The “NitroCube”
13 January 2014
Yorkshire Profiles Ltd, who provides a nationwide metal cutting and fabrication service, installed their latest piece of technology in December 2013 and it will begin to benefit their clients, the company and the environment immediately.
The “NitroCube” nitrogen generation and storage system will be used to create the assist gases required for the laser cutting equipment. This gives the company more control over the amount of gasses used and reduces losses through evaporation of liquid nitrogen storage and those which occur during refills.Nitrogen assist gas is used by lasers for cutting thin mild steels, stainless steels and aluminium. The gas has a cooling effect which provides a superior cutting quality over other gases such as oxygen and prevents the material from melting on tight corner detail. Normally the gases would be delivered to site in the form of pressurised gas bottle banks or delivered into a liquid nitrogen storage facility.
In the past Yorkshire Profiles have opted to have their nitrogen delivered in a liquid form for several reasons; it allows large storage of nitrogen so good prices can be obtained and it is of a very pure quality. However this storage method does have its disadvantages, such as if the tanks are not used for a prolonged period (e.g. if oxygen is being used for cutting mild steels) the liquid evaporates and the tanks perform a pressure dump losing large volumes of nitrogen gas. Also during refills a lot of the gas can be lost back into the atmosphere.
Whilst dumping nitrogen into the atmosphere is not harmful (as 78% of the atmosphere is nitrogen) it is wasteful and there are also the emissions from vehicles delivering the gas on a frequent basis to consider. That is one of the reasons the company have opted to collect their own nitrogen on site. The cost of delivery of the liquid to Yorkshire Profiles site is constantly increasing (as is the price of the liquid itself), by installing their own system they can protect their clients from these price increases. The system will also remove at least 52 deliveries a year to the site which is good news for the environment!
The first nitrogen bottle banks were put into place on the 23rd of December. These banks contain several bottles which store nitrogen at 250 bar of pressure. The storage will be refilled overnight by the generator. The storage tanks should provide enough nitrogen for several hours of cutting mid-range stainless steels whilst the system can replenish the nitrogen as quickly as it is used on thinner materials.
The NitroCube takes compressed air from the atmosphere around it and uses special filters which only allow Nitrogen gas to pass through. This is then pressurised into the gas storage bottles. The filters are of an extremely high quality meaning the gas is very pure and could last up to 10 years before they require replacing. The directors state they have avoided the technology in the past as poor quality systems can produce contaminated nitrogen gas which leaves a distinct yellow colouring on the edge of stainless steel.
However they now believe that systems on todays markets can meet the quality standards that their clients would expect.
The system produces around 15 cubic metres of gas per hour which is enough to maintain cutting on materials up to 3mm thick, above that and the laser cutter will draw from the storage tanks which are then replenished either overnight (if no production is taking place) or during times when they are cutting thicker mild steels which uses oxygen as an assist gas.
The system is very easy to use and enters economy mode when the storage tanks are full so there is no excess and no wastage. The system also requires a very minimal amount of maintenance.
The latest investment demonstrates Yorkshire Profiles continual commitment to both their clients in terms of price and quality and to the environment by reducing waste and unnecessary deliveries where alternatives are available.
Other Press Releases By This Company
- 06/07/2015 - How we cope with technical faults
- 06/07/2015 - Yorkshire Profiles launch new website!
- 06/07/2015 - Removal of waterjet cutting services
- 06/07/2015 - Additional metal folding capacity
- 19/10/2012 - Yorkshire Profiles Ltd based in North Yorkshire has been successfully registered as an ISO9001:2008 compliant business.
