TPT March 2010

S traightening T echnology and E quipment

Straightening installations for the nuclear industry in Europe

BRONX/Taylor-Wilson has secured an order for two CNC computer-controlled 10-roll tube straightening machines: the new Bronx 10.CR.5 and 10.CR.3 series cross-roll tube straightening installations complete with handling and automatic process sequencing. The machines will be supplied to the customer as part of two new, fully automated finishing lines in an expansion to its tube production facility. The straightening machines and the finishing lines into which they are to be integrated are at the forefront of modern technology and automation, and said to be the most modern of its type in any tube making facility. The equipment will straighten and process Inconel tube with an outside diameter ranging from 12 to 60mm, and wall thickness up to 8mm. Designed to accommodate a particularly broad range of tubes, Bronx/ Taylor-Wilson’s 10-roll design can straighten to stringent tolerances at high speeds. Completion of the machine along with complete function testing, installation and commissioning is scheduled for late 2010.

The customer is a producer of speciality tubular products made of stainless steel and nickel alloys exclusively for nuclear power stations using pressurised water technology. This range of products covers

Bronx/Taylor-Wilson’s 10-roll straightening machine

various needs, often in small quantities, requiring the use of a wide variety of techniques. The products concerned are customised nickel alloy and stainless steel tubulars with demanding specifications and a nuclear quality follow-up. Their main characteristics are a light wall thickness and an expected life span of several decades. For this installation, the 10.CR.5machine’s capacity is a diameter range of 15 to 60mm and maximum wall thickness of 8mm, and the 10.CR.3 machine can handle diameters from 12 to 26mm, and a maximum wall thickness of 3mm. The 10-roll straightening machine

incorporates a multiple bending moment feature that provides improved straightness due to the increased number of plastic bending cycles. Bronx/Taylor-Wilson states that, from experience with the machine’s performance, it has been noted that there is an increase in the consistency of degree of straightness, particularly on badly bent and generally difficult materials, and that this is a function of the additional number of plastic cyclic deflections that occur. The leading and trailing ends of the tubes can be straightened more effectively due to the facility for additional pressure straightening. The 10-roll machines have vertical

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M arch 2010

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