An apparatus is provided for bending a pipe and checking a bent shape of the pipe. The apparatus includes a bender for forming a bend in the pipe and at least two cameras for determining an alignment of the pipe in proximity to the free end of the pipe.

A conduit bender having a unitary frame is mounted to a wheeled base which provides for transportation of the bender. A braking assembly provides for simplified locking of the wheels to secure the bender in a location. The bender is mounted to the base through a pivoting assembly which allows for bending of conduit in either a horizontal or vertical plane. A circuit is provided for controlling the bending operation. An auto-sensing portion of the circuit receives information regarding the characteristics of the conduit to be bent upon placement of the conduit in the bender. A feedback portion of the circuit is used to provide a precise bending operation.

A conduit bender having a unitary frame is mounted to a wheeled base which provides for transportation of the bender. A braking assembly provides for simplified locking of the wheels to secure the bender in a location. The bender is mounted to the base through a pivoting assembly which allows for bending of conduit in either a horizontal or vertical plane. A circuit is provided for controlling the bending operation. An auto-sensing portion of the circuit receives information regarding the characteristics of the conduit to be bent upon placement of the conduit in the bender. A feedback portion of the circuit is used to provide a precise bending operation.

The machine comprises a working apparatus arranged to carry out the working operation on a tube, or a similar blank, and a tube feeding device arranged to feed the tube towards the working apparatus. The working apparatus and the tube feeding device comprise respective clamping members for clamping the tube being worked. According to the invention, at least one of the clamping members of the working apparatus or of the tube feeding device is provided with a displacement sensor arranged to detect and measure any movements of the tube relative to said clamping member while the tube is clamped by said clamping member during the working operation.

The machine comprises: a working head carrying appropriate working tools to perform one or more working operations on a tube; a feeding unit for feeding the tube along its longitudinal axis towards the working head; a programmable control unit for controlling the feeding unit and the working head; and an optical sensor arranged to optically measure the forward displacement of the tube being worked along its longitudinal axis and/or the rotational displacement of the tube being worked about its longitudinal axis.

The machine comprises: a working head carrying appropriate working tools to perform one or more working operations on a tube; a feeding unit for feeding the tube along its longitudinal axis towards the working head; a programmable control unit for controlling the feeding unit and the working head; and an optical sensor arranged to optically measure the forward displacement of the tube being worked along its longitudinal axis and/or the rotational displacement of the tube being worked about its longitudinal axis.

A fin-assembled tube includes a helical fin arranged in an interior of a tube, wherein the tube has: a straight tube portion the center line of which extends in a substantially straight line; and a bent portion the center line of which is curved, and the helical fin is formed such that a helical pitch in an axial direction is longer in a portion positioned in the bent portion relative to the helical pitch in a portion positioned in the straight tube portion, the helical pitch being a pitch of a plate-shaped fin material twisted by a certain angle about the center line.

The objective of the present invention is to enable accurate detection of a mismatch during electric resistance welding. This operation monitoring device for high-frequency resistance welding and induction heated welding of an electric resistance welded steel pipe, in which a strip-shaped metal sheet is continuously formed into a cylindrical shape by means of a group of rollers while being conveyed from an upstream side to a downstream side, and in which the two edge portions, in the circumferential direction, of the metal sheet, which are caused to converge into a V-shape, are caused to melt by the application of heat and are caused to abut one another, is characterized by being provided with a means for detecting a mismatch by recognizing a non-uniformity between light-emitting regions of a metal part, on both sides, in the circumferential direction, of the abutting position on an outer surface or an inner surface of the metal plate, on the basis of an image of a region including a V-convergence location, which is a location at which the two edge portions in the circumferential direction converge into said V-shape, and said metal part which is caused to flow out onto the surface of the metal plate by means of an electromagnetic force downstream of the V-convergence location, wherein said image is captured by means of an image capturing device from an outer surface side or an inner surface side of the metal plate that has been formed into said cylindrical shape.

The objective of the present invention is to enable accurate detection of a mismatch during electric resistance welding. This operation monitoring device for high-frequency resistance welding and induction heated welding of an electric resistance welded steel pipe, in which a strip-shaped metal sheet is continuously formed into a cylindrical shape by means of a group of rollers while being conveyed from an upstream side to a downstream side, and in which the two edge portions, in the circumferential direction, of the metal sheet, which are caused to converge into a V-shape, are caused to melt by the application of heat and are caused to abut one another, is characterized by being provided with a means for detecting a mismatch by recognizing a non-uniformity between light-emitting regions of a metal part, on both sides, in the circumferential direction, of the abutting position on an outer surface or an inner surface of the metal plate, on the basis of an image of a region including a V-convergence location, which is a location at which the two edge portions in the circumferential direction converge into said V-shape, and said metal part which is caused to flow out onto the surface of the metal plate by means of an electromagnetic force downstream of the V-convergence location, wherein said image is captured by means of an image capturing device from an outer surface side or an inner surface side of the metal plate that has been formed into said cylindrical shape.

A manufacturing method for a bent member of the present invention includes a holding step of holding one end portion of a long steel material having an opening end in a longitudinal direction by a chuck, a feeding step of feeding the steel material in the longitudinal direction with the one end portion as a head after the holding step, a heating step of performing high-frequency induction heating on a portion of the steel material in the longitudinal direction to form a heated portion, a bending step of moving the chuck in a three-dimensional direction to apply a bending moment to the heated portion, and a cooling step of injecting a cooling medium to the heated portion to cool the heated portion after the bending step. When the heating step is started, the chuck is cooled by the cooling medium in a state where a heating amount applied to the one end portion when the heated portion is formed on the one end portion is greater than that of an upstream side adjacent portion adjacent to the upstream side of the one end portion as seen along a feeding direction of the steel material.