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SPM (Special Purpose Machines) - Tube to Tube Welding

In this era of digitization & Industry 4.0 (the fourth industrial revolution), the optimization in process of production (in-terms of time without compromising with the quality) is the goal of every industry. Industries need to deliver products of high-quality competing with the ever growing technologically advanced markets. Adoption of technologically advanced processes for manufacturing is the need of the hour. In the field of welding, small mistakes cause huge setbacks in terms of time and finances and hence the need for welding Special Purpose Machines arises. Automated welding systems with digital control technology ensure flawless welding quality with reduced production time. Various welding processes and cutting that include MIG, TIG, SAW, Plasma cutting have been automated as per need.

We shall discuss in detail about one such automation (designed and manufactured by Advanced Power Sources(APS)). We shall discuss about the requirements, design aspects, manufacturing and testing methods of this automation.

Basic Requirements:

Size of Tubes:

  • Dia(OD): 30mm to 80mm
  • Thickness: 3mm to 8mm
    Length: 12m
  • Process of Welding: TIG welding.

Major issues faced in manual tube to tube welding process:

  1. Skill of the welder plays a major role in Tube-to-Tube welding applications. TIG welding process also requires more skill compared to other welding processes.
  2. Weld quality is of utmost importance and it is time consuming process since the heat-input should be maintained throughout the process.
  3. Manual feeding of the filler metal may result in inconsistent feeding which may lead to weld defects.

Major Issues faced during automating the tube-to-tube welding process:

  1. Non uniform shapes of pipe (not always perfectly cylindrical) – This results in misalignment of tubes.
  2. Pipes being thermally conductive may result in over-heating of the tubes which may significantly affect the weld quality.
  3. End preparations of the tubes should be perfect (bevel dimensions) for perfect welds.
  4. Require an advanced digitally controlled power source whose parameters can be controlled externally based on the inputs from the welding automation sensors. Machine should also be capable of reacting to the external changes preferably in milli seconds to maintain weld quality.
Tube to Tube Welding Automation - TIG Welding - SPM

Hardware of the machine:

  1. Power Source: Apollo 400 (400 Ampere Digital Pulse TIG Welder).
  2. Cooling unit with 50ltr tank
  3. Cold wire feeder unit.
  4. Chucks: 250mm(OD)-90mm(ID)
  5. Proximity Sensors
  6. Digital Control Panel for SPM
  7. 5HP induction Motor with Gear Box (RV63 100:1 Ratio) & Helical Reducer (3:1 Ratio).
  8. Nema 34 Stepper Motor (BH86 SH 118-6004 AK) with Stepper Drive (BH-MSD-6A).
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Features of SPM:

Auto-Adjustment of distance between the Pipes:

SPM is provided with a feature of auto-adjustment of the pipes with the help of sensor and input parameters that maintain the required distance between the pipes, significantly reducing the time required for alignment of pipes.

Sector wise parameter Adjustment - Tube to Tube welding Automation

Sector wise parameter adjustment:

Heat-input plays a major role in tube-to-tube welding and working with same parameter throughout the weld wouldn’t work. SPM is provided with features to feeds 5 different parameters (defined by the angle of the sector and current) to control and maintain weld consistency.

Note: Sector angles can be changed and overlap is also allowed.

Auto Stop

The automation has an auto-stop feature and thus stops automatically after covering the angle that is sum of the angles of all the 5 sectors (Overlap Sector may be included if required).

Weaving unit/ Welding Oscillator

Weaving of the torch is required to fill the gap between the pipes and achieve a proper weld. Hence, a digitally controlled weaving unit with parameters such as weave width, pause-time(left, right, center), weave speed is provided in this SPM.

Cold Wire Feeding Unit

Cold – Feeding Unit with features such as pulse-feeding, initial speed, retract speed etc., has been provided with SPM as wire-feeding and current settings are key for good-weld quality.

Check more Details about Cold-Wire Feeder.

Testing:

Pipe Dimensions:

OD: 38 mm

Thickness: 4.5 mm

End preparation:

Bevel Angle: About 37̊ with straight end

 

Pipe

Welding

Root Pass

Cap Pass

Conclusion:

The welding automation was successfully installed at the customer site. It has considerably reduced the cycle-time(30%) of tube to tube welding.

Weld quality test (Ultrasonic test) has been done and weld quality was observed to be good.

Designed and documented by Prit Patel(Design Engineer – APS Welding) with the guidance of Avinash Napa (Design Head and Director – APS Welding).

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