Winding Head for Steam Generator Tube Inserts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current manufacturing processes are unable to produce internally finned steam generator tubes with higher chromium alloy steels, limiting their use for high steam parameters and efficiency in power generation.
Innovation Solution
A device with a winding head, wire guide pin, template shaft with spiral grooves, and pressure roller is used to shape wire into installation bodies, allowing for rapid and cost-effective production of internally ribbed tubes from higher chromium alloy steels by molding wires into grooved templates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If cold-drawing process is used to produce internally finned tubes, then production is possible with current technology, but chromium content is limited to maximum 5%
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the manufacturing process parameters from cold-drawing to a winding process using a template shaft with spiral grooves. This parameter change enables the production of internally finned tubes with higher chromium alloy steels (exceeding 5% chromium content) that were previously incompatible with cold-drawing processes, thus resolving the contradiction between manufacturability and material versatility
Solution Approach 2:
The template shaft with spiral grooves acts as an intermediary tool that enables the formation of internal fins during the winding process. This intermediary device allows high-chromium alloy wires to be shaped into internally finned tubes without requiring the wire to undergo cold-drawing, thereby enabling the use of higher chromium content materials
2Adaptability or versatility
If smooth pipes are provided separately with installation bodies, then high chromium alloy tubes can be used, but production process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the wire feeding, shaping, and fin formation operations into a single winding process using a template shaft. The wire is fed through a guide opening, pressed against the template shaft by a pressure roller, and automatically wound into the spiral groove pattern, creating the installation body directly on the tube. This integrated process eliminates the need for separate smooth pipe production and subsequent installation body attachment, reducing overall process complexity while enabling high chromium alloy usage
3Ease of manufacture
If internally finned tubes are produced by cold-drawing, then production is established, but production speed is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The winding process enables continuous production of internally finned tubes. The template shaft can be rotated continuously while wire is fed through the guide opening and pressed by the pressure roller, forming fins along the entire tube length in a single continuous operation. This continuous process eliminates the intermittent steps inherent in cold-drawing, significantly increasing production speed while maintaining an established and reliable manufacturing approach
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables the production of internally ribbed tubes from higher chromium alloy steels suitable for high steam parameters, enhancing steam generator efficiency and reducing production costs compared to cold-drawn tubes.
Implementation Method 1
a pressure roller, the central axis of which essentially coincides with a tangent of the groove, presses the wire into the groove
Data Source
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AI summary
An apparatus for producing inserts for steam generator tubes is intended to allow a technically particularly simple production process, and consequently allow particularly high-speed production of inserts. For this purpose, the apparatus comprises a winding head (12) with a wire guiding pin (20), a guiding opening (16) for a former shaft (1), provided with a number of spiral slots (4), and a pressure roller (22), the wire guiding pin (20), the guiding opening (16) and the pressure roller (22) being arranged in such a way that a tangent of the pressure roller (22) and of a slot (4) of the former shaft (1) and the guiding axis of the wire guiding pin (20) substantially coincide.