Apparatus and method for welding a waterwall panel
AssigneeGeneral Electric Technology GmbH
InventorsRONALD FRANCIS KONOPACKI, RUSSELL BRUMFIELD
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Abstract
A waterwall panel welding apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes an inlet assembly, a welding assembly, an outlet assembly, and a heating system. The inlet assembly is for receiving a plurality of tubes. The welding assembly is for receiving the tubes from the inlet assembly and for allowing the tubes to be welded together to form a waterwall panel. The outlet assembly is for receiving the waterwall panel from the welding assembly. The heating system heats the tubes and operates via magnetic induction.
Claims20
A waterwall panel welding apparatus comprising:
- an inlet assembly for receiving a plurality of tubes;
- a welding assembly for receiving the tubes from the inlet assembly and allowing the tubes to be welded together to form a waterwall panel;
- an outlet assembly for receiving the waterwall panel from the welding assembly;
- a heating system for heating the tubes;
- and
- wherein the heating system operates via magnetic induction.
A method of welding a plurality of tubes together to form a waterwall panel, the method comprising:
- longitudinally aligning the tubes;
- welding the tubes to each other to form the waterwall panel;
- and
- heating the one or more tubes via magnetic induction.
A shaped inductive heater for heating one or more fins of a plurality of tubes used to form a waterwall panel, the shaped inductive heater comprising:
- one or more raised portions and one or more wells for matchingly aligning with one or more valleys and one or more peaks of the tubes, respectively, the valleys defined by the fins and the peaks defined by one or more outer diameters of the tubes;
- and
- wherein the tubes are welded together via the fins to form the waterwall panel, and
- the shaped inductive heater heats the fins via magnetic induction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.