9/29/13 Handbook-Oxygen & Acetylene

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psi at 70
0
F (1725 kPa at 20 C) will have a pressure of 315 psi at 90
0
F (2175 kPa at 31
0
C) and a pressure of 190
Hard-
Surfacing,
Building
Fusion
Welding
Carbon
Welding
Non-Ferrous
Metals
Heating
& Heat
Treating
Braze
Welding
Welding
Cast Iron
Welding
Ferrous
Metals
Brazing
&
Soldering
Equipment
Set-Up
Operation
Equipment
For
OXY-Acet
Structure
of
Steel
Mechanical
Properties
of Metals
Oxygen
&
Acetylene
OXY-Acet
Flame
Physical
Properties
of Metals
How Steels
Are
Classified
Expansion
&
Contraction
Prep
For
Welding
OXY-Acet
Welding
& Cutting
Safety
Practices
Manual
Cutting
Oxygen
Cutting By
Machine
Appendices
Testing
&
Inspecting
18
In an oxygen cylinder there is a precise relationship between cylinder pressure and cylinder contents. A standard
oxygen cylinder that contains 244 cf at 2200 psi and 70
0
(6.5 m
3
at 15200 kPa at 20
0
C) will contain 122 cf (3.25 m
3
)
when the pressure has dropped to 1100 psi at 70
0
F (7600 kPa at 20
0
C). In the dissolved acetylene cylinder, the
relationship between pressure and remaining acetylene content is less precise. An acetylene cylinder is not
precisely half -f ull when its pressure has dropped to 125 psi (half the pressure of a f ull cylinder). If the cylinder
temperature is 70
0
F (20
0
C), the amount of acetylene remaining in the cylinder is slightly less than half the f ull
content. However, change in temperature af f ects the pressure in an acetylene cylinder at a much f aster rate than it
af f ects the pressure in an oxygen cylinder. Pressure in an oxygen cylinder will go up or down only about 4 percent
f or each 20-degree change in temperature (F) f rom 70 deg. A f ull acetylene cylinder which has a pressure of 250
psi at 50
0
F (1300 kPa at 9
0
C). You must always take temperature into account when estimating how much
acetylene the cylinder contains.
Manifolds and Piping Systems
While a great deal of oxy-acetylene welding and cutting is done using gases supplied by a single pair of cylinders,
there are many situations which require something more. We have noted that a large acetylene cylinder should not
be called upon to supply acetylene at a steady rate of more than about 60 cf h (less than 2 m
3
/hr). Yet there are
heating heads, designed f or use with standard torches, which will burn up to 250 cf h (9 m
3
/hr). While the
withdrawal rate f rom oxygen cylinders is not limited, 45 minutes of cutting 3-in. steel will exhaust the contents of a
standard oxygen cylinder. In such situations, portable cylinder manif olds, which link f rom two to f ive cylinders
together to supply a single torch, are f requently used.
Many shops have oxygen and acetylene piping systems. Most oxygen piping systems are now supplied f rom liquid
oxygen storage tanks, although permanently-mounted oxygen cylinder manif olds, to which any number of cylinders
can be attached, are still used occasionally. Acetylene piping systems may be supplied by an acetylene generator,
by a stationary cylinder manif old, or by an acetylene trailer. An acetylene trailer is essentially nothing more than a
group of large acetylene cylinders, coupled together on a trailer, which can be hooked up directly to the users
piping system.
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