Quick Opening Closures

From the start of pipeline operations, it became apparent that cleaning and maintenance would become very important to the efficiency and lifecycle. Therefore, pigging operations were developed at an early stage. The first launchers were fitted with bolted on blind flanges that had to be removed prior to pigging operations. This was both time consuming and dangerous as no real safety mechanism was employed to prevent opening in case the pipeline was still under pressure. Hence the development of quick opening closures. This added both operating speed and -safety to pigging operations. Modern closures can be designed to many pressure vessel design codes and can be used on a variety of pressure vessels.