Airtight or Fluid-Tight Seams
Seams may need to retain air, gas or liquid while meeting strength, pressure, leak or other finished-product requirements.
Application Solutions
Inflatable, Air Structure & Flexible Bladder Welding Equipment
Manufacturing inflatables, air-supported structures, flexible bladders and flexible tanks can involve everything from long structural panel seams to curved chambers, reinforcement, valves and localized attachment areas.
The best welding approach depends on what the product must contain, the material being used, seam geometry, product size and how the assembly moves through production.
A sealed-pressure bladder or inflatable has different
seam requirements from a continuously inflated structure.
PVC and vinyl-coated fabrics remain important throughout this
market, while TPU and polyurethane structures are also widely
used in bladders, tanks and higher-performance inflatables.
Discuss Your Application
Production Requirements
Containment
Geometry
Details
Production Flow
What Inflatable and Bladder Production Can Require
The welding process has to fit both the seam and the finished product. Large flat air structures, shaped inflatable tubes and compact bladders can place very different demands on the same production floor.
Straight, Curved & Shaped Work
Production can include straight panel seams, curved tubes, perimeter seams, chamber closures and changing 2D or 3D paths.
Valves, Baffles & Reinforcement
Valves, ports, internal webs, reinforcement and attachment areas can add layers, local thickness and separate tooling needs.
Large-Assembly Handling
As an inflatable or bladder grows, support, alignment and repositioning can become a major part of total production time.
Process Selection
The Welding Approaches That Matter Most
RF, hot air and hot wedge are established processes in inflatable production. Packet Welding™ provides another industrial option with a different approach to seam length, material flexibility and production flow.
Packet Welding™
Packet Welding™ uses programmed thermal packets under pressure. Each packet combines a short, adjustable heat-energy period with an independently adjustable controlled absorption duration, enabling heat to penetrate through the material layers to the bond line.
Packet Welding can produce short, medium and long seams. The complete seam beneath the selected bar is welded simultaneously, making it particularly useful where straight seams, repeatable settings, material flexibility and reduced indexing are important.
RF / High-Frequency Welding
RF is a long-established choice for many PVC, polyurethane and TPU inflatable products. Short compatible seams can be produced very quickly, and shaped electrodes can work well for valves, ports, circular details and other localized features.
Longer seams may require repeated indexing depending on electrode length and equipment setup. RF also introduces electromagnetic energy into the production environment.
Hot-Air Welding
Hot air is widely used for inflatable body seams, tubes and shaped products because the welding head can travel along straight or curved paths.
Welding time increases with seam travel. Continuous hot-air welding adds noise and heat to the work area, with fume and burn hazards. Production performance also depends on tracking, alignment and operator handling.
Hot-Wedge Welding
Hot-wedge welding is a continuous traveling process that can follow straight or curved welding paths. It can fit selected inflatable, air-structure, tank and bladder seams where the material and product geometry can move cleanly through the welding path.
Material thickness, access, pressure geometry, curve radius and the ability to maintain consistent movement determine whether wedge welding fits the product.
Other methods have narrower roles.
Impulse welding can fit selected thermoplastic seams, while adhesive bonding remains necessary for materials that are not heat-weldable. Sewing may also be appropriate for some continuously
inflated products.
Cycle Time & Production Flow
How Seam Length Changes the Production Method
Welding speed matters in inflatable production, but the methods scale differently as seam length increases.
Packet Welding™
Novaseal® Packet Welding™ systems are available with sealing bars up to 30 feet long. The complete seam beneath the selected bar is welded simultaneously. Cycle time does not increase simply because the seam is longer.
RF Welding
RF can be very fast on short compatible seams and localized details. Longer seams may require repeated indexing depending on electrode length and equipment setup. RF arcing and electromagnetic interference may also affect equipment selection.
Hot Air & Hot Wedge
Both are traveling processes. Welding time therefore increases with the distance the welding head or material must travel along the seam.
Once weld cycle time is established, efficient material handling becomes the next opportunity to improve throughput.
Loading, alignment, indexing, operator movement, product support and repositioning all affect finished-part output. On a large inflatable, air structure or bladder, the best machine is often the one that improves the complete production flow rather than merely the welding step.
Novaseal Equipment
Production Platform
Oversized Assemblies
Compact / Integration
Custom Tooling & Components
Handheld & Integrated Wedge Welding
Localized Welding
Existing Equipment
Where Novaseal® Fits
Novaseal offers several ways to match equipment to the job. The right path may be a Packet Welding™ system, Custom Heat Sealing System, handheld or integrated wedge welding, localized welding equipment, automation, modernization of existing equipment, RF repurposing or refurbished equipment when a suitable system is available.
Standard Packet Welding System
Floor-mounted production platform for extended seam lengths, repetitive production and application-specific handling or automation.
Gantry Packet Welding System
The welding head can move into position over a large supported assembly where repeatedly moving the growing inflatable, structure or bladder is less practical.
TableTop Packet Welding System
Available in 40-, 72- and 126-inch bar lengths for compact production, component work, production cells and OEM integration.
Custom Heat Sealing Systems
Engineered around product geometry and tooling for operations such as valve and nozzle sealing, ports, shaped components and other localized details or subassemblies used in inflatable, bladder and flexible-tank production.
Wedge-Welding Equipment Paths
Hot-wedge welding is a continuous traveling process that can follow straight or curved welding paths. It is used for seams in inflatables, air structures, tanks and bladders where the material and product geometry can move cleanly through the welding path.
NovaHEAT™ Patch Welder
Dedicated localized tooling can be useful for patches, reinforcement and attachment areas that do not require a long bar or a continuous traveling seam.
Upgrade, Repurpose or Refurbish
Existing Novaseal systems can be modernized, and suitable RF equipment can be evaluated for repurposing as a Packet Welder while retaining usable machine structure. Refurbished equipment can provide another path when the right system is available.
Production Flexibility
One Production Platform Can Cover More of the Job
Packet Welding™ can produce short, medium and long seams on the same system. When bar welding fits the product, manufacturers can select a bar length around the longest practical seam they expect to produce while retaining the ability to perform shorter seams, reinforcement, attachments and other localized operations where the tooling permits.
For long straight seams within the selected bar length, the entire seam can be welded simultaneously without repeated indexing. For oversized products, a Gantry setup can move the welding head over the supported assembly rather than repeatedly moving the entire product.
More Than One Material Family
Packet Welding systems can process vinyl/PVC and a broad range of other thermoplastic structures using application-specific settings, including polyurethane, TPU-related structures, polyester, nylon, polyethylene and polypropylene where the complete material is suitable.
Suitable dissimilar thermoplastic combinations can also be evaluated when two different materials need to be welded to each other.
Main Seams and Local Details
The same finished inflatable may require one process for large structural seams and another for a valve, nozzle, patch, reinforcement or other tooling-defined detail. Custom Heat Sealing Systems can be engineered around these localized product features when dedicated tooling is the better fit. Equipment selection should follow the complete fabrication sequence rather than one representative seam.
Measure Output, Not Machine Price Alone
Packet Welding™ economics are best measured by production capacity and cost per unit of output. Labor, handling, equipment consolidation, maintenance, downtime, consumables, automation, floor-space use, service life, total cost of ownership (TCO) and return on investment (ROI) all contribute to the equipment decision.
Application Evaluation
Evaluate the Best Fit for Your Production
Novaseal can evaluate your material, seam requirements, current process and production goals to help determine which welding approach and equipment setup best fits your production.
If you currently use RF, hot air, wedge welding or another process, tell us what works well and what you want to improve. If you have material samples, drawings or photos, seam dimensions or a production challenge you want to improve, send what you have. We can work from there.