Rapid purge of pipes

Weld Purging is the act of removing oxygen within the vicinity of a joint when welding, especially when joining metals such as stainless steel, nickel alloys, titanium, zirconium etc. However, completely filling tubes and pipes with expensive inert gas such as argon for weld purging is time consuming.

Such costly time loss and excessive waste of argon gas can be avoided now because of QuickPurge Tube, Pipe and Pipeline Weld Purging Systems designed and manufactured by weld purging specialists and developers, Huntingdon Fusion Techniques HFT.

Whatever the size of pipe, QuickPurge Systems reduce waiting times so dramatically that they pay for themselves in less than one weld. QuickPurge is simply inserted into a tube or pipe, inflated within the pipe, restricting the area that is to be welded and removing the oxygen within minutes.

For example, a 36-in diameter stainless steel pipe can be purged down to 100 parts per million (ppm) of oxygen in under 32 minutes. Comparing this with weld purging using foam dams or other home-made devices that will outgas heavily into the welding zone, taking many hours.

Some features of QuickPurge Systems include:

* An additional gas input line, allowing extra purge gas to be introduced for extra high speed purging down to the lowest oxygen levels, which is perfect for larger diameter pipes where quality welds are required. This extra cold argon gas input is perfect for mitigating the extra heat produced by the Plasma / TIG process.

* The advanced design of the QuickPurge System means that oxygen levels as low as 10 parts per million (ppm) can be reached every time, allowing zero colour welds to be achieved with no loss of corrosion resistance caused by oxidation.

* IntaCal combined with the integrated PurgeGate device makes it possible to safely inflate the systems with argon gas, for sealing and then purging the space between the dams where the weld joint is located. With PurgeGate, any risk of over inflation is due to pressure or flow increase is eliminated.

* All systems are manufactured as standard with a hose for connecting a Weld Purge Monitor, which can read oxygen levels down to as low as 1 ppm (accurate to 10 ppm).

* Materials used in the manufacture of QuickPurge are such that they are resistant to the higher weld temperatures present and they don't outgas, thus preventing weld contamination.