Pressure-bearing hole opening technology: A technological innovation and advanced practice in pipeline maintenance and emergency repair fields In the modern industrial network, oil and gas pipelines continuously transport energy media day and night like a lifeline. However, as the service life of the pipelines increases, problems such as corrosion and aging, as well as third-party damage, are inevitable. Traditional shutdown maintenance means large-scale power outages for users and production halts, resulting in economic losses and social impacts that are difficult to estimate. Against this backdrop, the pressure-opening technology, which emerged in the 1960s as a safe, environmentally friendly, economical, and efficient maintenance and emergency repair technology for in-service pipelines, with its increasingly advanced technological sophistication, has become the "core scalpel" for ensuring the safe operation of the energy arteries. This article will systematically analyze the advanced technological connotation of the pressure-opening technology from four dimensions: technical principles, equipment innovation, application breakthroughs, and future trends. 1. Advancement of technical principle: Intelligent design for non-stop operation The core value of the pressure-opening technology lies in its "no-stop-operation" concept - it enables the completion of interface manufacturing and branch pipeline addition while the pipeline remains in normal operation, the medium continues to flow, and the pressure is maintained stably. This seemingly counterintuitive technology demonstrates its advanced nature primarily through its ingenious principle design. The basic principle of this technology is to install special pipe fittings and clamp valves on the pressurized pipeline through welding or mechanical connection, thereby creating a completely isolated sealed cavity within the pipeline. Within this cavity, the opening equipment uses precise mechanical cutting to create the required-sized holes on the pipe wall. During the entire process, the medium inside the pipe is firmly isolated by the valves and sealing devices, and no leakage occurs at all. For complex operations involving the need to cut off pipe sections, the technology has further evolved into the "double-seal double-block" process: at both ends of the construction pipe section, holes are drilled, and blocking devices are installed. The blocking heads are used to cut off the medium in the pipeline in a back-to-back manner, while temporary bypass pipes set up at both ends maintain the continuous transportation of the medium. This design enables the entire pipeline to remain in normal operation during the construction process, achieving the engineering miracle of "surgery without stopping the heartbeat". Compared with the traditional methods of shutting down the pipeline and releasing the pressure, or using open flame operations, the pressure-bearing opening technology has multiple advantages: it does not affect normal production, effectively maintaining the pressure stability of the original pipeline; it does not require cutting off the pipeline, reducing the time for medium release and environmental pollution; the construction is time-saving and efficient, with high pressure-bearing capacity. These advantages make it an irreplaceable position in emergency repair operations in fields such as petroleum, chemical industry, and urban gas. II. Technological Innovation in Core Equipment: A Leap from Mechanism to Intelligence The advanced nature of the pressure-bearing hole opening technology ultimately depends on the equipment level. The modern pressure-bearing hole opening equipment consists of three core components: the hole opening machine, the sealing device, and the lower sealing device. They share a single frame and form a complete operation system. In recent years, this equipment system has undergone profound changes from manual to automatic and from crude to precise. The precision upgrade of the hole-making machine The drilling machine is the core equipment for performing the cutting operation. The early manual feed drilling machines not only had poor operational stability but also could only drill pipes with a diameter of less than 300 millimeters. The modern high-pressure drilling machine has achieved a revolutionary breakthrough: by adding two sets of high-pressure balancing devices, the redundancy of the drilling machine's balancing system has been enhanced. Even if one balancing system fails, it can promptly switch to the other, ensuring the high reliability of the drilling process. In response to the cutting challenges posed by high-strength pipeline steels (such as X80 steel), significant breakthroughs have been made in tool technology. By using high-strength hard alloy materials, the tool angles have been specially designed, combined with an optimized tooth structure, to ensure smooth hole opening without the need for welding expansion rings. The application of the welding process used in military armored infantry combat vehicles ensures that the tool teeth will not experience tooth loss due to welding quality, significantly improving the reliability of hole opening. In terms of the power system, the new type of hole-making machine features high output torque, wide speed adjustment range and long service life, effectively resolving the problem of difficult large-hole drilling in domestic equipment. Currently, the hole diameter can cover from 25 millimeters to 1020 millimeters, and the sealing pressure can reach up to 10 megapascals. The applicable media include petroleum, natural gas, water, ethylene, gas, aviation fuel, etc. 2. Innovation in the sealing technology of the occluder The sealing tightness directly determines the safety level of the construction project and is crucial to the success or failure of the operation. In this critical stage, technological innovation plays a particularly prominent role. The traditional lip sealing method has been abandoned, and instead, a multi-layered line sealing rubber bowl design has been adopted, which solves the problem of difficult sealing under high and low pressure conditions of the pipeline. Through fluid dynamics simulation (CFD) optimization of the sealing head and the rubber cup structure, the sealing performance has been optimized to reach the theoretical optimum. To address the risk that iron filings generated by the opening holes might scratch the rubber cup, a specially developed cleaning device was developed to push the iron filings away, avoiding damage to the rubber cup - the traditional method of cleaning the old rubber cup was unable to push the iron filings far enough, and still caused damage to the sealing rubber cup. These innovative details together form the "zero leakage" sealing guarantee. 3. Fundamental transformation of pipe component structure After the blocking operation is completed and the "plug" is inserted, the traditional process uses "locking pins" or "external clamping" structures, which are prone to leakage during subsequent operation. The new type of sealing pipe component changes the "external clamping" structure to an "internal clamping" structure. It uses a transmission mechanism to make the clamping plate extend internally and secure the position. No locking pins or locking rings are used anymore, eliminating the leakage隐患 caused by the failure of the subsequent sealing ring. This structure of the sealing pipe component has been in use for over 20 years and has never experienced a leakage problem， verifying its reliability. III. Practical Verification of Extreme Operating Conditions: The Benchmark for Technological Advancement The advanced nature of a technology is ultimately tested in actual combat situations under extreme conditions. In recent years, the successful application of the pressure-bearing opening technology in harsh environments such as high pressure, high sulfur content, and underwater has fully demonstrated its maturity and reliability. Precise operations in high-pressure and high-sulfur environments In November 2025, the Shunbei Oilfield of the Northwest Oilfield completed a highly challenging high-pressure perforation operation. The 4-2 Distribution Station in the Second Area of Shunbei is the key transportation hub of this area, responsible for the critical task of transporting oil and gas from the upstream. Routine shutdown and maintenance would directly affect the upstream oil and gas production. Facing the severe challenges of high pressure and high sulfur content environment, the construction team adopted the high-pressure perforation technology to carry out "zero shutdown" maintenance. During the operation, the special alloy drill bit made a slow penetration into the pipe wall at a speed of 10 revolutions per minute. The six screens in the control room were displaying the critical parameters such as pressure and temperature in real time. During the operation, an upstream gas source fluctuation occurred, causing the pressure curve to rise. The team quickly activated the emergency plan and precisely adjusted the bypass valve to stabilize the pressure within the safe range. After nearly 6 hours of continuous work, with the successful removal of the last arc-shaped pipe wall section, the oilfield's first high-pressure, high-sulfur, large-diameter, large-scale pressure-bearing opening operation was successfully completed.