Orbital welding heads from Orbitalum for thin stainless steel tubes

With the orbital welding heads of the HX series, pipe bends, e.g. in heat exchanger construction, can be connected very efficiently and safely with stainless steel tubes. Orbitalum is expanding its series with the HX 12P especially for very compact finned heat exchangers, where pipe diameters of 9.5 mm to 13.3 mm are used.

 

The welding of pipe bends in the construction of heat exchangers is a tedious matter when welding by hand. In addition, it cannot be guaranteed in the long run that the welder will achieve a consistently high quality and thus a tightness of all pipe bends. Expensive rework and high rejects are the result.

 

Welding times under 30 s per tube

The globally unique HX orbital welding heads from Orbitalum with their automated welding technology are the solution for efficient and high-quality production. Pre-assembled pipe bends, even in tight pipe bundles, can be welded quickly and reliably. Thin-walled stainless steel tubes with a wall thickness of 0.5 mm to 0.8 mm can be machined. Compared to manual work, the preparation time is reduced by a good 50%. The welding time only takes around 30 seconds per tube.This allows up to 250 welds per head and shift.

 

Heat exchangers with tube spacing less than 40 mm

With the HX 12P, stainless steel pipes can be welded economically and with high quality using the TIG process. While conventional heads or pliers require a lot of space between the tubes for positioning, the slim HX heads enable the construction of very compact heat exchangers with a high tube density and thus a high degree of efficiency. Distance between pipes of less than 40 mm can be achieved.

Handling is also easy: the HX head is unfolded, placed around the pipe and pneumatically self-retaining at the push of a button. A stop with coarse and fine adjustment helps with safe positioning on the pipe. After the start-up process, the water-cooled head floods with argon gas and the welding is carried out automatically with consistently high quality. The Orbitalum system ensures a clean weld-through without any shoulders, gaps or burrs inside the pipe. Clamping and the start are made using a button on the welding head.

 

Best welding results even with trained personnel

The Orbitalum welding power sources automatically recognize the connected HX head with its specified parameters, so that the operator only has to call up the corresponding welding program and start the process before starting welding. Working with the Orbitalum system is so easy and reliable that even semi-skilled operators can achieve the best welding results.

Practice shows that the Orbitalum system can reduce rejects from 4% to less than 0.7%. Another advantage: one operator can work with several welding heads at the same time, which significantly increases production efficiency. The closed welding chamber and the constant process also mean that no tarnishing occurs, so that expensive reworking such as pickling or passivation can usually be dispensed with.

 

Compact design means easy handling

In contrast to open welding guns, all connections for electricity, gas and cooling water are integrated in the HX head. For easy handling, the Orbitalum heads are connected to the welding power source with a 7.5 m long, flexible hose. The HX 12P also scores with its straight design, which allows the head to be turned slightly on the heat exchanger. The entire unit can be hung on a balancer to relieve the operator.

In addition to the new HX 12P, the Orbitalum series includes the HX 16P for pipe diameters 15.0 ... 16.8 mm and the HX 22P for 18.0 ... 22.0 mm.