Industrial services

World class manufacturer of induction bends

Bending challenges into solutions

For over 50 years, Equans has specialised in the supply of hot bent tubes and piping for the most complex projects around the world

Their applications are varied and mainly concern gas or oil pipelines, renewable energies and large infrastructure works. The Equans workshop located in Grimbergen has developed a production process to provide high quality elbows manufactured by induction bending.

Flexibility and precision

Thousands of pipes, elbows and pipe spools (multiple elbows in different planes) leave the Equans workshop in Grimbergen every year for projects all over the world. The three induction bending machines in the workshop can produce up to 12,000 bends annually with large diameters of up to 1,600 mm and wall thicknesses of up to 150 mm for all types of steel: from carbon steel to stainless steel, smooth steel or more exotic steels such as duplex, P91 or nickel alloys.

In addition to the traditional pipeline markets, induction bending is increasingly attracting interest among engineers and architects due to the wide range of geometries it offers. For example, Equans teams in Grimbergen supply the parts required to construct the steel foundations of the high-voltage offshore substations of offshore wind farms. Induction bending therefore offers flexibility in terms of angle, radius or bending plane, but is also less subject to wall thinning and spring effect, making bending accuracy inherently better.

Fully equipped workshop

In addition to the three induction bending lines, we have a large number of welding stations, sawing and chamfering machines using the most modern technology which allows us to offer complete prefabrication of complex high-pressure piping systems. After welding or bending, a heat treatment or cooling treatment can be carried out on the bends to maintain or restore the mechanical properties of the material. For this purpose, the workshop is equipped with three large furnaces and a large water tank (quenching).

Qualified staff

Throughout the process, quality is constantly and closely monitored by Equans’ internal QC department. This begins with the arrival of the tubes and associated certificates in our workshop and ends with the issue of certificates for final shipment to the customer. Even if the current bending process is largely automated, the success of induction bending still depends largely on the operator’s expertise, an expertise that we have built over 50 years.

Whether it is tube bending or the prefabrication of complete piping systems, we are always looking for the best solution for the most complex project that meets the quality and deadlines required by our customers.