An oil and gas developer has taken delivery of the world’s biggest ballistic glass test cell in Scandinavia.
The 8m x 8m x 8m high-pressure test cell will be used to test offshore equipment.
Having announced the modular design earlier in 2015, UK manufacturer Boldman has seen demand from across the world for test cells that can safely contain ever larger structures, under test at increasingly extreme pressures.
The new design, manufactured from the Boldman Aluminium Profile System and patented safety glass can be bespoken to suit customer demands. It is seen as a replacement for its heavy steel predecessor both because of vastly improved visibility and because of ease of shipping and installation on-site. With 360-degree visibility, companies testing their equipment can invite their customer to view their equipment live whilst it is under test.
For the Scandinavian project the unprecedentedly large cell was required to test subsea pumps for use around the world. The cell was specified by the client to contain particularly large subsea equipment – reflecting a global trend in the offshore industry towards bigger and more complex assets as oilfields become more remote, inaccessible and inhospitable.
Nigel Clarke, CEO of Boldman commented, “Our ballistic glass and aluminium structure means that high pressure testing can be clearly and safely viewed by test engineers. Steel structures by comparison rely on cameras and have poor visibility. Our structure brings the tester in front of the cell allowing them to view the pressure testing from all angles. We have tested the impact of projectiles to the extreme and we believe our product is the future of test cells.”