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Keep a Distant ‘Eye’ on your Purge

Product News Tuesday, September 8, 2015: Huntingdon Fusion Techniques Limited

When welding lengths of tubes and pipelines over 20 metres long, one problem operators face is not receiving a fast and true weld purge reading from the purge zone.

 

Now, for the first time, it is possible to have an immediate reading of the weld purge gas at the underside of the joint, from any distance up to 1,000 metres away.

 

By using a zirconia sensor in a remote module placed at the purge gas exhaust, really close to the weld, it is possible to instantaneously receive actual oxygen readings down to 10 ppm (0.001%) up to 1,000 metres away.

 

This technology is part of the PurgEye® 1000, the latest in the Family Range of Weld Purge Monitors® brought to the marketplace over the last few years by Huntingdon Fusion Techniques HFT®.

 

The Weld Purge Monitor® was invented by Huntingdon Fusion Techniques HFT® in the 1970’s and the company now has a Registered Trademark protection in the USA and Europe.

 

If exhaust gas from a normal weld purge system is piped down a hose to a distant measuring instrument, it may take many minutes, or even hours in some cases, to reach the sensor. The exhaust gas may even be contaminated on the way by outgassing from the walls of the hose material or from air drawn in through a leaky connection.

 

The PurgEye® 1000 Weld Purge Monitor® has been designed and developed specifically to overcome such difficulties and has a sensor placed immediately next to the weld purge site.

 

The sensor is secured in a tiny module and is connected to the measuring instrument by a data cable. The purge reading is sent back to the instrument at the speed of light, so operators and quality control personnel know immediately whether the purge is satisfactory.

 

This way, the operator can be certain that the weld purge reading is correct and that the joint will not be adversely affected by oxidation, allowing welders to achieve that sought after zero colour weld.