Before 2023 ends, McElroy Manufacturing’s first completed Tritan™ 560 will be travelling around the globe, with the first five models scheduled to arrive in Australia.
First introduced at INFUSION22, McElroy’s annual distributor conference, the Tritan 560 is the newest member of the McElroy lineup.
It combines features of three of McElroy’s most innovative machines: the rugged portability and technology of the TracStar® iSeries, pipe loading capabilities of the Talon™ 2000, and the ability to meet the pipe where it lays, found in the Acrobat™ QuikFit® carriages.
With a full 360-degree rotation and a boom that can raise, extend, and curl the carriage to approach and load pipe, the Tritan boosts jobsite efficiency and improves workplace safety by eliminating the need to top-load pipe into the fusion machine.
But what makes the Tritan different from McElroy’s other offerings?
The bottom-loading carriage is one of the biggest differences as it eliminates the need to lift pipe overhead and into the machine for standard fusions, making it ultimately safer.
With the Tritan, operators can load pipe quickly and safely in a variety of configurations. The Tritan’s boom arms can raise, extend, and curl the carriage over a range of motions.
The Tritan also offers a removable carriage that can operate in a 2+2 or 3+1 configuration, in both a top-loading or bottom-loading setup for maximum flexibility in the field.
In confined spaces or in-ditch applications, the carriage can be loaded directly onto the pipe from above, minimising the amount of excavation required under the pipe.
Using the DataLogger to wirelessly control the Tritan allows operators to carry out the fusion process from the safest possible position.
“Because the design of the Tritan allows so much freedom of movement, wireless controls were developed so the operator can move wherever is needed for the best visibility,” McElroy Product Innovation Manager Mike Pacheco said.
The Tritan 560 aids in pipe positioning, allowing for more flexibility and increased performance and productivity. With the same rugged, dual rubber tracks found on McElroy TracStar machines, the Tritan offers all-terrain mobility to easily travel across a variety of terrains and can be driven directly to and from the pipe itself.
By building off the legacy and design of multiple McElroy units, the Tritan minimises the amount of time spent between fusions while also letting the machine work in tight areas.
In addition to its other revolutionary functions and features, the Tritan includes a hydraulically powered generator to supply voltage to its heater. Rather than energising and de-energising the heater to control its temperature, this new approach varies the motor’s speed to raise and lower voltage.
For operators and contractors, that means less fuel consumption and an overall reduction in engine noise.
By now, many operators are familiar with using the DataLogger 7 as a wireless control for the TracStar iSeries. But the Tritan 560’s design takes that design a step further, with the DataLogger 7 poised to fully, and wirelessly operate the vehicle as its primary interface.
The Tritan’s controls work seamlessly through the DataLogger, including its basic function controls, the bottom-loading carriage, rotation, and boom.
The DataLogger is a staple of the fusion industry, allowing contractors and operators to capture, store, and share fusion data.
In the years since its release, the DataLogger has proven itself an invaluable tool for operators, managers, and inspectors thanks to its ability to document all aspects of the fusion process from start to finish, including metrics like GPS and operator info for each joint fused.
In addition, DataLogger integration allows users to take full advantage of McElroy’s Vault™, a powerful cloud-based tool to collect, store, analyse, and share joint reports and project information. Its easy-to-use interface also allows for the recording of each fusion’s GPS location, machine, and operator information, along with joint data.
“As contractors begin to receive and use their Tritan 560 machines, we’re excited to see how they apply the Tritan’s functionality to real-world applications,” McElroy President and CEO Chip McElroy said.
“The Tritan 560 builds off the success of our existing lineup, and we can’t wait to see this latest machine add to that legacy.”
For more information visit www.mcelroy.com/en/fusion/tritan.
This article featured in the November edition of The Australian Pipeliner.
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