With excellent heat conduction, corrosion resistance and malleability properties, copper has always been the go-to material for making bent and end-formed pipes for the most common hydraulic components in HVAC systems.
However, the rising price of this material has driven many HVAC manufacturers to consider the use of bent and end-formed stainless-steel tubes. This material is stronger from the mechanical point of view, but has disadvantages in terms of production rates, geometry feasibility and resulting process quality and precision.
A system capable of processing stainless steel tubes from coil is needed to make the switch to bent and end-formed stainless-steel tubes. The system must offer high efficiency and precision as well as have the ability to make parts with particularly complicated geometries.
These factors are key in order to benefit from the cost advantages of transitioning to steel in the production of HVAC systems.
The solution
The BLM GROUP robotic workcell produces two separate batches of complex, high-precision parts, bent with mandrel and formed on both ends from a single stainless-steel tube coil.
The solution guarantees maximum efficiency because it eliminates semi-finished products to be moved or stored. It allows bending and end-forming operations to be performed on the first and second ends of the tube in parallel and it performs the dimensional checks in-line on all parts with the 4RMEASURE system.
- 3-RUNNER
3-RUNNER is the tube bending machine which straightens, end-forms and cuts tube pieces from coil. When integrated into a production workcell, it not only cuts the piece of tube, but also factors in the amount of elongation that it will undergo during the bending process.
- SMART
All-electric, multi-radius, right and left in-process mandrel bending, capable of bending fixed or variable radius metal tubes, hybrids and pre-assemblies (tubes with nuts, flanges, shapes, etc.).
- ROBOT
Robot: Fully automated tube handling and sorted unloading of complex parts into separate areas according to manufactured part type.
Robot material handling allows finished parts to be made in a single work cycle and run production 24/7.
The robot is mounted in the middle of the workcell to maximize efficiency to each of the machines and reduce the overall footprint.
- E-SHAPE
E-SHAPE forms the opposite end of the tube
All-Electric tube end-forming machine can be configured with up to 10 machining stations including rotary tools, punches and orbital cutting systems.
The optional retractable double clamp can be used to make flares and other forming operations along the tube stem. This greatly increases part feasibility.
- ROBOTIZED WORKCELL STARTING FROM STAINLESS STEEL COIL
Starting from the stainless-steel coil, each tube is straightened, end-formed, cut, fitted with the nut, bent and end-formed on the opposite side.
The production of two batches in parallel and the sorted unloading allows the parts made at the same time to be used in a possible downstream production chain.
- Extremely efficient and accurate processing of stainless-steel pipes, starting from coil and bent with mandrel.
- Simplified logistics with elimination of intermediate steps and part reworking on other equipment.
- Inline dimensional check of all parts using 4RMEASURE, the inline end-forming measurement system.
- Achieve consistent, quality product each and every time while improving cycle times and decreasing your production costs.
- Extremely compact layout.
- Integration of standard hardware and software systems, which can be reconfigured in the future for stand-alone use.
- Process any material; not only aluminum and copper, but also iron and stainless steel.
- High-quality finish of the end part, without clamping marks.
- Production of two or more batches at the same time.