TIG & Plasma Welding

New Polysoude Smart Welding Station – P3 UHP – made for demanding High Purity industries

Posted on 14th February 202115th February 2021 by Stagiaire Communication

At Polysoude, we always strive to provide a concrete response to the needs of the most demanding industries. Furthermore, we are aware that our equipment is used in many different areas, some requiring more secure environments than others. This is the case in the High and Ultra High Purity (UHP) sectors, which complete technological processes under very special cleanliness conditions.

Today, these sectors are increasingly in the spotlight, because their production is becoming essential to many components in our daily lives. Examples of such sectors are the Micro- and Nanoelectronics industries, which include semiconductors, together with pharmaceuticals, renewable energies, chemicals, aerospace, etc. As they weld under extreme purity conditions, Polysoude has offered them a range of specially adapted and versatile equipment.

Our new Smart Welding Station P3 UHP is here!

Specially designed and built to meet the requirements of High Purity and Ultra High Purity environments, it can be combined with all our closed orbital welding heads: UHP-250, -500, -625, the complete MW range (with external cooler) as well as the MU IV and TS welding heads without wire welding heads.

The new P3 UHP Smart Welding Station is designed to meet the needs of challenging clean room welding with UHP welding heads. What are its advantages?

The LIGHTEST automatic welding power source on the market: our Smart Welding Stations weigh only 17kg.

Extremely COMPACT with its small dimensions (57x22x45cm), it is therefore very easy to move around, either at the factory or on-site.

Optimum CONTROL of the welding gases: adjustable mass flowmeters are fitted to all generators.

The Polysoude swmart welding station P3 is lighter than its concurrents Ultra High Purity Industry UHP

Lower dimensions than concurrents Polysoude P3 UHP Smart Welding Station Ultra High Purity

Gauge New P3 Smart Welding Station Polysooude Ultra High Purity Industry UHP

POWERFUL and ergonomic: Due to WiFi, the P3 UHP Smart Welding Station can be operated with a fast and user-friendly wireless touchscreen controller.

Extremely PRECISE: With control and programming of the welding current in 1/10 ampere steps.

For even more VERSATILITY, an external cooling unit is available as an option to connect any water-cooled welding heads.

wifi signal smart welding station UHP P3 generator weld High Purity

Current Control P3 Smart Welding Station Ultra High Purity Industry UHP Polysoude Weld Welder

Cooling Unit P3 Smart Welding Station Ultra High Purity Industry Weld Polysoude

And even more interesting features:

Empowering Industry 4.0 Connectivity with OPC UA: Already meeting the requirements of the Industry 4.0 concept already today
Barcode scanner: For automatic selection of the welding programme, improved documentation, etc
As well as: Automatic welding head detection, intuitive remote control pendant, closed-loop regulation...

Download the brochure and discover all specifications of the new P3 UHP Smart Welding Station: Download section

To find out more about the world of Ultra High Purity, see our expert article on welding in clean rooms How to weld high and ultra high purity tubing in cleanroom

Discover all our video playlist dedicated to Ultra High Purity (UHP)

Use of the TIG process in the industry

Posted on 25th September 201825th September 2018 by Maria Francheteau

Industries which apply the TIG welding process:

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry

Aircraft industry

The aircraft industry was the first to recognise the importance of orbital welding for its purposes. More than 1,500 welds are necessary to complete the high pressure system of one single plane. Manual welding of the small, thin-walled tubes is extremely difficult and the required consistent joint quality cannot be guaranteed. However, welding procedures using orbital welding have provided a solution, in which the parameter values are reliably controlled by the equipment and the final welds meet the same quality level as the qualified test welds.

Food, diary and beverage industries

The food, diary and beverage industries need tube and pipe systems meeting delicate hygienic requirements. Full penetration of the welded joints is necessary; any pit, pore, crevice, crack or undercut can become a dead spot, where the medium is trapped and pathogenic bacteria growth (Listeria etc.), could occur. Smooth surfaces everywhere inside the tubes enable successful cleaning and complete sterilisation of the system. The requisite surface quality can only be ensured if orbital TIG equipment is used to weld these critical joints. Therefore, most current standards and specifications require manufacturers of hygienic installations to apply this process.

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries

Plants in pharmaceutical industries must be equipped with pipe systems for the transport and treatment of products and for the safe supply of clean steam and injection water. For injection water and its derivatives, which are intended for injection into the human body, the purity requirements are particularly high. Any trace of corrosion cannot be tolerated, therefore welds must be corrosion resistant, especially to incidents such as the partial overheating of base material. Joints made by orbital welding meet the high standards for extended corrosion resistance. Additionally, to avoid any subsequent oxidation or corrosion, their smooth surface can be passivated.

Fabrication of semi-conductor devices

For the fabrication of semi-conductor devices, electro-polished stainless steel tubes are installed as process gas lines, mostly with an OD of 6.3 mm and a wall thickness of 0.9 mm. The ultra-pure process gas must pass through the tubes without picking up moisture, oxygen, particles or any other contaminants. The acceptance criteria for these installations are extremely stringent. Uniform welds with small weld beads are required, in order to minimise the weld surface in the tubes, allow for full penetration on the ID and ensure the absence of discoloration, etc. Only the reliability and consistency of orbital welding equipment, used by experienced operators, often even under adverse conditions on site, can enable such tasks to be successfully carried out.

Chemical industries

A considerable proportion of plant equipment for chemical industries is manufactured and installed by means of orbital welding. Chemical apparatus comprise of tubes, heat exchangers and converters, which are made of corrosion-resistant or refractory metals, or alloys of titanium, zirconium, nickel, chrome etc. as well as the whole range of different types of stainless steel. As the service life of the installations depend directly on the quality level of the welded joints, strict control and traceability of the weld process are required by customers, inspection bodies and standards authorities. For the assembly of one heat exchanger, hundreds or even thousands of faultless welds must be carried out, thus, in this area, orbital welding is invaluable in ensuring the expected results.

Fossil and nuclear power plants

For the safety of fossil fuel power stations and nuclear reactors, the whole range of orbital joining techniques are applied. Small diameter tubing must be connected, for sensing and control purposes, heat exchangers and other components are manufactured using orbital tube-to-tubesheet welding and thick-walled tubes for operation under high pressure and temperature must be assembled on site. The welding procedures and the weld quality are generally under constant surveillance by the respective authorities and external organisations. In this respect, the required complete documentation and traceability is ensured by the use of orbital equipment with its online data acquisition systems.

Principles & advantages of TIG welding

Posted on 25th September 201825th September 2018 by Maria Francheteau

A summary of the TIG process

An electric arc is maintained between the non-consumable tungsten electrode and the workpiece. The electrode supports the heat of the arc; the metal of the workpiece melts and forms the weld puddle.
The molten metal of the workpiece and the electrode must be protected against oxygen in the atmosphere; an inert gas such as argon serves as shielding gas. If the addition of filler metal becomes necessary, filler wire can be fed to the weld puddle, where it melts due to the energy delivered by the electric arc.

Advantages

1 - Nearly all metals can be joined
2 - Different kinds of steel, including stainless steel, can be welded, as well as refractory or wear-resistant nickel alloys, aluminium, copper, gold, magnesium, tantalum, titanium, zirconium, and their alloys; even brass and bronze can be welded in certain cases. If filler wire is applied, workpieces consisting of dissimilar alloys or batches can also be joined together.
3 - All welding positions are possible
4 - The process is extremely stable and reliable, consequently, the occurrence of weld defects can be reduced to less than 1%
5 - No slag or fumes are produced during welding
6 - All weld parameters can be adjusted through a wide range, independently of each other
7 - TIG welding can be carried out with or without filler wire
8 - The arc voltage, which is directly related to the arc length, together with the weld current intensity, offer a wide range of variations and can be controlled automatically.

TIG Cold Wire

TIG^er Hot Wire

TIG Hot Wire

Plasma Cold Wire