TPi March 2017

business & market news

Welding stainless steel pipe elbows at the push of a button

With its outer diameter of only 60mm, a pipe spacing of only 30mm is sufficient for the HX 16 for positioning and clamping at the push of a button. Orbitalum states that some new users report a six-fold increase in productivity. This makes it possible to accelerate the procedure of aligning the weld head and clamping the head by 10 to 15 seconds per welding cycle; around 1.5 minutes pass per working cycle at a pipe with 16mm outer dimension and 0.5mm wall thickness: clamping, establishment of the inert gas atmosphere, welding, and cooling down in the

Orbitalum Tools GmbH has further developed its HX 16 orbital weld head and has extended it into a series. At the push of a button the HX 16P and HX 22P clamp themselves on the pipe by means of a patented pneumatic clamping mechanism. Through this innovation, both handling and comfort have been improved, and efficiency and quality of the weld result have been increased. This makes it possible for the HVAC industry to more easily change over from traditional heat exchangers made of copper to stainless steel, which fulfils the regulations (to F-gases directive) up to climate-friendly refrigerants. Stainless steel can only be joined particularly economically, reliably and with high quality using tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding in conjunction with mechanised orbital welding. Commonly available closed orbital weld heads or open weld tongs are not suitable, as their construction makes placement between the individual pipes impossible.

Photo credit: Orbitalum Tools GmbH

The HX 16P features pneumatic clamping of the head

This makes it possible for a less experienced operator to produce welds with up to three weld heads (systems) at the same time per cycle. A further benefit of the HX 16P and HX 22P orbital weld heads is the closed welding chamber, which means that almost no annealing colours can form in the heat-affected zone of the weld seam. All welding power sources from Orbitalum automatically recognise the heads and their properties, so the operator only has to call up the specified welding program and start the process before beginning to weld. The HX 16P is designed for pipe outer diameters from 15 to 16.8mm, and the HX 22P is for 19 to 22mm. An additional model – HX 12P, for 9.52 to 12.7mm diameters – will be launched later this year. Orbitalum Tools GmbH – Germany

argon atmosphere, which prevents annealing colouring of the weld seam. With pneumatic clamping, the head holds its position at the pipe elbow by itself, rather than the operator having to support/hold the weld head by hand during the welding process.

A pipe spacing of 30mm is sufficient for positioning and clamping of the orbital weld head at the push of a button

tools@orbitalum.com www.orbitalum.com

Photo credit: Orbitalum Tools GmbH

20

TUBE PRODUCTS INTERNATIONAL March 2017

www.read-tpi.com