Technical Toolboxes | Unique Pipeline Engineering Software & Industry Training | Jim Schuchart

Our experienced and dedicated team provides the fuel necessary for the continued success of Technical Toolboxes. We are pioneers who develop best-in-class technologies, verify working products and services, and contribute to pipeline industry research.

Technical Toolboxes is the leading provider of cloud and desktop-based solutions serving the entire pipeline industry: upstream, midstream, and downstream. We provide online resources and technical training for pipeline professionals around the world. Our clients and partners rely on our technology and knowledge to enhance their pipeline engineering performance.

The Pipeline Hub provides an integrated set of tools for daily safety assessment for all aspects of a pipeline lifecycle, including design, construction, operations, and integrity management. The applications it offers have been game-changers for energy personnel managing pipeline operations.

The AC PowerTool software allowed a pipeline engineer to optimize a mitigation strategy specifically to reduce the amount of material required to construct a new system extension. Using the AC PowerTool, the engineer easily ran different mitigation models with varying inputs to determine which solution provided the best option in a single day, allowing the company she worked for to lower its overall construction costs. The model also enabled the company to reduce the amount of new mitigation ribbon and equipment installed in the ground by modeling the effects of its current grounding systems, saving even more money on the project.

Ultimately, this ability to easily compare builds and run different models resulted in the company saving an additional 15% on the overall cost of the project. Although, in this case, the mitigation solution still required some ribbon, the AC PowerTool helps users determine whether such installations are necessary. In certain situations, models may provide current grounding solutions that allow pipeline companies to avoid installing zinc or copper ribbon, eliminating associated costs completely.

A pipeline company had hired a reputable engineering firm to generate a new AC mitigation design for an existing pipeline. However, the cost of the new design was higher than anticipated in the original project budget. Because it would be prohibitively expensive to hire another firm to provide a second opinion, the company owners chose to run the AC PowerTool before beginning construction. Despite the reputation of the firm, the owners of the company had been burned by overspending on a first offer in the past. They wanted to confirm the analysis and design while they could be easily corrected rather than performing costly alterations after building the pipeline. In this case, the PowerTool model affirmed the engineering firm’s design as the least expensive, simplest solution for the area for the new section of pipeline. However, had the analysis shown an alternate solution with associated cost savings, the company could have used an alternate design that was more effective at mitigating the induced AC on the pipeline or which reduced overall costs. Either way, the company was able to report that industry leading software confirmed their confidence in their design to project investors and to proceed with construction.

When applied correctly by experienced pipeline engineers or industry experts, the AC Mitigation PowerTool effectively predicts both steady state and fault conditions on pipeline sections to produce quality mitigation solutions at optimized costs. The software includes advanced reporting tools and an intuitive interface, making it easy to upload shapefiles and draw pipelines, powerlines, and section lines.

The AC PowerTool is fully integrated into Technical Toolboxes’ digital Pipeline HUB (HUBPL), which enables it to communicate with other relevant applications to provide the most advanced mitigation solutions at the quickest speeds. The HUBPL provides users access to a wide range of sophisticated software and training tools. More than just automating calculations to save time, the HUBPL platform integrates analytical tools to go beyond simple analyses to provide advanced insights into the design and fitness of pipeline infrastructure. The enhanced user experience of the HUBPL interconnected library of up-to-date engineering industry standards and integrated maps and resources makes it even easier to access and apply the AC PowerTool application to drive production.

Powerful software applications like the AC PowerTool provide an effective means of performing mitigations analyses and solutions generation in-house, dramatically increasing your capabilities and time savings. Get ahead of the competition and regulators by implementing state-of-the-art digital solutions software efficiencies. Equipped with the integrated capabilities of the Pipeline HUB and Toolbox applications like the AC Mitigation PowerTool, you will be better prepared to:

• Perform and streamline data collection and analyses
• Automate data to accelerate project timelines
• Pass audits and access database resources and history
• Prepare for and improve event response
• Store and share data
• Perform encroachment analyses

Technical Toolboxes is a leading provider of integrated desktop and cloud-based pipeline software, online resources, and specialized training for pipeline engineering professionals worldwide. They deliver oil and gas industry training courses covering a breadth of topics with industry recognized instructors. Compare the performance that Technical Toolboxes technology and training can make in pipeline engineering performance and measurable difference. Their fit-for-purpose pipeline engineering software platform will help reduce risk, lower the total cost of operations, and accelerate project schedules.