TPi March 2017

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business & market news
20 TUBE PRODUCTS INTERNATIONAL March 2017
Welding stainless steel
pipe elbows at the push
of a button
Orbitalum Tools GmbH has further
developed its HX 16 orbital weld head
and has extended it into a series.
At the push of a button the HX 16P
and HX 22P clamp themselves on the
pipe by means of a patented pneumatic
clamping mechanism.
Through this innovation, both handling
and comfort have been improved, and
efficiency and quality of the weld result
have been increased.
This makes it possible for the HVAC
industry to more easily change over
from traditional heat exchangers made
of copper to stainless steel, which fulfils
the regulations (to F-gases directive) up
to climate-friendly refrigerants.
Stainless steel can only be joined
particularly economically, reliably and
with high quality using tungsten inert
gas (TIG) welding in conjunction with
mechanised orbital welding.
Commonly available closed orbital weld
heads or open weld tongs are not
suitable, as their construction makes
placement between the individual pipes
impossible.
With its outer diameter
of only 60mm, a pipe
spacing of only 30mm is
sufficient for the HX 16 for
positioning and clamping
at the push of a button.
Orbitalum states that
some new users report
a six-fold increase in
productivity. This makes it
possible to accelerate the
procedure of aligning the
weld head and clamping
the head by 10 to 15
seconds per welding
cycle; around 1.5 minutes
pass per working cycle at
a pipe with 16mm outer
dimension and 0.5mm
wall thickness: clamping,
establishment of the inert
gas atmosphere, welding,
and cooling down in the
argon atmosphere, which prevents
annealing colouring of the weld seam.
With pneumatic clamping, the head
holds its position at the pipe elbow by
itself, rather than the operator having
to support/hold the weld head by hand
during the welding process.
This makes it possible for a less
experienced operator to produce welds
with up to three weld heads (systems) at
the same time per cycle.
A further benefit of the HX 16P and HX
22P orbital weld heads is the closed
welding chamber, which means that
almost no annealing colours can form
in the heat-affected zone of the weld
seam.
All welding power sources from
Orbitalum automatically recognise
the heads and their properties, so the
operator only has to call up the specified
welding program and start the process
before beginning to weld.
The HX 16P is designed for pipe outer
diameters from 15 to 16.8mm, and the
HX 22P is for 19 to 22mm.
An additional model – HX 12P, for 9.52
to 12.7mm diameters – will be launched
later this year.
Orbitalum Tools GmbH –
Germany
Photo credit: Orbitalum Tools GmbH
Photo credit: Orbitalum Tools GmbH
A pipe spacing of 30mm is sufficient for positioning and clamping of the orbital weld head
at the push of a button
The HX 16P features pneumatic clamping of the head