Public Funding for Rainbow Medical Engineering Limited

The DIGIPIPEWELD project will develop a suite of solutions eliminating existing areas of concern in the joining of plastic pipes, where new pipelines often experience premature failure during the installation phase or during service. Due to this failure model, contractors are obliged to carry out destructive testing and non-destructive testing (NDT) on a percentage of operational joints on-site as a route to ensure quality management. This is very costly, typically \>£500 per joint and \> £1000/day. The disruptive element of our project will deliver for the first time an ability to simultaneously weld a joint, while testing the results against known parameters and avoiding possible failures. Furthermore, the system will be autonomous and will eliminate risk associated with human error. DIGIPIPEWELD will offer manufacturing and self-testing of pipe welds in a right-first-time package, something that has never been done before. The technology to be developed is a digitally intelligent controlled Pinweld plastic pipe welding system. The system will be designed to join polymer pipes without defects and will be coupled with sophisticated machine-learning algorithms, enabling the joints to be optimised and recorded, whatever the application and climate. The system will be developed with advanced sensing, data processing, and machine learning to achieve accurate process monitoring, autonomous quality inspection after welding, and real-time leakage detection. This would bring a level of control to plastic pipe installation never before available. Consequently, a brand-new way to join plastic pipes that is highly controllable and reproducible and produces a joint of the same physical properties of the original pipe, offering a game-changing opportunity for any plastic pipe installation. Moreover, greater speed and efficiency, lower energy consumption, plus the added ability to monitor and report, through built-in sensors, will offer installers across the range of sectors a robust, safe, and secure process.

Many engineering and structural components are made of plastic, when previously they would have been made from metals or even wood. A potentially vast and multi-sector marketplace, this is particularly true for the automotive sector, where plastics are increasingly used for panels, components and bumpers. The focused challenge we are addressing is that it is currently virtually impossible to repair cracks in most plastics without damaging them further due to the excessive heat required in existing repair processes, a view which has ultimately led the target industry to pursue the unfortunate and unsustainable methodology of 'replace not repair'. The environmental impact of this is significant, take just bumpers in the UK. Our research shows that repairing just one bumper saves in excess of 31kg C02e. This figure doesn't include disposal or downcycling of the damaged bumper, or the packaging, storage and shipping of a replacement. Our purpose is to make a positive impact on the environment and to help other countries do the same. _Repair rather replace_. Pinweld's unique solution maintains the high value of these components by quickly and discretely 'removing' almost all trace of a crack. A completely novel method of plastic welding, it has been met with great enthusiasm by automotive repairers and insurers alike. Early welds tested at the University of Bath (UoB) recorded encouraging results in excess of 90% strength. At this weld strength, our repairs do not require support materials like meshes and staples in order to be effective, a feature of environmental merit during later recycling. But the story doesn't end there. Working closely with our key partners this new weld technology can be transferred to many other sectors, helping reduce material waste, providing more secure and accurate welds especially for pipes (water, gas, oil) and manufacturing opportunities with robotics Everything Pinweld does is focused on developing this weld technology_---_ all with the eventual goal of contributing to less waste, lower emissions and increased use and reuse of plastics enabling moving away from traditional unsustainable material usage.