More than just manufacturing pipes, Techduto invests in research and development. Learn about the innovation projects the company is carrying out with support from FAPESP.
Techduto’s strong technical foundation has enabled the development of various research and innovation processes in partnership with FAPESP—the São Paulo Research Foundation, one of the country’s leading science funding agencies. This work places HDPE corrugated pipe engineering in the realm of applied research, rather than just production.
What is the FAPESP PIPE Program
PIPE (Innovative Research in Small Businesses) is a FAPESP program created in 1997 to support, with non-reimbursable funds, the execution of innovative scientific and technological research within small businesses. In other words, it funds real innovation—the kind that emerges on the factory floor and solves concrete product and process problems.
Participating in PIPE means submitting projects to the technical review of peer reviewers and meeting research goals. For the cable drainage and protection industry, this translates into more consistent, more durable, and better-specified products.
Techduto’s Research Projects
Techduto has conducted R&D projects supported by FAPESP under the following grant numbers:
- 2020/00856-6
- 2017/21708-2
- 2015/50610-5
The research focuses on the most critical aspects of corrugated pipe manufacturing: the HDPE extrusion process and quality control of the final product. Optimizing extrusion parameters—historically done by trial and error until the desired wall thickness is achieved—enables pipes with more uniform geometry, less raw material waste, and more predictable mechanical performance, supported by data tools and artificial intelligence.
More than just studies, this partnership has yielded concrete results. The projects with FAPESP have led to:
- New products for drainage and cable protection;
- New manufacturing methods and processes;
- New lines of machines developed by Techduto itself;
- New patents—formal recognition of the innovative nature of the technology created by the company.
This investment in research aligns directly with Techduto’s approach to raw materials: working with virgin, quality-controlled HDPE, without mixtures of dubious origin (such as recycled pesticide packaging), which compromise the product’s durability and safety.
Why this matters for your project
R&D is not a luxury feature: it is what ensures that the pipe delivered to the field performs as the design intended. Continuous research is reflected across the entire Techduto line:
- Techdreno and Techdreno DW drainage pipes, with consistent geometry and strength from batch to batch;
- Techduto NBR for electrical cable protection, in compliance with ABNT NBR 15715;
- The double-wall Techduto DW, for underground installations requiring high mechanical strength.
Discover the entire Techduto product line and see how applied research translates into safer and more durable solutions for your project.
FAPESP Note: The opinions, hypotheses, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of FAPESP.
