Hundreds of Tube Connections, Thousands of Welds: How Can Consistent Quality Be Ensured in Boiler and Heat Exchanger Manufacturing?

Depending on the size of the installation, several hundred to several thousand tubes are welded to the tubesheet in boiler and heat exchanger manufacturing.

Requirements for leak-tightness, repeatability and weld quality apply equally to every single connection.

The challenge lies in consistently maintaining defined quality standards across a large number of identical tube-to-tubesheet welds. Even minor deviations can result in additional inspections, rework or delays in production. For this reason, automated orbital welding has become an established process in boiler and heat exchanger manufacturing.

Once a welding procedure has been qualified, it can be reproducibly applied to a large number of identical connections. This supports consistent weld quality, reduces error rates and creates the foundation for the cost-effective production of high quantities.

For these applications, Orbitec offers specially developed RBK series tube-to-tubesheet weld heads. The RBK 38 S and RBK 60 S models have been specifically designed for tube-to-tubesheet welding and enable high-quality, reproducible weld joints in heat exchangers, boilers and similar equipment.
In addition, Orbitec provides all essential components from a single source – from tube preparation and orbital welding through to documentation and technical support.