Together with all the other advantages, this makes the machines more compact, free from pipes and oil hoses, and there is no need for safety containers in the event of oil leakages. HTM-B and HTM-TT are therefore suitable for every industrial environment, including offshore platforms.