TPT January 2013

Technology News

Specialised tube bending software

IN times when tubes were manually bent on hand operated tube benders, tube bending was considered an art. The tube artists always knew about the hidden “causes of defect” because the fitting accuracy was and is still a question of interaction between the material and its variable criteria, such as temperature, weight, transportation, diameter, wall thickness etc and the references to the centreline including the coordinates of the A and B ends in relation

Result of the tube corrections for flange and tube

to the bend angle, radius and rotation, all of which end up in the tolerance envelope. TeZetCAD, the specialised tube software, is made up of sophisticated modules demanded by the continuously developing tube market. Each person uses a different measuring technique using a different number of measuring points, so that when a tube needs to be re-measured by a different person due to a shift change, holidays or illness, differences between the repeated measurements occur, especially because of the bent tube geometries and their “own life”. The measuring plan defines the number of measuring points per cylinder and per bend radius, for example for weak bend angles and/or deviations the number of measuring points may be four or six, with bend angles and deviations which are recognisable you need perhaps only two measuring points, to stay in the pre- defined tolerance envelope. Many companies work with so- called “planning process versions”. The operators pre-process the bending data for the different bending machines’ work without using measuring machines. Sometimes it would help if they could measure with a measuring machine in order to optimise the process. With TeZetCAD’s new Virtual Measurement function, themeasuringarm is replacedby the mouse. Instead of the measurement- sound to confirm the recorded xyz point,

the user hears the mouse click. The object-orientated measurement of the flanges as a geometric part is possible in TeZetCAD, because the construction department outputs the flange data in form of surface data, which they deliver with an IGES converter. The dimensions are captured by the mouse click and can be edited. The fitting of the tube in depth and diameter can be controlled for its accuracy of fit and can be corrected, as well as the screw holes. To facilitate communication, TeZet integrated Internet access into its software. On the left side of the screen the user has an icon for the Quick Support software and can connect with TeZet without having administrator or advanced user rights. The connection is automatically closed by TeZet at the end of the session. Graphical representation of the alternation of the tube and flange in relation to the original tube (above)

TeZet Technik AG – Switzerland Fax: +41 56 2492878

AGENTS REQUIRED

Email: leistritz@tezet.com Website: www.tezet.com

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J anuary 2013