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Torch fume extraction for robotic welding

In an environment where hazardous fumes are used, the protection of welders has always been of great importance and many countries tighten their legislation every year. This is not without good reason, as the health effects associated with welding fumes can range from intoxications to chronical illness and more. Engmar, a French company specialising in the extraction of welding fumes, got ahead of this and collaborated with Valk Welding to develop a method of extracting and filtering even the smallest particles through the torch itself.

Why fume extraction at the torch?

“The first reason is always the protection of the people, even when they are not welding”, says Juliane Osmont, Export Manager at Engmar. Their compact ATMOFLOW vacuum unit offers impressive precision, filtering up to 98% of harmful particles during welding. “Torch extraction is the most effective way of extracting welding fumes because it extracts directly at the welding zone”, states Osmont. This means that the fumes do not have time to mix with the surrounding clean air, so only a small volume of air is needed for extraction. In the cold winter months, this has another advantage: “Because the volume of extracted air is so small, companies do not lose much heated air when extracting outside.”

What kind of solution do Engmar and Valk Welding offer?

Valk Welding had developed its own fume extraction torch in-house, which immediately caught Engmar’s attention: “When you deal with extraction of welding fumes, you know what a torch has to look like for the whole thing to work. And it was exactly that.” Osmont explains why: “Robotic welding is faster than manual welding, which means that it needs a bigger sphere for fume extraction. To achieve this, we need a greater distance between the welding point and the extraction point. And it is precisely this distance that makes the Valk Welding torch a good solution for robotic welding.” The two companies decided to join forces and introduced the most powerful and efficient extraction device on the market to date: the VWPR Fume Extraction Atmoflow.

What makes the VWPR Fume Extraction Atmoflow unique?

Normally, torch fume extraction would require the use of extra shielding gas, resulting in higher costs. “This is not the case with the VWPR torch”, explains Sander Verhoef, R&D Manager at Valk Welding and developer of the torch. “Because of the greater distance between the suction point and the welding point, we can still use the same amount of shielding gas.” Osmont adds an important point about safety: “Welding fumes are made of very small particles and even more nanoparticles. These can penetrate deeper into the body, making them the most harmful. Most companies only offer a filter for the larger particles, but we also have a special filter for the smallest harmful particles.” With a reusable filter and a bag-in/bag-out system, Engmar also ensures that robot operators do not have to touch these particles from the unit’s dust bin during maintenance.

Find out more

Are you interested or would you like to know more about our torch extraction solution? Please contact us via info@valkwelding.com or your trusted point of contact within Valk Welding.

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+31 78 69 170 11 info@valkwelding.com
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