TTM 07 2012 ENG

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TTM

Innovation & High Technology

TUBE TECH MACHINERY

Magazine

Number seven - March 2012 - Bi-annual publication produced by Tube Tech Machinery

Iter project The new way of energy

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eama manufactures precision metalwork with innovative joints, combining sheet metal components and tubular structures exploiting the full potential of TTM's FL 250 3D laser tube cutting system.

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n the occasion of the final inspection of the TSL 2.5-25 system intended for the Indian Railways, TTM has sent its employees and their families to an event organised close to the system to show them the result of their hard work and make them feel involved in this success.

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TTM at the core of the Tokamak Rightly or wrongly, most people believe that nuclear power is the most strategically convenient, clean and effective energy source. Angela Merkel and the Germans have said they are phasing it out; Italians have voted against it in a recent referendum; in any way, - and this is the true issue - most of the world is still investing in atomic energy. Some countries may be changing their ways, but the European Union (including Germany and Italy) is heavily funding the so-called fourth generation nuclear power.

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The ITER project, the first fusion power system of the size that can be compared to a conventional plant, is taking shape in France, in Cadarache near Nice; the aim is to demonstrate the technological and scientific feasibility of fusion as an energy source. And inside what will be the most powerful boiler ever made, inside the machine - the Tokamak - which will be the core of the entire system, where heat up to 100 million degrees, there will be a portion of Italian technology up to 100 million degrees will be generated. After months of verifications and heaps of protocols, TTM, based in Cazzago San Martino, near Brescia, won the contract.

Not a major one (€3 million), but, in any case, an important confirmation for the company in a higher to little-experienced field: laser welding. In particular, the Castellini Group company will manufacture a system with three robots to weld ten of the twenty toroidal coils inside the Tokamak. Actually, the contract may be doubled, because the Japanese (who were meant to weld the other ten) bailed out.

These coils (rendered in yellow) contain a superconductor at temperatures close to absolute zero enclosed in a steel casing. Issue number one: close to absolute zero on the inside and millions of degrees on the outside. Issue number two: the coil casings are structurally related and form the main structure of the Tokamak; therefore, the heat deflection caused by a weld must be minimised. “Consider that - explains Fiorenzo Castellini, owner of

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the Group that bears the same name, of which TTM is part - the system we are designing (every coil will have 15 km of welds) will have to weld steel with a 1 mm tolerance on 20 m workpieces that weigh 16 tons”. Therefore, we are designing a system that can electronically control every tenth of millimetre of weld and carry out self-diagnosis if the entered data is correct (and correct them where necessary).

“It is a challenge we have undertaken – says Castellini - given the experience in laser welding and in control and machine self-control systems we have gained over the years”. It is what is known as “the blind factory”, where the software communicates with and implements machines that do what they are told but that must somehow know what they are not told, and therefore be able to self-adjust them-

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selves: this is artificial intelligence.

The major criticality is the minimal tolerance

The CRPLW system was designed by TTM for the fully automated welding of the covers of the radial plates that will be the core of ITER's Tokamak. The radial plate is a part of a large inductor having a 13 m diameter, which encloses over 7 km of the superconductor cable.

The latter is protected by an austenitic stainless steel 316LN casing equipped with covers also made of stainless steel. The system performs the welds between the covers and the casing in a fully automated way by synchronising the 3 independent robots. The major criticality consists in the minimal tolerance in terms of deformations and gap variability (between 0 and 1 mm) between the covers and the body of the radial plate. This is why TTM has developed a gap mapping system based on laser triangulation, which allows for an accurate modulation of the process parameters, such as laser power and wire speed, to obtain welds without geometrical imperfections. Time sharing a 3 Kw IPG fibre source ensures great process stability, high welding speed and reduced heat input, which maintains deflections caused by welds consistent. Every weld is controlled by vision systems that allow for the visual assessment of the weld pool through Cavitar high-power pulsed laser illuminators. The system is fully automated and managed from a single control station through an HMI interface specifically designed to be userfriendly.

The system TTM is designing, consists of three robots to weld ten out of the twenty toroidal coils inside the Tokamak. Every coil will have 15 km of welds. The picture shows one of the experimental phases of the process.

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Fully exploits the potential of 3D cutting Deama provides subcontract precision metalwork services, skilfully combining sheet metal components and tubular structures all manufactured exploiting the potential of laser tube cutting systems TTM's FL 250 3D.

eama was founded in 1989 with the aim of developing a subcontract sheet metalwork project making use of state of the art machinery. All this is based on Deama's current technical and commercial manager, Raffaele Romolo's previous experience in an engineering company. That's when he sensed the great job opportunities linked to sheet metalworking. “Back then I was working as the production manager for a company that manufactured heatsink systems; everywhere I went, where there was a heatsink there were many pieces of sheet metal” recalls Mr Romolo. “That's where I got the idea to create a new company in the structural metalwork industry; however, I only managed to realise that dream after some time, once the company I used to work in became a multinational, and I no longer felt it as mine”.

Mr Romolo is a pragmatic and grounded man, accustomed to direct and transparent relationships at every level; therefore the more complicated management system of a multinational did not suit his way of working. That's when he decided to take action and realise his ideas by founding Deama, a company specialised in metalwork fabrication, which makes use of state of the art equipment and has made laser technology one of the elements of its success.

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Laser is an essential prerogative “Our first laser system gave a great boost to our business” says Romolo. “After only six months, we decided to purchase another one to meet the increasing demand and as a precaution in the event of a malfunction to the first system, which, thanks to automation, has worked 24-7 right from the beginning. That second system was shortly followed by a third, which proves how laser technology is an indispensa-

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ble tool for those who, like us, base their craft on precision. It is no coincidence that the use of laser was soon extended to the cutting of tubular elements. This led to the purchase of a dedicated system that has guaranteed new engineering options based on the use of tubes and profiles as project elements that ensure even complex, yet precise innovative structures.

“Tubes were joined by sheet metal only at a later stage to meet precise requirements of one of our clients who operated in the fitness machinery industry; that's when our first tube laser and several robotic welding stations were purchased. When the relationship with that particular client terminated, we found ourselves with this great potential we needed to exploit in order to grow”, continues Mr Romolo. “Every cloud has a silver lining, as they say. So we started looking around to find work to do and start

making profits from our significant investments and we found a whole new world that considered tubes an essential project element.

Nevertheless, the percentage of the revenue generated by sheet metalworking is still preponderant (65% for sheet metal and 35% for tubes), but I am confident that tubes will catch up”.

Open cross-section profile are no longer a problem Deama's growth was marked by another important step i.e., the construction of a larger production plant where to reorganise production and get ready to undertake new market challenges. A road that was taken during an expansion phase, which culminated in 2009, that is the worst period of the financial crisis.

Nevertheless, Deama proved to be a solid company led by people with great entrepreneurial spirit, who believed that the only way to get

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through that period was to improve their own production and organisational structure. That meant investing to modernise the machinery fleet. This led to the installation of a fully automated 5200 W flat laser cutting system equipped with dual tower store that replaced the previous three. “It's a high performance machine, which has allowed us to do what we used to, but with less people working on the laser and taking less space in the workshop” explains Mr Romolo.

diameters ranging between 15 and 324 mm and a maximum length of 12,500 mm.

“When I saw this TTM system for the first time recalls Mr Romolo - I immediately noticed its sturdiness and solidity and how it provided simplified solutions for managing the automatic loader. In other words, it was clear that it was a laser tube cutting system designed and sized to process tubes, bars and profiles of a certain size.

After having seen for myself how this machine had a superior mechanical structure compared to other systems, especially with respect to those parts that my previous experience had proven to be more exposed to wear, we were convinced that this purchase would have allowed us to do new things and differentiate the sectors we could present ourselves to, thanks to the greater size range and the new possibility to cut even open cross-section profiles”. “This machine is extremely quick and efficient – continues Romolo – since it allows quickly and easily passing from one diameter to another, thanks to the self-adjusting spindles, and all this obviously translates into greater flexibility and productivity”.

“Intelligent” productivity and discharge

“We have also decided to purchase TTM's FL 250 3D laser tube cutting system to replace the previous laser tube system that is now 11 years old. This will give new boost to the business, differentiating the service even in hitherto little considered end markets”.

The previous system could only process closed profiles with diameters up to 150 mm and a working range up to 6 m. The FL 250 3D system, on the other hand, is equipped with a 4.000 W CO2 laser source and can process tubes with

The innovative aspect of the FL 250 3D lies exactly in its 12,500 mm length working capacity.

Therefore, the machine is intended for those users that require flexibility to exploit the full potential of the system. The new loading system also simplifies the management of open and/or special cross-section profiles. The processed workpiece is housed among the four sliding self-centring grip jaws of the moving mandrel; these are structured in such a way as not to require replacing the pincers. The possibility to avoid changing the equipment is also the distinctive feature of the fixed mandrel, which consists of a solid structure where the four self-centring idle rollers are housed. Inside the mandrel there is also the suction duct connected to a system that allows removing fumes and debris from the work environment, thereby ensuring the utmost cleanliness and safety. All these types of system are extremely detailed in terms of environmental concern. The FL 250 3D loading system mimics that

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of the larger FL600 3D model: tubes are loaded through a conveyor belt system, whereas open profiles are loaded through a chain system. From three to five CNC manipulators allow loading both tubes from bundles and tubes and profiles from the chain system onto the mandrel. During the design stage, a lot of attention was paid to the management of processed workpieces, which can differ by length, size, number or type of processing. The “intelligent” discharge allows increasing the productiveness of the system and significantly reducing the time required to store the manufactured workpieces.

Project optimisation That of Deama is a story of continuity over time.

This is the result of foresighted business vision, where investments in state of the art technology has always allowed overcoming difficult periods even by differentiating the end markets to be addressed. By providing subcontract metalwork services, the company ranges from earth moving equipment to the fitness industry, from the pharmaceutical to chassis set-ups, from packaging machines to the beverage and packaging industry. Deama contributes right from the design stage of the metalwork of which it generally receives the overall project. Its technical department suggests how to obtain the best results according to the available technology, especially with respect to tube-based structures, where not all clients have grasped the new design philosophy, which, on the other hand, ensures various advantages in terms of sturdiness of the assembly and efficiency of the production cycle.

“We are developing products for frames that are particularly complicated in terms of joints and couplings, which must be absolutely perfect to allow for TIG welding, thereby reducing the production cycle. Welding without filler material allows obtaining structures with clean welds that can be sent directly to the painting station. This is a clear example of how the 3D TTM system has positively affected production and has allowed doing things that had been impossible before, making them lose important orders.

Teze is a fertile ground where ideas take seed.

They are tended with dedication and grow with care, because we believe that passion always bears good fruit.

Teze is a meeting point, where stimulation of new solutions leads to a new way of doing business. An opportunity for youngsters and their ideas.

A chance to promote discussion, contact and integration between ideas and enterprise. A human approach to the culture of doing.

Good ideas don't always find an attentive audience.

Teze wants to grow good ideas.

THE IDEA, THE COMPARISON, THE CULTURE OF DOING. www.fondazioneteze.it

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TSL 2.5-25 a success for everyone On the occasion of the final inspection of the TSL 2.5-25 system, intended for the Indian Railways to manufacture the side and roof panels of the passenger cars, TTM has invited its employees and their families to an event organised next to the system to show the result of their hard work and make them feel involved in this important success.

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eryone at the Castellini Group, of which TTM is integral part, has contributed to the creation of TSL 2.5-25, laser cutting and welding system commissioned by the Indian Railways to manufacture the side and roof panels of the new passenger cars.

Everyone has given their contribution to design or manufacture a detail of this system, which is quite complex due to its size (50 m long) but absolutely innovative because of the laser technology applied for both cutting and welding the sheet metal.

A lot of curiosity was raised to see the system work once assembled for the inspection. This is why the event was organised on the occasion of the final inspection of the TSL system, where all the group's employees and their families were invited for an informal gathering around the TSL 2.5-25 system as part of this important success for TTM and for Italian manufacturing.

Indian Railways is one of the largest railway networks in the world with over 60,000 km of railway tracks for the transport of some 18 million passengers and 2 million tons of freight every day. Over 200,000 freight wagons, 50,000 coaches and 8,000 locomotives travel through its 63,327 km network; moreover it counts 6,909 stations and over 1,400,000 employees. All this makes Indian Railways the third biggest employer in the world.

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Orthogonal edges and zero burrs TSL 2.5-25 is an innovative fully automated laser cutting and welding system for manufacturing side wall and roof panels of the passenger cars. This state of the art system was designed by TTM to meet specific needs of Indian Railways, which certifies TTM as problem solver, or rather, as the manufacturer of truly customised highly reliable and userfriendly systems.

TSL is the acronym of "Taglia Salda Lamiere" (sheet metal cutting and welding); 2.5 indicates the maximum weld length, which corresponds to the maximum width of the sheet metal that can be processed (2500 mm), whereas 25 indicates the maximum length in metres that can be manufactured using this system. These are true semi-finished parts, since this system not only allows manufacturing sheet sizes that are hardly found on the market (2.500 x 25.000 mm) but it also processes them to obtain finished car side and roof panels in their final configuration, ready with the openings for doors and win-

dows.

The XL size of the side or roof panel is obtained by trimming and welding together several sheets of variable length and 2500 mm wide, until the required length is reached.

The operating cycle is the following: once loaded, the first sheet is centred and moved into the welding area to wait for the second sheet, which is loaded, centred and moved to the same area.

Welding is performed by laser trimming the sheets, thereby ensuring perfectly orthogonal edges. Upon completing this process, the sheets are brought to the zero gap lap joint configuration, which can only be done if there are no burrs (otherwise the joint would be unusable), since laser welding occurs by fusing the two edges together. This ensures uniform mechanical properties, since no filling material is used; this allows for a geometrically invisible weld, due to the fact that the joint no longer affects the thickness of the material, which remains consistent throughout the weld. All these welding procedures have been certified by Indian

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Railways, which has subjected samples to hard tests. These include tensile strength, bend, hardness, fatigue, micrography, mechanical abrasion and corrosion tests. Once the first two sheets have been welded together, the resulting format is moved forward until the outer edge reaches the welding area where, in the meantime, the third sheet has been loaded and centred. At this point, another weld is performed and the cycle is repeated “N” times, depending on the number of sheets to be welded to create the required format. This means, for example, that to make a 24 m side panel, 12 2500 x 2000 mm sheets must be joined together performing 11 laser trimming and welding cycles.

Cutting and welding alternate The special feature of TSL 2.5-25 pertains to the fact that, every 6-8 m of welded semifinished part, the joining cycle is interrupted and alternated with a cutting session where the side panel is shaped and the door and window openings are cut. The gantry moun-

ting the trimming head, which is a true capacitive head, moves into a cutting area next to the welding area and shapes the entire side or roof panel. Upon completing this phase, the gantry returns to the welding position to add other 6-8 m of sheet to the semifinished part before starting a new shaping phase. Again, this cycle is repeated “N” times, according to the number required to obtain the final workpiece with the desired length. Prior to the new welding cycle, a second gantry running on the same rails as the first, equipped with suction grippers, col-

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lects the larger offcuts resulting from cutting out the doors and windows and stacks them on pallets. Smaller offcuts, on the other hand, such as portholes on the roof of the car, are automatically cut into smaller pieces during the cutting cycle to allow them to be discharged, evacuated and scrapped through a conveyor located under the system's bed. It is important to stress that the operating cycle of the TSL 2.5-25 is fully automated, since the cutting and welding parameters are also managed by the CNC of the system. This means that the operator only has to load the blanks, start the cycle and monitor the system operation. The TSL 2.525 ordered by Indian Railways is equipped with a 3500 W CO2 laser; however, it can be equipped with any source, including fibre optic lasers, given the minimal thickness of the parts involved. In this specific case, we are talking about stainless steel sheets 2-3 mm thick.

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nother important goal has been achieved: the ISO 9001 quality system certification and the ISO 14001 environmental system certification issued by DNV. Another one of TTM's distinctive features that have marked its road to success over the years, thereby allowing it to become a solid industrial company. TTM is aware that the only way for our companies to survive is to provide cutting edge systems, machines and solutions. This has always been our philosophy. Over the past few years, TTM has invested significant resources in research and in the application of laser welding, using various fibre or CO2 sources; this has enabled cutting various types of material with different thickness, making use of applications with or without filling material.

This technological process has drawn a lot of interest and much appreciation, thereby allowing TTM to win a major contract with ASG Superconductors for welding the plates used in the 4th generation nuclear power plant, “Fusion for Energy” (world consortium for the construction of nuclear and fusion power plants with the participation of the main countries that have funded the research), which will be built in France.

Welding will be performed by robots, using a fibre laser resonator and filling material. A sophisticated vision system managed by software monitors the welding process in real time. The House Organ also includes a study area where innovation and state of the art technology represent the core of the company.

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Tube Düsseldorf 26-30 March

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Tube Tech Machinery S.r.l.

Via Bonfadina, 33 25046 Cazzago San Martino (BS) Italy Tel. +39 030 7256311 - Fax +39 030 7256333 info@ttmlaser.com www.ttmlaser.com www.fondazioneteze.it

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