TPi November 2015

products & developments

Online monitoring of narrow gap offshore

pipe welding Narrow gap offshore pipe welding is typically performed in challenging environments and with high quality requirements. The pipelaying industry’s zero tolerance for welding defaults is understandable, since even one non-compliant weld could have major ecological and economic consequences. The last 20 years have seen a significant increase in pipeline installation complexity and associated acceptance criteria. Serimax SAS is a specialist in pipe joining projects in the offshore oil and gas pipeline industry. Customer projects typically include phases such as qualifi- cation of the applied welding process, custom development of the welding equipment and on-site offshore or on-shore welding. Serimax uses orbital MIG/MAG welding to join pipes of various diameters and wall thicknesses together, and has developed its own solutions for each application. The expertise of welders is crucial for obtaining high quality welds. However, working positions can often be uncomfortable, and exposure to welding fumes must be avoided. Externax, the latest welding equipment developed by Serimax, had to integrate a very compact welding carriage; welding process remote control became mandatory.

Cavilux Welding Monitoring solutions from Cavitar Ltd, a Finnish specialist in diode laser-based illumination and monitoring systems for

Sensor unit

industrial and scientific applications, have been implemented in the Externax production environment for over a year. According to Serimax, this collaboration has been successful, with results beyond expectations. Based on these results, Serimax and Cavitar started long-term collaboration in 2014 in order to enable the utilisation of Cavilux Welding Monitoring technology in Serimax’s future orbital welding equipment. The cooperation aims to further develop visual welding monitoring to improve welders’ HSE (Health & Safety Executive) and orbital welding process control. The robust industrial welding monitoring solutions provided by Cavitar provide the welder with a clear view of the orbital MIG/MAG arc process. Since the arc brightness is greatly suppressed, exceptional image quality of the welding process can be obtained. At the same time, the monitor screen can be placed in a remote location from the radiation and process fumes. These benefits allow the welder to fully concentrate on the welding process itself in order to achieve best possible weld quality.

A sample image from the narrow gap MIG/MAG arc welding process

An additional key benefit of the monitoring system is that the entire process can be recorded in the form of high-quality videos. This data can be added to the weld quality supervisor files, improving quality control and traceability. The Cavilux Welding Monitoring solution is based on active high-power pulsed diode laser illumination at the visible wavelength. The essentially monochro- matic light of the laser enables the weld- ing process to be seen in detail, without the blinding brightness of the arc. The system consists of two sensor units, control unit, panel PC, software and flexible industrial grade cables. By having two sensor units, it is possible to see both the front and back of the welding process simultaneously. Each sensor unit contains a camera with integrated laser illumination.

Cavitar Ltd – Finland info@cavitar.com www.cavitar.com

Remote control of the Externax welding equipment is made possible by the Cavilux Welding Monitoring system

Serimax – France www.serimax.com

25

www.read-tpi.com

November 2015 Tube Products International