The Orbital Welding process is used in many industrial sectors where pipes, tubes and fittings need to be welded together. The welding equipment joins the parts to one another without the use of filler wire (autogenously). Orbital pipe and tube welding equipment is used in Semiconductor, power plants, refineries, offshore oil platforms, boiler construction, shipbuilding, pharmaceutical, dairy, breweries, and similar industries.
Orbital Welding – From the Beginning
Orbital welding first found use in the early 1960’s when the aerospace industry recognised the need for a superior joining technique for aircraft hydraulic lines.
Orbital Solution: a mechanism to rotate a welding arc from a tungsten electrode around a tube-weld joint. Regulating the weld current with a control system allowed the entire process to be automated.
The Result: A more precise, repeatable and reliable method than manual welding. Orbital welding uses the gas-tungsten-arc-welding (GTAW) process as the source of the electric that melts the base material and forms the weld.
Why Choose Orbital Welding?
- Semi-automatic Process – Circular parts, such as pipes, tubes, fittings and valves that require a consistent weld. This can be a challenging weld to accomplish manually. Orbital welding is a semiautomatic process that allows for a quality weld of rounded parts by rotating around the part while it is static. This gives consistent and repeatable results.
- Computer Control – Orbital welding can utilise a semi-automatic process controlled by a computer. The user inputs the parameters and the machine generates them. Because this method removes the human element this limits the likeliness of errors occurring.
- Compatibility – Most materials that can be welded manually can also be welded using an orbital welding system and can accommodate a range of diameters and offers multiple weld head dimensions for tight spaces.
Considerations
- The appropriate shielding gas should be chosen to prevent oxygen from contaminating the weld.
- Hydrocarbons and particulates can severely compromise the weld, so ensuring the cleanliness of the materials is paramount.
- Find a weld head that can accommodate a range of diameters for your application.
Orbital Fabrications, based in Cambridge, is a market leader in orbital welding, specialist welding, and assembly of gas and fluid handling systems. Established in 1988, Orbital Fabrications has over 30 years’ experience offering specialised orbital welding and high-tech fabrication to a variety of clients within the Semiconductor, Pharmaceutical, Aerospace, Chemical and Allied industries.
Orbital Fabrications has more to offer than just welding. As well as computerised orbital welding, micro-TIG welding and manual welding, we also offer an assembly service both within our controlled workshop environment and within our cleanroom. Our state-of-the-art facilities also boast a CNC machining facility. All our services are supported by our testing and inspection procedures.
We specialise in the design and build of point of use gas cabinets, change-over panels, and electro-mechanical control units. We also fabricate high-quality vacuum exhaust systems and have developed equipment for exhaust gas filtration prior to its release to the atmosphere.
For more information contact us today.