Schwarze-Robitec meets tube challenges of modern power plant sector

Schwarze-Robitec equipment has been developed to offer a more sophisticated alternative to traditional methods of welding various straight and pre-bent tube components together which meet the power industry's demands for economic construction, lower maintenance and plant safety. Equipped with special tools, the Schwarze-Robitec's semi-automatic SR 320 and the automatic CNC 320 HD cold-bending machines are capable of bending thin and thick-walled tubes with a maximum diameter of 323.9 by 17.5 mm. For example, they have no trouble achieving a bend radius of 1.5XD in the maximum size, which is equivalent to a bending radius of 485 mm. The semi-automatic SR series machines are particularly suited to the production of single bends and small series, while the CNC controlled machines are also suited to complex tube systems with several bends or large batch sizes. The company heavy duty machine series for various diameters and wall thicknesses up to 610 by 21.4 mm are available as semi-automatics with SR control and as automatics with CNC control. All machines can be equipped with accessories like a tube magazine and tube feed and configured as fully automatic bending cells. Schwarze-Robitec CNC Twin series machines are capable of processing very large and complex tube serpentines, such as those for higher capacity smaller power plant boilers where extremely tightly bent tubes are required. A radius of 1XD, or below, is not uncommon. The CNC Twin machines, which meet wall thinning and out-of-roundness tolerance requirements of European standard EN 12952 and American ASME B31.1, are available in three different capacities up to 88.9 by 11 mm. Employing one left- and one right-bending vertically and horizontally movable head means the tube serpentine does not need to be turned after each bend which makes production of large leg lengths more efficient. The machines also produce different bending radii within one tube system. A terminal end bender unit can be added to the machine is required.