Solutions for automated tube-to- tubesheet welding In tube-to-tubesheet welding, historically ‘manual welding was the only option for joining metals and alloys. GTAW (Gas Tungsten Arc Welding) or, as it is commonly referred to, TIG (Tungsten inert Gas) welding has become a well-established method. Most tube-to-tubesheet connections can be accomplished by manual welding. However, since the introduction of automatic welding, greater production opportunities have been made available to manufacturers. The development of mechanised TIG welding equipment provides for the production of large quantities of identical welds, unrivalled weld quality, and exceptional TIG process stability, allowing for the modification of weld parameters within a wide range and the almost unique feature of controlling the addition of filler metal independent of weld current intensity. Although, there is sill often a choice between manual and sutomated welding in some applications manual welding is simply not possible Polysoude is one of the companies ‘that has boon developing solutions for applications where utomated welding of tube-to-tubesheet is the only, or prefered, option, The company has designed welding tools and torches, specifically to complete single or multi-pass ‘welds in situations where the accessibility of joins is problematic Ite standard TIG torch is equipped witha non-consumable tungsten electrode, which is ented in a gas Fens and surrounded by a ceramic nozale, A continuous electrical discharge, between the electrode and the workpiece, the ‘lect at releases heat, creating a pool of molten meta “The gs lens maintains a laminar How of shielding gas to protect the hot electrode, the weld poo, andthe heated zone ofthe workpiece, from the oxygen in the atmosphere “The arcis very stable and regula no welding fumes or splatter are released from the TIG process. This standard design can be adapted, wherever necessary, to complete the various operations required in the welding of tube-to- subeshoet, In he case of air cooled heat exchangers for example, the joins are inacesible fore manual welder. Generally, in ait cooled heat exchangers a hot medium passes through the heat exchanger along a number oftabes. The tubes at both ends are connected to the walls of two rectangular boxes, hich are called headers. They are recessed ready for con- nection atthe inside of the back tube plate; the only way to access the welding of joints is theough the front plug sheet ofthe header box Using automated orbital tube welding the company’s specially adapted TIG torch or ance’, can be use for such welds, tthe inner edge of the rear tube plate. A range of distances between the front sheets and back plates of header boxes (usually upto 300 mm) ean be covered, as the scope ofthe lance, canbe reduced by ‘the use of spacers to 100 mm, where necessary Filler wie is inegrated within the body of this torch andthe torch angle has been specifclly designed for optimum, accessibility. The lance is controlled by AVC, an essential prerequisite, as this dispenses withthe need for manual sdjustment. Ee ‘Fg Orbital tube-to-tubeshet welding heads For tube-to-rubesheet applications, which require the ‘welding of thin-walled Tubesheet (up t@ thickness of 30 i), where the tube is connected at the rear, Polysoude has developed a special open orbital welding head, known asthe TIG 20/160, with a special toch, to carryout gapless ‘weld fom the fone face. This is equipped with special clamping nits, which are not centred within the ube tobe joined, but instead make use of other bores located around it For this kind of join, full penetration is required and _generaly filer wir is added. As the acces tothe weld zone is quite restricted, correct adjustment ofthe distance Detwoen the electrode and the workpiee for a proper setup ofthe welding head i again taken over by the AVC function, During the weld cyl, the operator has only Timited visual fed to wateh the proces, othe uniform arclength is ensured by the AVC system as well. A second slide is installed to mave the torch perpendicularly tothe ‘welding direction The operator can centre the electrode praczely above the joint, via remote control pendant. Dur ing the welding operation, an alternating movement of this slide canbe programed so that instead ofthe stringer bead ‘technique the torch oscillation forms a wider weld seam. If che inner diameter ofthe cubes is lrge enough ro ingroduce a TIG welding torch conaetions a the reat ‘of tubesheets with bigger wall thicknesses can be welded using Polysoude's customised tooling, to crete autogenous ‘welds or with the addition of filer wire, depending onthe pplication, 8 Fig24+ 28 Weling of header boxes Heat Exchanger World January 20211 Figs + 3b Welding head for heany wall multilayer application. A third application, in which automated weldingis the sole solution isthe welding of gapless joints at the ear of tubesheets with wall ckneses of up to 600 mm and subes with small nner diameter; this process is known as internal bore welding. Te closeness ofthe tabes prevents joining from the shell side, as there is not enough space to position even che slimmest orbital welding head Inter ral bore welding scarred out from th front face ofthe tubesheet by means ofa welding lance, which s introduced into he individual tube Very close workpiece tolerances must be adhered to, ‘the joint preparation of the tubesheet has tobe cated cout on a CNC machining centre the ends ofthe quality tubes must be cut square by means of adequate facing ‘machines, and the assembly must be expertly carried out (Only state-of the-art orbital welding equipment with * Fig. Internal bore welding excelent repeatability can be used andthe consumables, such as shielding gas and electrodes must also be of outstanding quality, For every application ofthis type, an individually designed ‘matching welding lance is required asthe small ameter ofthe tubes is insufficient to provide enough space for wie feeding. By the same token he integration of an AVC device is normally imposible as well The correct setup of ‘the welding head is vital in paticuls the correct projec sion of the electrode. The TIG torch or lance s modified to ‘ceramic sleve with a hole tallow the tiny electrode to pass though ‘More information canbe found inthe brand new hand= book “Orbital TIG welding of industrial hee exchangers ‘whichis available at woew polysoude com via the ocumen tation request frm,