The induction brazing of brass to brass is a highly consistent and efficient process that can now be improved even further through the integration of FOCO INDUCTION’s automated production line design, ensuring the efficient and high-quality brazing of brass components.
A manufacturer specializing in brass tees approached us recently. Their task was clear: to braze the threaded connectors onto the main tee body—a brass-to-brass brazing process. They required a fully automated solution with a target production capacity of 350 parts per hour. It was clear that flame brazing or manual brazing could never meet such high-volume, high-standard requirements.
The induction brazing of brass to brass solution: a double-heating workstation with a rotary design, allowing heating and loading/unloading to occur simultaneously.
We designed an automated system based on high-frequency induction heating. The entire production line involved two high frequency induction heating devices and one rotary-table machine tool with eight workstations, one closed water cooling system, and two robotic arms for loading and unloading.
The most ingenious aspect of this system is the overlapping utilization of time. The two heating stations are controlled independently by two induction units, allowing them to operate simultaneously, meaning the entire production cycle is precisely controlled to 20 seconds.
Automated induction brazing process for brass to brass:
- Loading: The robot arms pick up two tee fittings to be welded, placing them on the turntable station.
- Heating: The turntable spins and puts the workpiece onto heating station, and the induction coil starts heating. The heating time of each joint locks onto 20 seconds exactly. Within these 20 seconds, the robot arms have returned to pick up the workpieces that are waiting to be brazed next.
- Cooling: After the heating process, the turntable begins to rotate again. The two tees that were just welded move to the cooling station, while a new set of workpieces enters the heating station to begin a new heating cycle.
- Unloading: After cooling down, the turntable rotates again, and the two finished products reach the unloading station. In the meantime, as the robot arm finishes the loading move as part of the last turn, it will conveniently remove the two finished products and place them into the hopper.
The entire brass to brass brazing process is incredibly smooth and efficient, with all actions—heating, cooling, loading, and unloading—completed synchronously within one 20-second period, wasting not a single moment.
The result: Induction-brazed tees at a stable and reliable rate of 350 parts per hour.
Since this induction brazing system was put into operation, the customer’s production targets have been achieved easily. A steady output of 350 brass parts per hour fully meets the demands of high-volume orders and, more importantly, the precision and repeatability of induction heating means the quality of every single brazed joint is impeccably consistent. This translates to better quality and, in the future, more orders.
Read more about induction brazing applications.