Dimetrics
Gold Track II
Automatic Pipe Welding System
Meets Codes.
The Gold Track II automatic tungsten-inert-gas (TIG) welding system has found widespread use in power plant construction and maintenance throughout the United States and abroad. Currently, 27 major nuclear projects within the United States use the Gold Track II system. Most critical pipe welding must comply with the stringent codes set forth by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and be examined by quality assurance engineers to verify that each individual weld meets all code requirements outlined by ASME and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This welding system usage assures that such code specifications are properly met.
Ease of Operation.
The Gold Track II offers extreme
ease of operation. The weld parameters need only be programmed into the pendant control panel, the track attached to the
pipe, and the weld head (Model F) mounted onto the track. This pro-
cess takes less than three minutes.
Once the welding cycle is started,
the weld head travels around the
pipe and operates to the pre-set welding parameters. Multiple weld heads may be utilized on each joint allowing for increased production
and a more symmetric shrinkage in the weld. Gold Track II offers 100 percent consistency of Joules heat input per inch of weld. A welding operator can be up to two hundred feet from the welding power supply and still perform to code quality.
Patented Power Supply & Control.
The Gold Track II has patent coverage on two significant features:
the unique "Hi-Pulse" power supply and the operational control
mode called "Sync- Pulse". The
power supply is unique because it produces current pulses at an ultrasonic rate which allows exceptional welding quality and speed. The
"Sync-Pulse" feature programs all of the significant welding parameters
in synchronization with the arc position on the workpiece in order to insure optimum heat distribution.
Remote Control.
Remote viewing and control of the Gold Track II using fiber optics and color TV is a recently developed feature which allows precision welding in areas of high radiation or other potential danger to the operator. The use of remote control was dramatized at the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant in Connecticut when some 400 welders were "burned out" (exposed to the maximum radiation level legally allowable) long before the welding job could be completed. When the remote controlled fiber optic system was brought in to counter this huge turnover in manpower, only 14 more welders were required to finish the job.
In another case, the Navy Department decided that the Gold Track II fiber optic system afforded maximum safety for welders working on Trident class submarines being built by the Electric Boat Company. The welds had such a great degree of accuracy that X-rays and ultrasonic examinations simply cannot find flaws. The fiber optic remote control system has been used to weld pipe up to 15 feet in diameter.
At the other end of the spectrum, the system can perform an inside weld on pipe as small as four inches in diameter.
FFIP Weld Head.
Dimetrics began development of the interchangeable "FFIP" weld head with the "F" head for the Gold Track II in November 1979. Introduced in early 1980 and now in regular production, the Full Function In-Place ("FFIP") weld head attaches to the Gold Track II power supply and allows for TIG welding application on smaller pipe sizes and in cramped areas where clearance for the larger orbiting weld head would present a problem. Whereas the currently used F weld head is designed for pipe sizes two inches and larger in diameter, with up to five inches radial clearance (as well as for flat linear applications), the FFIP head is designed for pipe sizes 0.5 inch to 6 inches
in diameter, with radial clearance as low as two inches. |
