TPT January 2013

53 / 108

Technology News
January 2013 51
Productivity leap
for power plant
construction
POWER plant construction in Asia is
booming. New power plants in India or
China need to meet the growing energy
demands of the aspiring economic
nations. Power plant constructors are
consequently also making provisions:
new production sites are emerging
that guarantee efficient production of
the components. One example of the
required plant technology is the world’s
largest membrane tube wall bending
machine, which has been developed
by Schwarze-Robitec specifically for
an Indian customer. It makes a vital
improvement to the efficiency of the
entire power plant construction.
Modern power plant construction
is inconceivable without the use of
membrane tube walls: before installation,
individual tubes are welded to form
larger tube walls, membrane tube walls
or even finned tube walls. After welding
the membrane tube walls, they need to
be bent according to the boiler design.
Inside the power plant block, fitters
connect the tube walls to the actual
combustion chamber of the power plant.
As a huge conduit system, the tube
walls are perfectly adapted to the shape
of the block and ensure effective heat
exchange. However, the membrane
tube walls must be bent in advance,
with millimetre precision, as Schwarze-
Robitec managing director Bert Zorn
highlighted: “Even a minimal deviation in
a bend will result in a tube wall no longer
fitting the subsequent segment.”
In light of this, the design service from
the Cologne-based bending specialist
is exceptional. The world’s largest
membrane tube wall bending machine
was developed for the Indian customer.
The plant is equipped with the latest
CNC control. It is able to bendmembrane
tube walls with widths of up to 3.6m –
the previous maximum passage width
in plant construction was three metres.
Over 25m of tube walls are accurately
fed into the machine and bending takes
place with a bending angle of up to 135°
using a modified compression bending
procedure. Unlike in a bending press,
this allows the production of high quality
bends.
One outstanding feature is the mobility
of the huge plant. It can be swivelled by
25 degrees in both directions. This allows
diagonal bending of the membrane tube
walls without the need to move the long
“wall” sideways in the production hall.
At the same time, a perfectly balanced
bending mechanism guarantees high-
precision results. “All components such
as CNC control, hydraulics, bending
tools, tensioning device and laser
alignment are perfectly aligned to each
other,” explained bending specialist Bert
Zorn.
The system secures a huge leap in
productivity for power plant construction,
as larger membrane tube walls can
be pre-finished in future. This reduces
installation effort and costs. The system
currently supplied is part of a large order
for a total of eight bending machines.
In the case of the Indian customer,
a complete production plant for tube
boilers is being created. Mr Zorn added:
“We are convinced that the combination
of bending technology, CNC control and
new passage width is of great interest to
many power plant constructors.”
Schwarze-Robitec GmbH – Germany
Email:
Website:
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