Application Handbook

MECHANISED AND ORBITAL TIG

XA00131620
Limitless possibilities
Boiler tubes are often
Welding two tubes of welded using AVC and
different sizes is easily carried weaving.
out using fillet welds.

Copper nickel is a sensitive

alloy and is difficult to weld Jointed tubes of varying
manually quality, such as low-alloy steel
as opposed to stainless teel.

Heavy wall thickness to a

maximum of 80 mm in low-alloy,
stainless, duplex or super-duplex
steel can be welded with ESAB’s
Narrow Gap TIG.

Quality meets quality

You can weld the tube to the
inside of a plate using an A22
inner welding torch and avoid
crevice corrosion
When welding Titanium you
can choose from our enclosed
or open heads with trailing
shoe, to provide a better gas
shield.

Our welding heads are ideal for

welding thin or thick stainless
steel tubes. The T-component welded by
upsetting the main tube is a
good and simple option

Using the A22 tube-to

tubesheet welding head, you
can weld all types of tube
geometry; flush, recessed,
extended or protruding from the
sheet.
 Halve the welding time for thick
Using the automatic weaving and
pipes with Narrow Gap welding.
arc length control (AVC), you can
The picture shows the cross-
quickly fill large seams in thick
section of a carbon steel tube.
walled tubes.

15 mm gap to the flange is

sufficient for the PRB and PRC
heads.
You should use a single U-joint
and filler wire for thicknesses of
more than 3 mm.

Precise seam preparation

guarantees a successful final result
As with all materials handling, preparation before welding plays a crucial part in the final result. The surfaces to be
welded must be completely free of oil and dirt. The seams must be thoroughly prepared technically, i.e. the type of
material and its thickness.

BUTT JOINT U-JOINT NARROW GAP JOINT

Butt welding with a square edge
can be used on material with a
maximum thickness of 3 mm.
For material thicknesses of more
than 3 mm, seam preparation is
necessary.
To ensure a good root bead we
recommend a U-joint.
If you wish to halve the welding
time on tubes with wall thick-
nesses of more than 6 mm, we
recommend a Narrow Gap joint,
which also reduces the amount of
filler metal, needed.

V-JOINT

It is possible to weld an open V-joint but there is always a greater risk of root defect. A V-joint without gap can also
be welded. However, this is not recommended because of the risk of inadequate penetration in the root.
Segment: Food, beverage and dairy

Typical applications:
• Treatment, conditioning or storing of food and mineral
water processing
• Typical material is Stainless steel 304 and 316L

Advantages / Why Orbital TIG

• Orbital TIG is well suited to meet the more and more
stringent hygiene requirements
• The indisputable choice for production of distribution
links between the different stages of food processing,
both as sterilisation lines and cooling lines.

ESAB equipment Typical heads Typical tube OD Typical thickness

• Aristo MechTig C2002i PRH, PRB, PRD 160 6.0 - 220 mm 0.8 - 2.5 mm
• MechControl 2 + Aristo MechTig 4000i PRH, PRB, PRD 160 6.0 - 220 mm 0.8 - 3.0 mm
• MechControl 4 + Aristo MechTig 4000i PRH, PRB, PRD 100 6.0 - 220 mm 0.8 - 3.0 mm
PRD 160

Segment: Chemical industry

Typical applications:
• Tube-to-tube and tube-to-fitting welding in
chemical plants.
• Pre-fabrication of components
• Typical material is Stainless steel 304 and 316L

Advantages / Why Orbital TIG

• The automatic tube welding machines weld
perfectly in confined spaces.

ESAB equipment Typical heads Typical tube OD Typical thickness

• Aristo MechTig C2002i PRB, PRD 160 50 - 1000 mm 2.0 - 2.5 mm
• MechControl 2 + Aristo MechTig 4000i PRB, PRD 160 50 - 1000 mm 2.0 - 5.0 mm
• MechControl 4 + Aristo MechTig 4000i PRB, PRC, PRD 100 50 - 1000 mm 2.0 - 5.0 mm
PRD 160
Segment: Pharmaceutical / biochemistry

Typical applications:
• Pharmaceutical products, which require strict and
regulated handling.
• Typical material is Stainless steel 304 and 316L

Advantages / Why Orbital TIG

• Quality considerations are extremely critical as these
products can be affected by cross contamination,
microbial growth, efficacy issues and external sources.
• A precision orbital welding equipment can meet these
stringent demands and the welding result can be
achieved by using closed chamber-welding heads and
providing an optimum weld head protection during
welding.

ESAB equipment Typical heads Typical tube OD Typical thickness

• Aristo MechTig C2002i PRH, PRB, PRD 160 6.0 - 220 mm 0.8 - 2.5 mm
• MechControl 2 + Aristo MechTig 4000i PRH, PRB, PRD 160 6.0 - 220 mm 0.8 - 3.0 mm
• MechControl 4 + Aristo MechTig 4000i PRH, PRB, PRD 100 6.0 - 220 mm 0.8 - 3.0 mm
PRD 160

Segment: Power generation / Boiler

Typical applications:
• Steam generators and waste heat boiler fabrication.
– Production of coiled pipes
– Welding of return bends to finned tubes
– Tube or collector welding
– High pressure preheating units
– Endless tube fabrication etc.
• Typical material is Cr-Mo, carbon steel

Advantages / Why Orbital TIG

• The use of Orbital TIG will increase the productivity
(up to 50%) compared to other methods, even under
restricted accessibility
• A constant ISO documented quality.

ESAB equipment Typical heads Typical tube OD Typical thickness

• MechControl 2 + Aristo MechTig 4000i PRB, PRD 160 25 - 1000 mm 2.5 - 5.0 mm
• MechControl 4 + Aristo MechTig 4000i PRB, PRC, PRD 100 25 - 1000 mm 2.5 - 5.0 mm
PRD 160
Segment: Shipbuilding

Typical applications:
• Cooling lines for ship motors
• Tubing systems for loading/unloading of liquid or
gaseous media to be transported in LNG tankers
• Typical material is stainless-carbon steel, Cu-Ni

Advantages / Why Orbital TIG

• The highly corrosive seawater is generally transported
in tubes of special Copper/Nickel alloys.
• High quality welding

ESAB equipment Typical heads Typical tube OD Typical thickness

• Aristo MechTig C2002i PRB, PRD 160 25-168 mm 2.0-2.5 mm
• MechControl 2 + Aristo MechTig 4000i PRB, PRD 160 25-168 mm 2.0-5 mm
• MechControl 4 + Aristo MechTig 4000i PRB, PRC, PRD100 & 160 25-168 mm 2.0-10 mm

Segment: Oil and Gas / Offshore

Typical applications:
• Welding of high nickel content alloy tube and piping.
• Pipelines transporting highly corrosive materials.
• LAY barge pipe welding of offshore pipelines.
• High-pressure oil refinery piping
• Tube fabrication
• Repair & maintenance of boilers and pressure vessels
• Typical material is Carbon steel and Duplex

Advantages / Why Orbital TIG

• High quality welding

ESAB equipment Typical heads Typical tube OD Typical thickness

• MechControl 2 + Aristo MechTig 4000i PRB, PRD 160 25 - 1000 mm 1.6 - 5 mm
• MechControl 4 + Aristo MechTig 4000i PRB, PRC, PRD 100 25 - 1000 mm 1.6 - 50 mm
PRD 160
Segment: Nuclear

Typical applications:
• Repair and maintenance
– High pressure piping repair
– Steam generator replacement
– Valve seat cladding
– Chrome-under pipe cladding etc.
• The current trend is for plants to outsource repair and
maintenance to specialist contractors
• Typical material is stainless steel 347

Advantages / Why Orbital TIG

• High quality welds

ESAB equipment Typical heads Typical tube OD Typical thickness

• MechControl 4 + Aristo MechTig 4000i PRB, PRC, PRD 100 25 - 508 mm 2.0 - 25 mm
PRD 160

Segment: Aerospace

Typical applications:
• Joints in the cramped quarters of modern flight
transports, like planes and shuttles
• Joining of Titanium and Aluminium tubes
• Automated repair of turbine components
• Typical material is Stainless steel, Titanium and
Aluminium

Advantages / Why Orbital TIG

• The risk for human lives in case of a failure of critical
applications, forces the use of precision orbital welding
tooling.

ESAB equipment Typical heads Typical tube OD Typical thickness

• Aristo MechTig C2002i PRH, PRB 6.0 - 50 mm 0.5 - 2.0 mm
• MechControl 2 + Aristo MechTig 4000i PRH, PRB 6.0 - 50 mm 0.5 - 2.0 mm
• MechControl 4 + Aristo MechTig 4000i PRH, PRB 6.0 - 50 mm 0.5 - 2.0 mm
Segment: Semiconductors

Typical applications:
• Joining of high purity tubing in the construction of
semi-conductor chip manufacturing facilities.
• Typical material is Stainless steel 304 and 316L

Advantages / Why Orbital TIG

• High demands for purity in the chip manufacturing
process.
• Specialised orbital welding systems for welding in a
clean room environment without generating
unacceptable levels of particles.

ESAB equipment Typical heads Typical tube OD Typical thickness

• Aristo MechTig C2002i PRH 6.0 - 25 mm 0.5 - 2.0 mm
• MechControl 2 + Aristo MechTig 4000i PRH 6.0 - 25 mm 0.5 - 2.0 mm
CASE STORY
Welding of heat exchangers at the chemical plant Azomures in Romania
Hastalloy C276, Tube ID-27 mm

Description
Azomures used to buy heat exchangers
and then produce by themselves. This
resulted in lots of repairs due to hot
cracking.
By investing in a Mechanised TIG
equipment from ESAB they are now
producing heat exchangers on site. They
have increased the quality and reduced the
production time!
There are mainly four different ways of
welding tube-to-tube sheets. The
application used here is where the tube is
applied at the back of the tube sheet. The
tool was made to weld internally at the back
of the 300 mm tube sheet. The internal tube Advantages
diameter is 26.7 mm and the wall thickness
• Economy: the price for new pipes and the equip-
including the backing that needed to be
ment was lower than for buying a new exchanger.
melted is 2.9 mm.
• The synchronised pulsing makes it possible to
control the heat input and minimises the risk of
heat cracks. No more repair due to hot cracking.
Contents • Improved ergonomics/accessibility. The automatic
• ESAB power source, designed for tube-to-tube tube welding machines weld perfectly in confined
joining. The whole process can be controlled with spaces. The customer can weld from the front.
this programmable power source and the programs • Better ergonomics has resulted in increased
can be stored in the internal memory. productivity.
• POC welding head fitted with PIB 20-30 internal
bore welding torch. • Increased weld quality. The same parameters are
used to achieve same quality weld time after time.
• PRB 17-49 and PRB 33-90 welding heads
(covering tube dimensions between 17-49 and 3.90 • No need for filler wire as the PIB internal bore
mm outer diameter). welding tool is used. The same set-up to be used
• MEI 21 wire feed unit. after the first weld for the balance of the welds.
CASE STORY – contribution from Derek Harvey, ESAB UK
Manufacturing of body scanners
Material: stainless steel

Description
The customer was manufacturing the scanners in
various sizes, using hand welding, but orders were
growing and production had to be made faster.
The welding on the end cap seam on the inside and
outside at both ends is critical as sensitive compo-
nents could be damaged if too much heat was applied.
One of the A25 heads is used for the root run and both
for the following fill runs.
The GMD system keep the head aligned during the
weld cycle and the cameras allowed the operator to
continuously monitor the weld and ensure that it was
on line for the capping run.
The vessels are mounted on roller bed set, and rota-
tion of the workpiece and speed is set at the power
source and kept constant during the weld, thanks to the
control system.
To prevent hold-ups waiting for a crane to turn the
vessel to allow it to be welded at both ends, the roller
beds are mounted on a turntable that will turn the job
through 180 degrees.

Advantages
• The installation has given an increase in
productivity and quality, and the customer has Contents
ordered more systems as a result. • 2 pcs ESAB power source

• 2 pcs A25 welding head with wire addition,

AVC and weave

• GMD guidance with 300 mm slides, modified to

give X, Y and Z movement

• CaB 300 to mount the heads

• Special bracket arrangement to mount the

equipment and give a third axis movement

• ESAB (PEMA) 5 ton roller beds on a special

rotating base, driven by the power source and PAL3.

• Colour camera and monitors to view the weld when

the head is at the top of the vessel.
CASE STORY – contribution by Patrik Persson, ESAB Sweden
Natural gas filling stations – Processkontroll AB, Sweden
Material: stainless steel

Description
The use of natural gas is increasing. The environmental
aspect is becoming more and more an issue and LNG is
now used as source of energy in many areas, e.g. as
fuel for cars and buses.
Within EU it has been decided that year 2020 at least
20% of all fuel for vehicles shall come from alternative
energy sources, whereof 12% shall be natural gas.
Today there are more than 50 natural gas filling stations
in Sweden, the goal is to have 100 stations by the end of
year 2007. Germany currently has about 550 LNG filling
stations.
Processkontroll AB, a Swedish company, has a long
history of building LNG tank installations. They take
responsibility for the entire project. They build the
station, which is their own design – and supply a turn-
key package.
The pipes are in stainless steel in dimensions from Ø16
mm and upwards. The pressure in the pipes in an LNG
filling station can be up to 300 bars and the gas in the
dispenser has a pressure of 230 bars.

Contents Advantages
• ESAB power source with cooling unit OCF 2M • High precision and high security when welding the
pipes together
• ESAB welding head PRH 6-76, water-cooled, for • Easy to use.
welding of tube diameters from 6 - 76 mm. • Quick service when needed.
CASE STORY
From Soldering to Welding – Orbital TIG-welding of Cunifer pipes at Finnish shipyard

Description
One material often used in a modern ship is copper
nickel alloys – traditionally considered to be rather
demanding due to thermal properties of copper.
It is difficult to get a stable weld-pool and weld without
a lack of fusion. Those problems belong to yesterday
at Kvaerner Masa-Yards (KMY) in Finland – Orbital
TIG welding was the key to improved quality and
increased productivity in welding of copper-nickel
piping.
Material thickness is less than 3.0 mm. Combined with
the customer requirements of having an easily
movable equipment, an ESAB power source with a
water-cooled welding head PRB 33-90 were chosen.
Productivity data
• The pre-programmed parameters can easily be
recalled from the memory of the power source.
• Compared with the soldering which was the
process earlier used, the threshold in making a
joint has lowered significantly. To solder a joint
took almost 30 min to complete and one could
never be quite sure of the finished quality.
• With Orbital TIG welding the arc time is
approximately 1 minute on a Ø60 mm pipe and the
quality can easily be controlled.

Advantages
• Improved weld quality and reduced work time.
• More safe – open flame when soldering inside a
Welded cunifer pipe. Diameter 60 mm and wall thickness 3.0 mm shiphull is always a safety hazard – TIG arc was
welcomed by the shipyard fire-squad.
• Easy to operate. More welders are now able to
make high quality weldments.
• The shipyard has welders from different nations –
the programming menu can be changed to different
languages just by pressing some buttons.
CASE STORY – contribution by Derek Harvey, ESAB UK
Cladding valves for the offshore market

Description Contents
The offshore market is very demanding in the cladding • ESAB power source
area and ESAB equipment was chosen due to its easy • A25 welding head with AVC, weave and wire feed
use and compactness. Quality and reliability were also • VEC motor for rotating a turntable
important, as well as accurate control over all welding • A6 manual slide for coarse position the welding
parameters. head in X and Y plains
The welding head is mounted on a small column and
boom, and the workpiece on a turntable, driven by the
VEC motor, which is controlled by the power source.
Advantages
Our customer manufactures his own hot wire system,
which is connected to the wire at the outlet nozzle. • Easy to use and compact
• Quality and reliability
A number of systems have been supplied to date and
• Accurate control over all welding parameters
are performing well in production.

A25
CASE STORY – contribution by
CASE STORY – contribution by