WELDER'S WORLD No. 04

At Traktionssysteme Austria GmbH, two robots are mainly
responsible for doing the welding work related to the
construction of rail vehicle drives. Nevertheless, 40 percent
of all weld seams are joined by hand. In order to stay within
the permitted MAC limit value*, Binzel fume extraction
torches are now being used at the manual welding stations,
which extract the potentially hazardous welding fumes
directly where they are produced, allowing welders to
breathe deeply without any side effects.
Author and photos: Ing. Norbert Novotny/x-technik
Der RAB Plus 501D
gewährleistet die Rauchabsaugung
direkt am
Entstehungsort, ohne
die Schutzgasglocke zu
beschädigen
The RAB Plus 501D
guarantees fume
extraction directly where
it is produced, without
damaging the inert
gas shroud
The product portfolio at Traktionssysteme Austria
GmbH (TSA) covers liquid and air-cooled asynchronous
motors and generators for all application areas of
electrical vehicles for rail and road use. Traction drives
have been being produced in the Wiener Neudorf
plant for almost 50 years. “Rail vehicles made by
renowned manufacturers such as Bombardier,
Siemens, CAF, Stadler, PESA or Kinki Sharyo are
equipped with our drive systems,“ Kurt Guzmics from
Quality Assurance at TSA, explains. Of the total workforce
of 170 employees, 30 are currently working in
Engineering, which has produced some truly “groundbreaking“
designs – such as special drive systems for
low-floor tramcars.
“Thanks to certification in accordance with the International
Railway Industry Standard (IRIS), we document
that we are subjecting the quality management
system to constant critical evaluation,“ adds the engineer
Willibald Pretl from Quality Management at TSA.
“The focus of all our activities is on the quality and
safety of the products, as well as the protection of our
employees and the environment. This basic principle is
one of the mainstays of our company guidelines,“ he
continues. And the company was able to prove this
once again just recently, when all the manual welding
stations at the Wiener Neudorf plant were equipped
with fume extraction torches from Binzel as a health
protection measure.
Fume extraction torches vs. fixed extraction. Two
welding robots from igm deal with the main welding
jobs at TSA. Nevertheless, 40 percent of all weld
seams (note by the editor: e.g. welding terminal boxes
in place) are done by hand. “Our six welders do most
welding using the MAG method with steel qualities
from S235 to S355. This produces potentially hazardous
fumes,“ explains EWS Kurt Guzmics.
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