Will Dalrymple

Nitrogen generators buoyed up by surge of fibre laser profilers

News
1 min read

The increase in popularity of fibre lasers in the UK market has resulted in a boom in business for MSS Nitrogen’s Nitrocube Fiber nitrogen generators. In the first five months of 2015 the company has sold 15 systems, 11 of which were for fibre lasers, generating over £1.1 million in sales.

That new machine, the Nitrocube Fiber, is claimed to be able to deliver 50% higher flow rates using 30% less power than other systems thanks to improved air to nitrogen ratios and a smaller, more efficient high pressure booster.

First developed in 2004, MSS Nitrogen's generators take compressed air in and high purity nitrogen comes out. The equipment is installed by MSS Nitrogen's engineers with just a power supply and by tapping into the existing nitrogen distribution pipework.

Fibre laser technology has resulted in much faster cutting speeds and much reduced energy consumption and hence, lower cost per part than is possible with CO2 lasers. However, the flow of nitrogen as an assist gas can be as much as three times greater on a fibre laser as the nozzle at the laser head tends to be significantly bigger. These changes in the technology and the laser cutting market mean that the cost and logistics of delivering nitrogen to the machine is suddenly a high priority for uninterrupted and low cost manufacture.

ES Solutions Ltd based in Beeston, Nottinghamshire purchased a Nitrocube Fiber in 2014. Eric Seymour, managing director, says, "We purchased the very first MSS nitrogen generator back in 2004. The new Nitrocube Fiber is a fraction of the size, far more efficient and saves us a significant amount of money each month. Nitrogen generation is definitely the way forward, especially for fibre laser."

Neil Jackson, sales director at MSS Nitrogen explains, "If you just look at the nitrogen consumption figures for each machine, this can be very misleading. When we size a system we have detailed discussions with the client about how they run their manufacturing including topics such as shift patterns, the type and thickness of material being cut and the purity of nitrogen required. We can then work out the nitrogen delivery rates and the gas storage requirements needed to meet the peak demands normally found in any production environment."

Currently, over 250 laser machines depend on a MSS nitrogen generation system for their nitrogen requirements in the UK.