high
speed leak test - Air & Helium
welded
metal pipe fittings - gas
& water
View
Machine Video
Overview
TQC have supplied a
suite of 3 automatic leak testing machines that are conveyor fed.
The first two machines were designed to 100% leak test numerous
variants of welded metal T-pieces, elbows, reducers and adapters
used in the water, gas and construction industries. The leak test
specification meant that the parts needed to be water tight. The
customer then asked TQC to develop a machine to meet the more stringent
requirements of testing parts to ensure they are gas tight, and
still meet the high production throughputs. TQC met these objectives
by integrating helium leak testing technology into the same handling
concept of the first two machines.
|
|
Rotary indexing machine |
|
|
|
Automated load /
unload |
|
|
Twin chamber with
interchangable tooling for multiple variants
|
|
|
Combination leak
test using high pressure internally & high pressure vacuum
externally |
|
|
High speed leak
test
|
|
|
Water and gas tight
leak specification met using air or helium as test medium
|
![[Bullet]](../images/bullet.gif) |
Testing
to leak test threshold of 1mm3/sec (1x10-6 mbar.l.sec-1)
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
Handling
System
A twin
gripper pick and place system was used to load parts from a conveyor
pallet to the test fixture and then remove the parts after testing.
Twin chamber test fixtures mounted on a rotating table were used
to allow automated load and unload whilst meeting the high throughput.
Air
Test Medium
Two of
the latest generation Nolek S9 leak test instruments tested each
component. Both internal high pressure and external vacuum was used
to stress the part under test correctly and to provide a short cycle
time leak test
Helium
Test Medium
The test
process required the part to be evacuated, low pressure helium inserted
for a gross leak test, then high pressure helium for a fine leak.
On completion, the helium was removed from the part and the part
stabilised with air.
The system
included monitoring of any leaking helium this allows fast testing
and minimises helium loss by part leakage.
Varian
mass spectrometers have been integrated to monitor the helium gas,
with a trigger point used to indicate a leaking part. The leak test
threshold that was set by the customer was 1mm3/sec (1 x 10-6 mbar.l.sec-1).
A helium
reuse system was integrated into the test machine, this automatically
monitored the gas quality and purged the system once the helium
was below a set concentration. By including the recovery system
typically 50 -100 parts (depending on internal volume) can be tested
before the helium needs to be replaced.
For a printer
friendly sheet on the above equipment, access the PDF document here
If you are currently
considering a high speed or complex leak test application, or production
automation contact TQC to discuss your requirements.
|
TQC Ltd, Hooton Street, Carlton Road,
Nottingham, NG3 2NJ, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)115 9503561
Fax: +44 (0)115 9484642
E-mail: sales@tqc.co.uk
|
|