by Chris Gandee
And now, the Standards!

Overview:
The Advanced Scoring Module introduced in Upgrade 2 of the VRTEX® 360 Extensions™ program represents an inspection relative to a specific standard:

• American Welding Society D1.1 Structural Welding Code
• ASME B31 Process Piping Code

The VRTEX® 360 will utilize the chosen Scoring Modules or welding code to evaluate a pipe or groove weld based on the following items:

• Testing for a “Look Out”, or a certain amount of defects in the weld by visual inspection of the welding bead
• Testing for a fail-break, or when the weld slab breaks into 2 pieces during the bend test
• Testing for a fail, or when the bend test does not break into 2 pieces, but defects are visually shown in the post-bent piece.
• Testing for a pass, or when the post-bent slab is free of defects or the amount of defects are too small to consider an issue.

Advanced Scoring Modules specify how much of a defect/discontinuity (e.g. length along the weld) will cause a failure, based on the chosen welding code.  The failure is shown per defect on the LASER screen (checkmarks indicate passing) and is also used in the virtual bend test.

For more information about the acceptable visual inspection requirements, see the American Welding Society D1.1 Structural Welding Code – Steel for all plate welds or the ASME B31 for all pipe welds.

Accessing the Scoring Modules:

1. From the “Sign In” screen, turn the Instructor Key one quarter turn to the right.
2. Once in the Instructor Mode, use the joystick to highlight the “Scoring Module” block and press the red “Select” button.
3. The Module Selection Box will appear below the Scoring Module block. Use the joystick to toggle through the available Modules and choose the Scoring Module by pressing the red “Select” button.
4. There are three Scoring Module selections:
   a. D1.1 Standard
   b. ASME Standard
   c. None

Exiting the Scoring Modules:
Once the desired Module is chosen, exit the Scoring Module selection by pressing the orange “Back” button twice until the “Sign Screen” appears.

Scoring Module “None”
This Module allows the VRTEX® 360 to operate in traditional standards.

Tips for Incorporating into your welding program:

• Incorporate the VRTEX® 360 in classroom teaching on a big screen to show students a bend test pass and fail to explain the steps of inspection for a code quality weld
• Identify welding applications where students will need to be tested and prepared for code quality welding to provide real world applications and understanding in the classroom and welding labs.  A road trip to a local manufacturing or fabrication facility where code quality welding is completed will make this even more relevant for the students.
• Utilize the VRTEX® 360 to prepare students previous to conducting traditional testing.  This provides students the opportunity to see and practice their “virtual bend” and weld performance before going to live testing.  Doing so can alleviate some of the anxiety of testing and validates their performance prior to testing.