A global charity event correctly named Movember has been running for the past eight years. This is an organised event created to raise awareness and funding for prostate cancer and testicular cancer.

A group of friends started the event in Melbourne, Australia (2003). Last year boasted an incredible 447,808 moustaches bringing a grand total of 1.1million top lips sacrificed and £106million global funds raised between 2003 and 2010.

This year Oliver Valves will be joining in to help increase this number for 2011 and raise more money for these causes. The company has promised that they will match any funds that we raise, doubling our total and raising even more money for these charities.

1 in 9 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime.

This year 37,000 new cases of the disease will be diagnosed.

1 in 2 men will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.

26% of men are less likely to go the doctor compared to women.

The men (now known as Mo Bros) at Oliver Valves will be perfecting their moustaches throughout the whole of November so feel free to laugh at them, or sponsor them if your feeling generous (or both) and every penny donated will be a great help towards these causes.

There will be a prize for whoever styles the best looking moustache, an example of this being Gary White from I.T who is currently grooming the Hulk Hogan moustache. There have been many styles shouted across the workplace such as the Charlie Chaplin, Tom Selleck or my personal favourite the Poirot although great trademark moustaches. What the guys forget to realise is they will be flashing their ‘taches outside of the workplace too.

Keep an eye on our new Facebook page www.facebook.com/olivervalves where we will be uploading pictures of some of the Mo Bros modelling their Trendy new taches.

In that one second, the V-12 Rolls-Royce Merlin engine would have gone through 60 revolutions, with each of the 48 valves slamming open and closed 30 times. The 24 spark plugs have fired 720 times. Each piston has travelled a total of 60 feet in linear distance at an average speed of 41 miles per hour, with the direction of movement reversing 180 degrees after every 6 inches.

Three hundred and sixty power pulses have been transmitted to the crankshaft, making 360 sonic booms as the exhaust gas is expelled from the cylinder with a velocity exceeding the speed of sound. The water pump impeller has spun 90 revolutions, sending 4 gallons of coolant surging through the engine and radiators.

The oil pumps have forced 47 fluid ounces, roughly one-third gallon, of oil through the engine, oil cooler and oil tank, scavenging heat and lubricating the flailing machinery. The supercharger rotor has completed 348 revolutions, its rim spinning at Mach 1, forcing 4.2 pounds or 55 cubic feet of ambient air into the combustion chambers under 3 atmospheres of boost pressure. Around 9 fluid ounces of high-octane aviation fuel, 7,843 BTUs of energy has been injected into the carburettor, along with 5.3 fluid ounces of methanol/water anti-detonant injection (ADI) fluid.

Perhaps 1/8^th fluid ounce of engine oil has been either combusted or blown overboard via the crankcase breather tube. Over 1.65 million foot-pounds of work have been done, the equivalent of lifting a large car.

This great engine was fitted in the British Spitfires, Hurricanes, Mosquitoes, Halifax’s, Lancaster’s and the American P51 long range bomber escort.

OliverMerlin club

Patron: Michael R Oliver, DL & Mark Oliver
Vice Presidents: Mrs Sharon Inch & Mark Rowbottom

That’s why we want you to send in your ideas for blog posts. All you need to do is e-mail submissions@valves.co.uk with your ideas and we’ll do our best to get it posted.

While we appreciate every submission we receive, we can’t guarantee that we’ll write a post for all of them. However, all received submissions will be read and reviewed by our team.

Oliver ValveTek Ball Valve

These tests included a cycle test using Methanol as the test fluid, followed by a 1000 operation endurance test, followed finally by a 200 operation test in a hyperbaric chamber which was set to the same working depth as the subsea field.

The valve functioned with no problems throughout all the tests. Upon completion of the qualification tests, the valve was put through a normal API 6A PSL3G factory acceptance test and passed. All testing being witnessed by the client.

In addition to the extra qualification tests, since the valve body and end connectors were manufactured from 22Cr duplex material, the valve design had to be independently reviewed by Det Norse Veritas to a relatively new set of requirements called DNV-RP-F112, which was prepared to reduce the risk of hydrogen embrittlement of the duplex material when subjected to cathodic protection.

For more information about Oliver Valvetek’s subsea ball valves, click here

The fire test in progress

Oliver’s R&D department recently put a 22Cr duplex steel 8″ class 1500 trunnion mounted Twinsafe valve through a fire test programme in line with the requirements of ISO 10927-5:2004 and API 607 rev5.  Previously, Oliver have only tested a carbon steel 8″ class 1500 Twinsafe.  The requirement for the alternative material came about due to Oliver Twinsafe Valves Limited winning an order for a number of duplex valves which includes an 8″ class 1500.

The test involved making a spare valve in duplex and putting it through the rigorous test regime specified within the fire test standards.  This includes enclosing the valve in a fire environment for 30 minutes, during which time the area surrounding the valve reaches in excess of 750 degC.  At the end of the test, the valve is force cooled to ambient temperatures at which time a series of seat and body tests are performed to ensure that any leaks caused by the fire test are well within acceptable standards.  The testing was carried out using our inhouse facilities and independantly witnessed by a surveyor from Lloyds Register.  Needless to say the valve passed with no problems and a leakage rate far below the maximums permitted in the standards.

The following product groups are now available certified to ISO 10927-5:2004 and API 607 rev5:

Flanged Style Three-Piece DBB Valves
Cartridge Style One Piece Ball Valves

The ordeal is second only to the Navy S.E.A.L.S. “Grinder” training programme and will see our digital die-hards almost certainly succumbing to hypothermia as they swim through icy mud lakes, scale electrified barbed wire obstacles and run through flaming fields.

Oliver’s IT team will have to sign a ‘death warrant’ disclaimer before facing challenges with such confidence inspiring names as Stalag Escape Razor Wire, Vietcong Tunnels of Fear and the electrifying Anaconda Sting.

“We’re training already but we’re at a slight disadvantage,” said Kevin. “We’re from Cheshire, which is flat by nature so we really need to get used to competing on hills, ideally hills that are on fire.

“Gary and I are seasoned triathlon athletes so we are used to competition, although this time instead of a cycling event there is an assault course submerged beneath a rancid freezing lake. Really, it’s the probability of contracting Weil’s disease that concerns me more than the hypothermia” said Kevin.

“I’ve got a tyre from a scrap yard so I’m going to start training by dragging that behind me,” said Gary.

“But we don’t need to be able to do that for the race, do we?” said Kevin. “You should practice swimming through it.”

The third member of the Oliver Valves IT team, Tim Walton, issued a statement on Friday before leaving for a holiday in Egypt. In it Tim said simply; “I’m not doing it.”

“We have every faith in our IT department making us proud and getting through the Tough Guy challenge in one piece,” said HR Manager, Sharon Inch, “however if anybody has a strong IT background we might be inviting CVs early next year.”

Days when contenders for the World Water Speed Record were propeller-driven are long gone. Modern-era record holders have all been powered by jet engines, which are much more efficient. Quicksilver has the biggest and most powerful engine ever installed in a World Water Speed Record challenger. Its Rolls-Royce Spey Mk.101 turbofan develops 10,000 horsepower – more than a dozen Formula 1 racing cars running at full throttle.

The Spey Mk.101 engine was developed for the Buccaneer bomber – a sleek, swept-wing aircraft renowned for its scintillating low-level performance and immortalised as, “The last all-British strike aircraft”. Showing its commitment to the Spey, the Quicksilver team purchased a Buccaneer (pictured here) as part of its engine development programme.

The Buccaneer that has given its all to bring the WSR home

Selection of the Spey to power Quicksilver was a crucial design decision taken by the man who, much earlier in his career, co-designed Donald Campbell’s iconic Bluebird; Ken Norris. As Quicksilver’s chief designer, Norris felt that high-speed stability would be much enhanced if the new craft had a significantly greater length than previous water-speed contenders. The resulting larger, heavier vessel would clearly need much more thrust than a Bluebird-sized craft, if record speeds in excess of 300 mph were to be challenged.

Thus, Quicksilver has well over twice the thrust of Donald Campbell’s famous boat. Its Spey turbofan delivers 11,030 pounds (5,008 kilograms) of thrust, compared to the 4,750 pounds (2,156 kilograms) delivered by the Bristol Siddeley Orpheus turbojet in Bluebird.

The competition will see students from across the country competing in a series of races in classroom built electric go carts, culminating in the final at glorious Goodwood on October 18th.

The Oliver Valves sponsored Go Kart ready for the track

The team from Pensby have already hit upon a winning formula beating 12 other schools and colleges to take the Best Club award at the North West Science and Engineering festival at Manchester Museum of Science and Industry in July.

Judges at the Museum of Science and Industry were impressed by the engineering skills and team work displayed by the students in the construction of their competition go kart. Needless to say, the team opting to arrive at the competition by driving the kart through reception, into the lift and up into the exhibition hall must have made a winning impression.

Northwest Science and Engineering Festival Best Club Award

The next step for the college is a four hour endurance event at Aintree Race Course on 22nd September.  The race will see six team members taking turns at the wheel in an attempt to secure a place on the grid for the Goodwood final.

All the team at Oliver Valves are rooting for the Pensby Sports College Go Kart Team and we wish them the best of luck.

We’ll post a full race report soon so please remember to check back.

The Spey in the Oliver Valves-sponsored boat originally came from a Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer bomber aircraft. To work on the engine when it was installed in a Buccaneer was a relatively simple matter – you simply opened large access hatches on the underside of the aircraft and reached up.

Now, with the engine mounted low in Quicksilver’s sleek hull – where there are no low-level access hatches, for obvious reasons – the challenge has been to adapt the engine so that everything that was previously accessed from below can now be accessed from above.

The oil system, for example, has been modified so that oil can be pumped in through a new connection near the top of the engine, rather than the two standard connections (primary and emergency) at the bottom – as Quicksilver propulsion specialist Graham Pool, a Rolls-Royce veteran of nearly 40 years standing, is pictured doing here. And the oil-level indicator glass, which is sited at the bottom of the engine, can now be viewed via a miniature digital camera mounted on the end of a “wand” lowered down into the boat’s carbon-fibre bilge.

Starting the Spey in a Buccaneer involves attaching an air-line from an external turbine unit to a connection at the bottom of the engine. On Quicksilver, the air-line attaches to an easily-accessible connection situated high on the side of the trimaran craft’s port hull, and internal pipe-work carries the flow of high-pressure starter air to its destination.

The functioning of the engine itself is not effected in any way by these modifications.

For more information on the Quicksilver project and to learn how you can get involved visit the Quicksilver website.

A key part of optimising the Spey for ultra-high-speed marine use has been to remove unnecessary weight from the 1.2-ton engine. Several hundred kilograms have been pared away.

The 10,000 horsepower heart of the Quicksilver WSR attempt

Quicksilver’s Spey – a Mk.101 variant which originally powered the Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer bomber aircraft – had two hydraulic pumps which drove the aircraft’s ailerons, elevators, rudder and so forth, and facilitated fuel delivery and other functions. There was, in addition, a heavy, high-output, three-phase alternator and constant-speed hydraulic drive on the engine to generate electrical power for the aircraft.

In order to save weight, Quicksilver’s designers elected to do away with hydraulics on the boat completely, thereby allowing the hydraulic pumps to be removed from the Spey. They then developed a system which replaces the three-phase alternator and hydraulic drive with a much lighter, more compact, electrical power generation system.

Electrical power is required for Quicksilver’s control systems, which comprise two rudders, an engine throttle and a water-brake. The power generation system developed by the Quicksilver team is the subject of an upcoming blog.

Among the other modifications made to Quicksilver’s Spey engine in the interests of weight-saving are the removal of the external ducting which diverted air to flow over the Buccaneer’s flight control surfaces, and the removal of most of the anti-icing system hardware.

Oliver Valves is developing an emergency fuel shut-off valve for the Quicksilver craft. Full details will be revealed shortly.

For more information on the Quicksilver project and how you can get involved visit the official Quicksilver website.