Pillowplate laser welded

Pillowplate is possible in 2 types single and double embossed. To produce a pillowplate product there is no big difference between single and double embossed pillowplates. The application area’s from single and double embossed platen different.

The pillowplates can be welded with CO2, YAG or fiber laser.

Pillowplate from design to product:

Sketch / Drawing
A new design usually starts with a sketch or CAD drawing or an existing product. With this sketch or CAD drawing can the base plates be made for the  pillowplate. Since the pillow plate is welded in flat position, these flat drawings are needed. The drawing can be sent to us and we edit or convert it into a pillow plate laser welding drawing. This drawing is approved by you before welding.

Cad file
This pillow plate weld drawing shows the two plates to be welded together , with the dimensions. The pillow plate contour is exactly drawn and laser welding of the pattern and borders are in the welding drawing. In the different layers are different parts of the pillow plate drawn. The CAD-file (dxf) has about 7 layers for example the base plate, thin plate, edge welding, pattern welding, and welding steps and engraver lines. This pillow plate laser welding drawing is processed by a CNC generation program to get the pillowplate program for the laser welding machine.

CNC generation program for the pillow laser welding machine
From cad to pillow plate by the automatic generating program. The pillow plate welding drawing is opened and welding specific data is added. This concerns the material thickness, welding speeds and laser power, pillowplate circle diameter, pillowplate circle type, pillowplate border type. The program is written in-house and our pillowplate making know-how is built in the program. The specific welding data at different pillow plate types can be stored in the database and retrieved. The generating of a pillow plate program for the laser dimple jacket machine lasts only 2-3 minutes.

Possible laser cutting
It is possible to laser weld arbitrary shapes, respectively flat layouts of the pillow plate, therefore it may be necessary for the plates to be laser cutted. After the pillow plate welding, it is also possible to apply a laser cutting or water jet cutting where the pillowplate an be  inflated or not-inflated.

Pillow Plate laser welding
The actual laser welded pillow plate is fully automatic by a CNC laser welding machine. The pillow plates to be welded are cleaned and positioned and fed into the machine. The laser welding machine can handle up to 2 x 10 meters and thickness up to 20 mm. The CNC controlled machine moves the laser welding head according the drawn laser welds in the laser welding drawing, and the lap-joints for the pillowplates are made.

Pillowplate / dimple jacket inflation
The welded pillow plate can be left flat or rolled into for example a tank. By putting water or air between the welded pillow plates the inflation is made. The inflation pressure is varying between 15 and 250 bar, depending on the application and the laser welding pattern and plate thickness.

Pillowplate surface treatment
The pillowplate can be pickled and annealed or can be grinded, K40 – K400 or polished, before or after the pillow inflating.

pillow plate