African Fusion March 2018

Welding and cutting

Orbital TIG welding from Polysoude

W hen high quality welds are re- quired, orbital TIG welding is the ideal technology for tube-to-tube or tube-to-tubesheetwelding applications. Withorwithout fillerwire, this is a stable, reliable process that can be used on a wide range of materials such as carbon steel, stainless steel, titaniumand nickel and aluminium alloys. The efficiency of this equipment is due to a precise programming facility. With Polysoude’s latest generation of power sources, such as the P4/P6, the development of a welding program is easy via the graphical user interface, guaranting high-quality automated welding. The programmed welding cycle can be repeated as often as necessary with the identical results. Moreover, modern orbital welding equipment is designed for real-timemonitoring of the key welding parameters, which can be checked and compiled into a complete weld protocol, generated and stored or produced as a printed document for guaranteed traceability. Also, the P4/P6 from Polysoude, allows the operator to find matching welding programs by using a touch- screen or personal computer. The user specifies basic information relating to the size and material of the tubes to be joined. The system consults its built-in database to find similar applications, or suggests weld parameters deter- mined by progressive calculation. The proposed welding procedure can then be optimised via an expert help menu or the Welding Assistant. Polysoude provides awide standard range of orbital welding equipment for orbital TIG/GTAWwelding, as well as au- tomated solutions integrating the latest technologies. This generally includes: a programmable power source with a remote control pendant; the welding head; and a wire feeder, should it be required by the application. Polysoude has produced a complete range of modular and adaptable open and closed welding heads and orbital welding power sources, dedicated to diverse applications, covering a wide range of diameters, wall thicknesses and workpiece geometries. The company’s orbital welding equipment is designed to meet the increasing quality requirements for materials that are often difficult toweld.

work perfectly evenwhen exposed to the harsh conditions prevalent in machine and steel construction or the production of pipelines for cranes or railway vehicles. With the TransSteel 2200, Fronius has brought its first single-phase multi-pro- cessMIG/MAG inverter power source onto the market. This makes it an all-rounder that can give customers the best weld properties for MIG/MAG aswell as TIG and MMA welding applications. The TransSteel 2200 is suitable for use in various manual applications and industries. It is primarily suited to steel construction in workshops, as well as for assembly, repair andmaintenance work. Its lowweight of just 15.5 kgmakes it ideal for mobile use, and the TransSteel 2200 also impresses with its robust housing. One huge benefit of this MIG/MAG inverter power source is the variety of characteristics available, including for aluminium and copper silicon alloys. The TransSteel also features a second gas solenoid valve that makes Polysoude is dedicated to improving the overall lifespan of customer products. As high and special alloy materials are frequently used, only automated orbital welding can guarantee the constrained and consistent heat-input that many advanced materials require in order to safeguard the base material properties. In fields such as the semi-conductor industry, biochemistry, instrumentation, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, chemical/sanitary, and aeronautics/ aerospace, fusion welds of thin-walled tubes can be made in a wide range of applications. For power plants, oil and gas facili- ties and in the chemical or petrochemi- cal industries, tube-to-tube welding applications with the addition of filler wire are often demanded and orbital TIG welding can handle the wide range of basematerials used. Boilers and heat exchangers involve significant amounts of tube-to-tubesheet welding and con- tinuously rotatingheads, withorwithout filler wire, offer high duty cycles. For very thick-walled pipes, Poly-

Polysoude provides a wide standard range of orbital welding equipment for orbital TIG/GTAW welding, as well as automated solutions integrating the latest technologies. soude alsooffers its hot-wire TIGprocess and systems. By reducing weld groove volumes viapreparationdesigns, theuse of an open-typewelding head equipped with a narrowgroove torch allows joints to be quickly filled at a lower cost. Automated TIG orbital welding of pipe components is continually increas- ing in importance. The process, as pro- vided by Polysoude, has a huge impact on quality, as it creates smooth, high quality welds at high production rates, often under demanding environmental conditions. www.polysoude.com

Efficient welding with the TransSteel 2200 W elding steel requires a robust and reliable tool; one that continues to Steel 2200 is quick and intuitive. Perfect weld seams can be created in just three steps. The power source also offers a fea-

ture that, based on the selected mains fuse protection, sustains the welding operation for as long as possible by au- tomatically and steplessly adjusting the welding current, without changing the welding result. The automated Power Factor Correction (PFC) extends the cur- rent consumption over time and ensures that the available power is efficiently used. The devices thus have a large action radius, as this PFC technology allows long mains leads to be used, enablingwelders to employ the Fronius 2200 with greater flexibility. www.fronius.com

it easy to switch from MIG/ MAG to TIG. Users also benefit from the ease of use: operation of the Trans-

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March 2018

AFRICAN FUSION