The Study on the Real-Time Measurement of Pipe Shape Applicable During Its Bending Process

The importance of piping technologies related to refrigerant, operating fluid, and lubricant is increasing according to growth of the industries such as plant, electric home appliances, aviation, and automotive. The elongation during the bending and curvature change by spring back effect after the bending are caused by characteristics of pipe material. The fault in assembling is occurred by shape change of pipe. So, real-time measurement of pipe shape is required in the bending process. In this study, head for real-time measurement of pipe shape during the pipe bending process in the bending machine is proposed, designed, and manufactured. Verification test of developed measurement head is conducted. Also developed pipe shape measurement head is adopted and tested in the pipe bending machine.