Determination of Optimal Parameters to Improve the Quality of the Condenser Pipe Welding Process

The objective of this article is to find suitable parameters to improve the quality of the orbital welding process of condenser tubes. To solve the problem of leaks and weld convexity of the weld line that is lower than the outside surface of the pipe, testing sample pieces to find parameters that pass the standard American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and applied the factors and levels of factors obtained from the test 2-level, 3-factor factorial experimental design (2^k Factorial Design). It was found that the welding current was 39 Amp, the welding speed was 100 mm/min and the gas-delayed time was 30 s resulting in the maximum weld distance value of about 25.54 mm. The results from the experiment were applied to the actual production process. The tubes that were welded with the new parameters had an average value of the weld convexity distance close to the experimental values without leakage problems.