In addition to manufacturing bending machines for tubes with diameters up to 400mm, German company transfluid enables greater flexibility with its ‘t project’ software.
Digital solutions are required by the international shipbuilding and offshore industry for efficient planning of resources and processes. To support that, the high-tech machine manufacturer transfluid combines its bending technologies for large diameter tubes with online networking aimed at practical applications. This is the case with its ‘t project’ software which enables users to calculate the exact orientation of the flanges in advance when bending straight tubes with welded flanges.
Mobile measuring tools acquire data on-site, in order to measure template tubes accurately for example. In addition to that, transfluid offers the option of tube end-forming processes with the UMR ‘t form’ rotary tube-forming machine. For instance, it is possible to introduce flared flanges economically and subsequently bend the tube.
“Saving time and money are aspects that we make possible for this industry, when it comes to tube processing”, says Stefanie Flaeper, Director at transfluid. “Our ‘t bend’ CNC bending machine has replaced the need to weld bends onto large tubes a long time ago, as it lowers the production costs.”
In addition to that, the bending systems save up to 60% of the production time for tubes with a diameter up to 400mm. The fast set-up of the machine, at times in less than 10 minutes, also plays a crucial role. Equipped with a fully automated CNC control system, the transfluid units can process tubes with thin and thick walls made from any material, even with radii of 1.5 x tube diameter or more. These tight bending radii are achieved with unrivalled minimal thinning of the tube walls. This leads to benefits also in terms of space onboard the ship.
It is possible to achieve much simpler, cheaper tube processing when the flanges are welded onto the straight tube beforehand, because the welding process is considerably faster at that stage. With the internal connection to the CAD programs, ‘t project’ bending software can process the isometrics immediately. Flanges can be chosen from a database and integrated in the isometrics, also in terms of bending technology.
“With the directional bending of the flanged tubes, our solution is able to improve the flexibility of the manufacturing”, explains Flaeper. “The processes clearly become simpler.”
‘t project’ for mobile use on board
The tablet version of the ‘t project Draft’ software offers greater freedom for on-site practical applications. It allows the user to acquire data using a very light, portable measuring system. It is therefore possible to collect data, for instance for connector tubes, both the geometries of the process, as well as the flanges and the position of the flanges.
Time savings are particularly significant for this aspect. The process of measuring on board only requires a few minutes, even for more complex tubes with flanges. All the data is acquired digitally, documented and the data can be transferred online and be available to the technical office, as well as the bending machine. Once a tube-part has been completed, it can be measured once again to guarantee a smooth installation. This yields an additional time benefit: while tubes are processed with the measurement data that was provided, further measurements can be taken on board at the same time.
A key aspect of tube processing in the shipbuilding industry is the forming of tube ends, like the forming of flared flanges on the tubes. With the rolling UMR ‘t form’ machine it is possible to shape tubes with diameters up to 325mm. Almost tool-independent, it uses a controlled shaping cone, which can be programmed freely during the task.
Another interesting shaping option is the cylindrical expansion of tube ends, to connect two tubes. The transfluid solution to this challenge is suitable for tubes with a nominal size up to 250. The traditional practice in shipbuilding of welding with two seams on each connection sleeve for large nominal sizes is now redundant.