Combustion Engineering, Inc.

Charles D Hackett

John J Barger

Dennis E Savor

Milton Lee Blevins

James R Bray

A welding machine lays down its welding bead at the juncture of two surfaces, back of which a pressure boundary has been formed. A depression, or groove, is provided at the juncture of the two surfaces. The weld bead bridges over the groove to form a junction of the two surfaces, leaving the bottom of the groove above the pressure boundary to function as a passage for materials at the surfaces which vaporize at the temperature of the welding operation. The escape of the gases through the passage obviates the gases bubbling up through, and deteriorating, the solidifying weld material forming the junction.

Welded tube to wall junction

A tubular member of the type, primarily intended for utilization in a boiler, and having rifling, i.e., ribbing, provided on the internal surfaces thereof that is operable for purposes of effecting the disruption of the internal flow of the fluid passing therethrough. The ribbing with which the subject tubular member is provided embodies a configuration that is preselected so that the ribbing is operative to enable accurate and precise control to be exercised through the use thereof over the movement of the fluid flowing through the tubular member. Consideration is given to the following factors, among others, in establishing the design criteria that, in turn, determines the configuration that the ribbing embodies in a given tubular member; namely, the type of fluid; the fluid pressure; the fluid flow rate; the internal dimensions of the tubular member; the temperature gradient within the tubular member wall, both circumferentially and longitudinally, etc. The aforementioned design criteria includes parameters selected from variations possible in the angle which the ribbing bears to the lateral axis of the tubular member; variations possible in the spacing between individual ribs of the ribbing; whether the ribbing is continuous or noncontinuous; whether the ribbing is provided on only one side wall of the tubular member or on more than one side wall thereof; and the particular dimensions of the rib design in terms of the specific height, the specific width, the specific radii and the specific angles that each individual rib embodies.

Rib design for boiler tubes

A method and apparatus for removing a hollow tube from a tube sheet in which the tube is held by expansive forces in the tube. A GTA arc is established between an electrode and the interior tube wall. The arc parameters are such that it melts partially through the tube wall and the arc is then translated in a desired pattern of movement along the length of the tube contained in the tube sheet. Upon re-solidfication of the melted part of the tube the compressive forces of solidification shrinkage and thermal contraction result in a reduction of the tube diameter. Apparatus is disclosed for carrying out the method which, through a dual drive arrangement, is capable of producing a variety of weld head translation paths.

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Tunnel Hill, GA, United States of America

Charles D Hackett