SMART PIPING SOLUTIONS

To offer safe, complex and feasible piping solutions to its customers is the major focus of TRACTO-TECHNIK GmbH & Co. KG (TT) from Lennestadt / Germany. At TUBE 2012 in Düsseldorf TT not only presents innovative technology for bending and processing tubes but also high-precision measuring systems for quality control and reverse engineering as well as intelligent software solutions for tube shop automation, workflow optimization and lifecycle management for piping.

As a highlight TT shows a complete tube manufacturing cell with separation from the tube magazine, robot infeed and integrated bending piece measurement. Centrepiece of the system is the servo-electrically driven, multi-radii CNC bending machine TUBOTRON 25 MR for tubes from OD 4 to 25 mm (1''), which completely goes without any hydraulics. The bending machine’s exposed and extremely compact bending head enables the production of complex tube shapes at bending speeds up to 170°/sec. The main applications are in aerospace technology, automotive industry or furniture industry.

After being bent the tube figure is taken out by a robot and transported to the measuring room of the innovative optical measuring cell TUBOSCAN S. Within a few seconds the tube figure’s geometry is recorded and documented using the proven measuring and evaluation software TeZetCAD. Finally the tube figure is deposited while the next tube is already being formed by the bending machine.

In addition to machinery and measuring technology TT also presents software innovations at TUBE 2012. The modular workflow management software PIPEFAB has completely been re-engineered and is now available with various advanced functions and new features. Among other things surface and menus were made more user friendly, operation when drawing and measuring isometries was simplified and a CAD data based dynamic real-time bending simulation function was added. By automating the workflow the software package significantly optimizes the manufacturing process in the pipe shop and supports the complete lifecycle of pipes. The bending software PIPEFAB B is now an integral part of the complete solution but also available as stand-alone software.