ESAB Welding & Cutting Products recently announced that all HKS brand equipment, which includes the flagship WeldQAS Quality Assurance System for real-time monitoring and recording of arc characteristics, have been rebranded as ESAB products. HKS Prozesstechnik GmbH was founded in 1994 in Halle, Germany. ESAB acquired HKS in 2017 to reinforce the company’s strategic focus on automated welding and grow its suite of ESAB Digital Solutions.
“ESAB weld monitoring and analytic equipment can sample and record weld data hundreds of times per second,” says Robert Träger, Global Product Manager for Welding Analytics, ESAB. “We help manufacturers and fabricators find and eliminate the root causes of irregularities and defects so that they can maximize productivity and lower costs, as well as provide quality assurance and traceability documentation for every weld seam.”
ESAB’s monitoring systems operate independent of welding equipment brand and process, so anyone can use them. Weld monitoring is especially important for robotic and automated welding, critical components, expensive materials, and high-volume/high-speed operations. In these applications, an immediate alert or automated system that can stop the process without operator intervention can save thousands of dollars in rework or scrap.
“Products such WeldQAS and WeldScanner can automate a tedious and costly process that is also prone to human error,” adds Träger. He notes the need for documentation and traceability is growing, especially in the power, wind tower, offshore, pressure vessel, shipbuilding, energy, petrochemical, and other market segments, which ESAB serves with the industry’s broadest portfolio of integrated welding and cutting systems.
Monitoring Portfolio
All HKS trade dress will be phased out by the end of 2021 as inventory is depleted. All fact sheets and supporting literature will reflect the ESAB branding, and the ESAB website will reflect the brand change as content migrates from the HKS website. Products in the portfolio include:
WeldQAS for automatic quality monitoring and documentation in industrial production for GMAW (MIG) welding, resistance welding, stud welding, laser welding, conduction and induction welding, and clinching.
WeldScanner, a multipurpose measuring device that is usable as data logger, oscilloscope, and for validation. It enables users to easily find the root cause of errors through error analysis.
The WeldScanner Validator can validate all brands of welding equipment in accordance with IEC 60974-14 Arc Welding Equipment - Part 14: Calibration, Validation and Consistency Testing. It precisely measures welding voltage, current, wire feed speed, gas flow rate, and travel speed. It offers the same full level of functionality as the WeldScanner.
ThermoProfilScanner, used for tube and profile welding, features a patented infrared camera that uses passive thermography to perform volumetric non-destructive testing of the complete weld seam.
WeldAnalyst, a modern measuring device for complex dynamic analyses of all welding processes.
Sensors to monitor weld current/voltage, gas flow, wire feed speed, travel speed, force, temperature, and other variables for any welding process.
