Customer Y calls in January to ask about problems with his cutting torch work. “I just don’t understand. In August, everything seemed to be working fine. Now we are extra busy and my guys just can’t seem to cut like we were. We’ve turned the pressure builders all the way up, but that just doesn’t seem to help.”
Visiting, we find that several things have changed since August. He is, in fact, a great deal busier and now has 3 to 5 torches running off a liquid cylinder where he previously had 1 or 2. They’ve moved up to larger bore cutting tips and it is colder outside. All have combined to reduce the flow of vaporized oxygen gas that he is able to get to each torch.
This is a common and often misdiagnosed problem- especially where changes have occurred gradually or where users have switched sources from high pressure oxygen cylinders to cryogenic liquid oxygen. In many cases, the attempted solution is to increase pressure by going to high pressure liquid cylinders or cranking up the pressure builder on what they have. This sometimes makes the problem even worse by overflowing available ambient vaporization.
If the real issue is inadequate flow of gaseous molecules then the solution is often as simple as adding additional vaporization downstream. Very high use applications such as feeding multiple oxygen lances or large cutting tips might require you to link multiple liquid cylinders or go to a larger tank.
- Photo provided courtesy of Oxylance, Inc.
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