Orbital Welding

Orbital welding is basically automatic tungsten inert gas welding. This form of welding gets rid of the errors that are normally a part of manual errors. This equipment can produce hundreds of accurate welds in no time.

 

This type of welding was used first in the aerospace industry as a superior technique for joining hydraulic lines. There was a mechanism which was developed where the arc of a tungsten electrode is rotated around tubing weld joints. A control system is used to control the current and this makes the entire process an automated one. This resulted in a precise and reliable method for welding.

 

 

There are two parts to an orbital welding system like the ones used by Otto Arc Systems in California:

 

1. The power supply- This system controls and supplies all welding parameters as per the weld program which you create or the program which it recalls from its memory. This supply provides control parameters, welding current as well as the power to the motor which is located in the weld head.

 

2. Weld head- Weld heads are usually enclosed and have an inert atmosphere which surrounds the weld joint completely.

 

Now let us take a look at a few of the applications and industries where orbital welding can come in handy:

 

1. Aerospace- As you have noted earlier, aerospace was the 1st industry to embrace orbital welding. As single can sometimes have more than 1500 welds, all created with the help of orbital welding.

 

2. Boiler tubes- It isn't only boiler tube installations which benefit from orbital welding but boiler tube repairs as well. These welds can easily be used as clamps for the space between rows of tubing where manual welders would have a lot of trouble making repeat welds.

 

3. Food and beverage industry- Believe it or not, even the food and beverage requires consistent welds on all their joints. Most of these systems have schedules put in place to sterilize and clean. In order to attain maximum efficiency this tubing needs to be very smooth. Any crack, crevice, pit, etc. can make space for fluids to be trapped & start harboring bacteria.

 

4. Nuclear piping- Even nuclear power can benefit from orbital welding. You will require high quality welds but it can definitely get the job done.

 

5. Pharmaceutical industry- And lastly, various pharmaceutical processes and piping systems need to deliver excellent water for their processes to be successful. This is where orbital welding can help once again.

 

This type of welding will help ensure that there is no overheating which could negatively affect the corrosion resistance.