Cool District Heating allows a new kind of plastic pipes

At the Cool DH demonstration site in Brunnshög, Lund a new kind of plastic pipes have been installed successfully. The new PE-RT pipes comes with benefits such as less joints and more customized design.

The PolyEthylene Raised Temperature (PE-RT) Pipes is a product constructed especially for Low Temperature District Heating. Since plastic is a flexible material that can be produced as well as delivered with lengths up to 100 meters there are multiple benefits with the PE-RT pipes compared to ordinary steel pipes. Less joint as well as less consideration to heat expansion means less excavation and construction time. Since the plastic pipe systems do not need bends for heat expansion it is easier to design, and the width of the pipe trench can be reduced.

The installation started in Brunnshög 2019 and today more than 2000 meter of RE-RT pipes lays in the ground in the area.  Also, a larger diameter of the pipe, a PE-RT 110/180 pipe, has shown to work just fine.

As predicted, the installation has also meant challenges. The pipes stiffness makes it hard to join the pipes to T-pieces and other pipes. Plastic pipes are also more sensitive to the combination of heat and pressure over time. However, the benefits outweigh the challenges, and the new kind of pipes can successfully be used in Low Temperature District Heating projects.

Picture: Contractors are rolling out PE-RT 110/180 pipes in Brunnshög, using a developed cable drum, January 2021,  photo Anders Jirdén.

Interested in more information?

This is a confidential deliverable in the COOL DH-project. However, we are more than happy to answer questions if you are interested in similar solutions. Please contact:

Anders Jirdén, Kraftringen, anders.jirden@kraftringen.se or

Anders Ottosson, Kraftringen (MRC), anders.ottosson@kraftringen.se

Peter Jorsal, Logstor, peter.jorsal@kingspan.com