TPT March 2011

T echnology U pdate

TRANSFLUID Maschinenbau GmbH has developed and manufactured a tube bending machine that allows the fully automatic bending of highly alloyed steel tubes up to 300mm external diameter and with wall thickness up to 30mm. This solution was requested for pipes in the USA. In Houston, Texas it will be used for manufacturing pipes for offshore, shipbuilding and for the chemical industry. For its trip to the USA, the 80-tonne, 12m-long and 3m-wide colossus was disassembled in several segments. “Out of our knowledge a cold tube bending machine of this size and in particular this TCT saw blade for flying saws THE new TCT saw blade from SW Wil is made to cut any steel tube on a flying saw with high performance. A further benefit is that the blade can also cut tubes in a large number when the tube has an ID weld bead. When the steel tube is made

wall thickness was never built worldwide. This makes this project with a whole volume of more than US$1mn unique in the area of the international tube bending technology,” commented Ludger Bludau, managing director and founder of transfluid. Within six weeks the German company realised the special bending machine according to customer requirements. Impressive forces are at work with the cold bending of the pipes up to 300mm in diameter. “A hydraulic drive generates for this a torque of several million Newton metres,” explained Benedikt Hümmler, managing director of transfluid. An effective out of a very high material strength, the weld bead can easily destroy the TCT saw blade, often after only a few cuts. Following a fundamental analysis of this problem, SW Wil engineers developed a completely new TCT circular saw blade. Two aspects were at the forefront of the development: minimising the risk of fracture; and high life time. Thanks to the newly developed geometry of the base blade – with higher nose – the risk of fractures could be reduced by several scales. Practical tests showed that the weld bead is not cut in one time, but in several successive steps. To fulfil the demand for a long life, the SW Wil technicians

in cooperation with a Swiss hard metal producer developed a new kind of hard metal that offers an especially high bending fracture strength. Long-term practical tests with the SwissCut TN proved that the new TCT- circular saw blade from SW-Wil fulfils the high requirements. Standard range is from 350 to 690mm OD, and other sizes can be made upon request. SW Wil Werkzeug-und Maschinenhandel AG – Switzerland

Email: swwil@sw-wil.com Website: www.sw-wil.com

Bending machine for pipes up to 300mm CNC control that makes the fully automatic bending of tubes possible provides for optimum and efficient manufacturing processes.

transfluid has placed special value on an economic solution with the special change system of the bending tools. For the unusual tool dimensions, up to 2m diameter and 5 tonnes each, the tool changing time is less than 30 minutes. transfluid Maschinenbau GmbH – Germany

Email: info@transfluid.de Website: www.transfluid.de

With the special transfluid tool changing system, large tooling can be changed rapidly

Cold tube bending machine DB 60273-3A-CNC

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M arch 2011

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