New welding technology: Infrared welding for Belgian brewery

Purpose

Chemicals are frequently used to clean the installations. During the CIP process, these ensure that possible product residues are removed, preventing the formation of micro-organisms, for example.

Our customer wanted to install a new dosing panel in the existing dosing cabinet.

Problem-solution

We drew the whole thing completely in 3D and our production prepared the panel.

• Given the demanding chemical load, infrared (IR) welding was opted for. This welding method has the great advantage that less residual stresses arise in the weld zone of the material, which means a reduced risk of stress cracks when using oxidising fluids. This is because less heat is required to make the weld, which is different from butt welding or electrofusion welding.
• Because less heat is introduced, the weld bead on the inside and outside is smaller. This ensures less pressure loss and avoids charge (deposition) on the inside of the pipes.
• The plastic material is welded using a software-controlled machine, which, among other things, can generate a welding protocol. This gives each weld a separate number, making it traceable. Moreover, the welding pressure build-up is very accurate and welder-independent, so the reproducibility of an IR weld is almost perfect.
• In addition, our welders are specifically trained by the IR welding machine manufacturer and hold a personal certificate. This ensures the quality of each individual IR weld.