A system for securing first and second metal workpieces to a central metal workpiece located therebetween. The system includes clamps to secure the first and second metal workpieces in coaxial alignment with the central metal workpiece, which is rotatable about its axis. Heating elements heat opposed ends of the first metal workpiece and the central metal workpiece, and opposed ends of the second metal workpiece and the central metal workpiece, to a hot working temperature. While the opposed ends are at the hot working temperature, the heating elements are removed. The opposed end of the first metal workpiece is urged against the end opposed thereto of the rotating central metal workpiece, while the central metal workpiece rotates. At the same time, the rotating central metal workpiece is pulled against the second metal workpiece to engage the opposed ends thereof with each other. The workpieces are then allowed to cool.

A liner sleeve is secured within a host pipe of a bimetallic lined pipe by driving a spinning friction stir welding tool through the liner sleeve but not through the full wall thickness of the host pipe. This forms a thermo-mechanically affected welded zone in which metal of the liner sleeve is bonded with some metal of the host pipe. Relative movement between the spinning tool and the lined pipe extends the welded zone along a weld path. Where the pipe is mechanically lined, the welded zone extends along a previously unbonded outboard region that extends longitudinally from an inboard region at which the liner sleeve is bonded mechanically to the host pipe.

A wheel holding device holding a wheel including an annular-shaped core body and a plurality of free rollers rotatably supported by the core body includes a central member including an outer peripheral part capable of expanding and contracting in a radial direction. The central member holds the wheel with the outer peripheral part of the central member urging an inner peripheral part of the wheel radially outward. The central member may include a chuck, a plurality of bases which are radially movably supported by the chuck and form the outer peripheral part of the central member, and a plurality of urging members which urge the respective bases radially outward with respect to the chuck.

A laser pipe cutting device is provided. It includes a cutting head, a lathe bed, a first chuck, a second chuck and a third chuck; the first chuck is a fixed chuck for positioning axially and radially a pipe fitting; the second chuck is a rolling chuck for positioning radially the pipe fitting; and a fixed clamping disc and a rolling clamping disc are arranged on the third chuck at both ends. In the scheme, the third chuck integrates both the rolling clamping function and the fixed clamping function to achieve larger supporting weight and more accurate clamping precision, so that the chucks can drive a thin pipe fitting to rotate at a higher speed, the cutting efficiency is improved, and no-dead-angle and zero-tailing cutting is achieved.

A method and apparatus, for manufacturing a duct for a fluid management system of an aircraft. A filament-fed additive manufacturing apparatus is used to perform the additive manufacturing process. The additive manufacturing apparatus comprises a nozzle, wherein the nozzle receives material in the form of a filament and adds said material to the duct in a location proximate to the nozzle location, and wherein the nozzle moves in a generally helical path relative to the duct.

A method is provided for connecting two tubular or conical sections of a structure, especially of a wind turbine, by joining respective circular ends of the outer walls of these sections by welding, including the steps: positioning the two sections in such a way, that the circular ends are adjacent to each other, positioning a first part of a connection tool adjacent to the circular ends of the two sections, positioning a second part of the connection tool in such a way that the first and second part of the connection tool form a ring-shaped housing, blocking access to the circular ends from the outside of the sections, and using a welding head of the connection tool arranged within the ring-shaped housing to join the outer walls.

An apparatus and a method for producing strip wound tube products are disclosed. The apparatus includes a winding machine for winding a strip to a strip wound tube and a finishing machine for cutting off pieces of desired length from the strip wound tube and for connecting strip layers in the end sections of the strip wound tube product by way of an joining operation, the finishing machine having a mobile operating head and/or a force decoupling unit.

A manufacturing method for a joint part in which a first metal piece and a second metal piece are joined to each other by performing welding by irradiating a high-energy beam to a joint surface on which the first metal piece and the second metal piece face each other, the first metal piece including a first flow path for passage of a fluid provided at a specific depth from a surface on a side exposed to the high-energy beam, the second metal piece including a second flow path for passage of the fluid provided at a specific depth from the surface on the side exposed to the high-energy beam, and the first flow path and the second flow path being coupled to each other on the joint surface.

A method for purging air from a structure to be joined by welding by feeding a liquid cryogen to the structure. The liquid cryogen will enter the structure, warm up and enter the gaseous phase very rapidly. The gaseous cryogen will displace the air that is present in the structure out of the structure and reduce the content of oxygen in the structure to about 10 parts per million when welding can begin.

An apparatus for guiding tube processing devices, in particular planing devices, wherein the apparatus is arranged on an outer circumference of the tube to be processed, wherein the apparatus has at least two bands which extend in parallel.