Design and manufacture of safety fuse plugs for use in the oil industry

Abstract

The safety plugs presently used in the equipment in our industries in the country are wholly imported. This research is aimed therefore at developing safety fuse plugs, using locally available materials that will  compare favourably with the imported safety fuse plugs. Minerals from various mining sites in the country and laboratory samples were collected. Beneficiation processes were carried out on the samples using  foundry equipments which included electric furnace, tongs, and crucibles. Impure and beneficiated samples were mixed at various eutectic compositions to determine the effective mix that would meet specific  temperature blowouts. A comparative test was carried out on imported and the developed samples. It was observed that there was no significant difference in the performances using the χ2 test at p = 0.05. It was also discovered that the presence of impurities also affected the composition of the alloy as reflected by the ANOVA conducted on the different samples produced.

Keywords: Safety plugs, Minerals, Crucible, Beneficiation Processes, Foundry Equipment