What is Orbital Welding

What is Orbital Welding

What is Orbital Welding?

Welding processes are a fundamental component of industrial manufacturing processes and are widely used to join metal and other materials. Welding technologies aim to combine dissimilar metals as well as increase the durability and quality of these metals. In this context, it is a preferred method especially in areas where precise and high quality welding applications are required. orbital sourcehas become more common in the industrial field in recent years. Orbital welding is used in applications that require high purity and excellent weld quality, especially in joining pipes and pipe connections.

Orbital welding is a welding technique that allows the electrode in the welding area to move in a circular path around the welding area. This method is generally performed with automatic welding machines and is especially preferred in sensitive sectors such as pipelines, power plants, chemical industry and medical device production. Orbital welding is the name of a weld made in a 360-degree rotating motion around the welded surface.

This technique uses gas shielded welding, commonly known as tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding. During welding, a tungsten electrode is used to create a weld zone surrounded by a shielding gas (usually argon). As the welding head rotates around the pipe, it provides the heat that creates the weld pool and the pipe surfaces come together.

One of the most important advantages of this method is that the welding process can be done extremely precisely and smoothly. Additionally, orbital welding offers much higher repeatability and quality than hand welding. Therefore, it is especially preferred in industries that require high security and quality.

Application Areas of Orbital Welding

Orbital welding is used especially in sensitive and safety-critical industries. Applications in this industry have high quality, durability and safety requirements, making orbital welding an ideal method to meet these needs.

Power plants, especially nuclear power plants, require high precision welding practices. In such power plants, welding of pipelines and equipment is a process that requires high durability and safety. Orbital welding is often preferred in such applications to provide excellent weld quality. It is critical to ensure a safe welding process, especially in the joints of pipelines resistant to high temperatures. In nuclear power plants, even any risk of leakage is unacceptable. Orbital welding provides reliable and durable welds by increasing safety in such sensitive processes.

Pipelines are also of great importance in the oil and gas sector. The welding process of these pipes must be critical for sealing and durability. Orbital welding is frequently used in joining pipelines because it provides smooth and reliable welds and also minimizes the risk of leaks. Since high pressure resistant welds must be made in gas and oil transmission lines, orbital welding plays an important role in this field.

In the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, pipelines must be safe and hygienic. In such applications, any possibility of contamination or rust in the welded pipes is unacceptable. Orbital welding provides a high quality weld by using shielding gas to prevent contamination that may occur during the welding process in such environments. Additionally, it makes it possible to obtain safe and leak-proof welds for pipelines that will come into contact with chemicals.

In medical device production, especially the production of sensitive products such as implants and surgical instruments, requires extremely meticulous and high-quality resources. Orbital welding allows the welding area to be controlled with high precision in the production of these devices. The purity of the metals used in the production of medical devices and their compliance with hygiene standards are extremely important. Orbital welding is an ideal fusing technique for the production of sterilizable and safe devices.

Pipelines used in the food processing industry must comply with hygiene standards and do not pose any risk of pollution. Orbital welding ensures the smooth and hygienic joining of pipelines and equipment in food processing facilities. In the welding of pipelines used in the food industry, materials such as stainless steel must be used and these materials must be welded correctly. Orbital welding helps ensure cleanliness and hygiene in such applications.

Advantages of Orbital Welding

Orbital welding differs from traditional welding methods with many advantages. These advantages are the main reasons why orbital welding is preferred, especially in sensitive and safety-requiring applications.

One of the primary advantages is high sensitivity ve excellent quality is to present. Orbital welding allows welding to be done very precisely while the welding head rotates around the pipe. Thanks to the circular movement of the electrode, the welding process becomes homogeneous and smooth. Thanks to heat control, deformation risks in the welding area are eliminated. This ensures that the welding area is of high quality and reliability. Additionally, no oxidation or pollution occurs around the weld, because the shielding gas during the process prevents external factors from damaging the weld.

repeatabilityis another important advantage of orbital welding. Since it is an automatic process, every weld is performed with the same quality and precision. This provides a great advantage in large projects and mass production processes. Each weld is made to the same standards, making production more efficient and reliable.

Time and labor savingsis another important advantage provided by orbital welding. Orbital welding done with automatic machines is much faster than manual welding. At the same time, it minimizes the need for labor. Operations performed with automatic machines are completed more efficiently and quickly. This saves time, especially on large projects.

human error risk is one of the most important advantages of orbital welding. Since the welding process is carried out by robots and automatic machines, problems that may arise from human errors are eliminated. This is especially important in safety-critical areas.

high securityis another advantage provided by orbital welding. During the welding process, the safety of the welding area is guaranteed by ensuring accurate temperature and gas control. In operations with high pressure and hazardous gases, such safety measures are critical.

Orbital Welding Machine

Orbital welding machines can be designed in two different ways, generally portable or stationary. These machines usually consist of main components such as welding head, electrical system, shielding gas system and control panel.

The welding head holds the welding electrode and performs the welding process by making a circular movement around the pipe. The electrical system includes the power source used to power the welding head. The shielding gas system provides the gas used during orbital welding to prevent interaction with air in the welding area. The control panel is a component used to control the speed, temperature and other parameters of the welding process.

Since these machines generally work automatically, welding operations are performed with high precision and the welding process is completely kept under control. Machines are used to improve the quality of the weld, increase efficiency and prevent workmanship errors.

Techniques Used in Orbital Welding

Orbital welding is generally done using TIG welding (Tungsten Inert Gas) or MIG welding (Metal Inert Gas) methods. In these methods, the electrode rotating around the welding area melts and combines the metal by heating the area where the weld will be made. While TIG welding is preferred especially for thin metal parts, MIG welding combines thicker metal parts.