For centuries, pipes have been manufactured in short (20-30 ft long) segments and trucked to the jobsite where they are assembled to create a long pipeline. This technique is inefficient as the pipes tend to leak at the joints and there is significant cost associated with delivering voluminous pipe segments. Furthermore, pipes made with steel or concrete corrode and have a short service life. The game-changing technique we are proposing would led into an onsite-manufactured continuous pipe. Our goal is to develop a compact Mobile Manufacturing Unit (MMU) that can be shipped to any remote site in a container. Raw materials in the form of rolls of fabric and buckets of epoxy resin will also be shipped to the site. The MMU will wrap the resin-saturated fabrics around a heated mandrel and within a few minutes the resin will cure, producing a finished segment of the pipe. The finished pipe will be moved off the mandrel, leaving a small piece of it on the mandrel whereby the wrapping and curing will continue. This process will continue for as long as needed and as the MMU travels along the road (or trench), a continuous joint-free pipe will come out of the truck! A video of this technology is available here: www.goo.gl/2KAzuDThe pipe will not only benefit agriculture, water and sewer projects, but could potentially have significant use in the mining, and oil and gas industries.
