African Fusion November 2023

ESAB Railtrac success

ESAB Railtrac welding solution for tank terminal project

Jannie Bronkhorst, product manager for welding and automa tion equipment at ESAB South Africa, talks about the ESAB Railtrac B42V tractor system, selected by South Africa’s tank farm service provider, Trotech, for the construction of a new state-of-the-art Tank Terminal in KZN.

E SAB has secured an order for the supply and support of mechanised equipment, welding machines and consumables for the construction of a new Tank Terminal in KZN. “The new terminal is currently under construction using an ESAB solution: our ESAB Railtrac B42V welding tractor along with welding power sources, wire feeders and ESAB consumables,” Jan nie Bronkhorst tells African Fusion . Trotech is a recognised South African tank manufacturer with the full suite of engineering, design, quality control and inspection capabilities and a local con struction company that can build tanks that conform to the global API standards. “The project involves construction of eighteen large multi-purpose and chemical tanks. Each 16 m in diameter and 22 m high. Mechanisation for improved quality and reduced costs These large tanks, according to Bronkhorst, were previously fabricated onsite using traditional manual welding techniques and

a ‘bottom-up’ technique. The bottom section of the tank wall, called the first strake, was manually tack welded to form a cylinder and then the vertical and horizontal seams were welded, all using SMAW/stick welding electrodes. Then the next strake would be added, tacked and welded, from the bottom up, followed by subsequent strakes. Once at the required height, walkways, a reinforc ing ring and the roof would be added. Tanks for this project will also be manu factured onsite, but Trotech has selected a far more modern, safe and cost efficient construction technique. “At the start of contract negotiations, we invited Trotech to our new ESAB facility located at Tunney Ridge business Park in Johannesburg, where we set mock-up plates for the verti cal and horizontal seams with different plate thicknesses. ESAB demonstrated how the use of our mechanised Railtrac system together with fluxed cored wire success fully produces sound quality weld seams says Bronkhorst.

ESAB’s Railtrac B42V welding system is able to manipulate a torch in terms of travel speeds; weaving speeds and widths; and hold times and positions on either side of the weld preparation. Railtrac, he continues, is a mechanised bug-and-band type welding tractor system. “A magnetised track is aligned to the weld seam. The tractor carrying and manipulat ing the welding torch gets attached to the rack, and a torch suitable for flux-cored arc welding (FCAW) is clamped into a holding bracket and aligned. The Railtrac system is then able to manipulate the torch in terms of travel speeds; weaving speeds and widths; and hold times and positions on either side of the weld preparation. “During the demonstration, ESAB pro duced quality and sound welds, which at the end of the day will save tremendous amounts of time and costs due to the high quality and consistency that comes with mechanisation,” Bronkhorst tells African Fusion . Further highlighting the productivity advantages of mechanisation using ESAB’s Railtrac system, Bronkhorst points out that there is a lot less stopping and start ing – resulting in fewer arc starts and arc stops compared to the SMAW process and, in turn, reducing repair rates. The welding speed is faster, which reduces the heat in put into the plate, so distortion on the tank is reduced. “FCAW also delivers better and more consistent weld metal quality than the SMAW process can,” he says, adding, that “these advantages sealed the deal.” Railtrac itself offers flexibility and prac tical control, however: “Welders have a pendant enabling them to keep the weld on

ESAB’s mechanised Railtrac B42V-based solution uses Fabricator EM 500i power sources and Fabricator Feed 364 wire feeders, and the vertical and horizontal seams are being welded with OK Tubrod 15.15 E71T-1 H4R flux-cored welding wire.

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November 2023

AFRICAN FUSION