TPT November 2007

Technology Update

In order to meet Dinex’s requirement to bend larger diameter tubing of up to 150mm, the DB150 ESRB model was equipped with an electric carriage boost of 150KN and a dual boost system to allow a true boost to the tangent point of the machine’s tooling. This model also significantly reduces tube wastage and considerably improves process cycle time when bending thinner wall, larger tube diameters on tight multi-radii. The tube length is first boosted forward, via the use of the conventional boost carriage, to the point where, if progressed any further, the collet would interfere with the operation of the follower. In order to achieve further boost, and minimise waste material, the bending process is then switched seamlessly from collet boost to the company’s newly developed internal boost system. This process allows the maximum amount of material for bending to be presented by boosting right through the target point of the bending tools. An additional advantage of using this method to progress more tube through the bending dies is that traditional wear-out issues associated with the boost process are overcome. Offering 150KN of electrical boost, the internal boost system reduces the amount of tube end scrap that is generated. Auto set-up, rapid changeovers and minimal downtime in between bending enhance productivity, while the use of all- electric technology means there are no hydraulic fluid temperature variances or contaminants. The efficiency of electrical tube bending machinery was demonstrated by recent independent analysis by a customer using both hydraulic and electrically operated machinery. They compared a hydraulic 65mm diameter machine with an AddisonMckee DataBend DB 75 all-electric model by use of an amp meter with chart recorder for 3 shifts of normal continuous operation. The findings, based on 237 days at 24 hours a day, concluded that annual electricity costs of the DB 75 all-electric model would be only 18.6 per cent of the cost of using the hydraulic tube bender.

Success of heavy-wall, high-yield upset pipe straighteners Three producers of heavy-wall, high-yield strength OCTG drill pipe have chosen Bronx/ Taylor-Wilson, USA, to supply a custom designed 6.CR.9 for hot straightening plain and upset end pipe. Two machines have already been shipped, to Grant Prideco in Navasota, Texas, and to VAM Drilling in Houston, Texas. The third order is currently being manufactured by Bronx/Taylor-Wilson and will ship to Ipsco Koppel Tubulars in May 2008.

The machines are custom designed to handle 2 3 / 8 " to 8" outside diameter, with wall thicknesses up to 1.25". The design load of the machine is 160 tons per straightening pass, which allows the machine to straighten materials with a yield strength exceeding 165,000 psi. The machines have a quick opening feature implemented on all three top rolls to allow the upset end of the pipe to pass through the machine unrestricted. Designing the upset movements on top of the machine eliminates the need for any maintenance of cylinders in the base of the machine, an area typically flooded with water and scale from heat treated pipe.

› Bronx/Taylor-Wilson’s six roll straightener

The machine also implements numerous other design enhancements, such as a quick relief hydraulic circuit designed as protection in case an upset end pipe reaches a pair of rolls that are not open. The machines are fully-automatic and computer controlled, allowing seamless integration into the heat treat facility. Bronx/Taylor-Wilson – USA Fax : +1 330 244 1961 • Email : sales@btwcorp.com • Website : www.btwcorp.com

All-electric tube bending boosts efficiency at exhaust manufacturer

In its largest single order to date, AddisonMckee has provided complete exhaust solutions specialists, Dinex Group, Denmark, with over GB£1.1 million worth of tube bending machines. Dinex requested three all-electric DataBend tube bending machines as part of a substantial factory upgrade, to manufacture Euro 5-compliant exhaust components for the commercial vehicle exhaust market. In order to provide the widest possible range of tube bending capabilities, the models ordered by Dinex were a DB150 ESRB machine (150mm maximum tube diameter, E – all-electric, S – multi-stack, R – multi-radius, B – boost), a DB130 ESRB model and a smaller radius DB100 ESRB machine. Dinex also requested an upgrade for an older AddisonMckee hydraulic tube bender that had been in reliable daily service for almost twenty years, to enable it to

incorporate AddisonMckee’s latest control system. Mr Christian Rogiers, AddisonMckee’s director of global marketing, commented, “ Dinex required the capability to bend the tighter radius compound bends and complex parts that are increasingly becoming commonplace in commercial vehicle design. ”

fi AddisonMckee’s all-electric DataBend tube bending machine

AddisonMckee Inc – USA Fax : +1 513 228 7234

Email : info@addisonmckee.com Website : www.addisonmckee.com

30

N ovember /D ecember 2007