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Dual-robot stud welding system for membrane wall

Youdong Chen (School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Beihang University, Beijing, China)
Qi Hu (School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Beihang University, Beijing, China)

Industrial Robot

ISSN: 0143-991x

Article publication date: 18 August 2021

Issue publication date: 3 January 2022

130

Abstract

Purpose

The membrane wall is one of the most important components in the boiler industry and numerous studs are welded on its surface. The membrane wall welding still remains a sector intensive in the manual and arduous works. This paper aims to propose a dual-robot system to automatically weld studs on the membrane wall.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the authors proposed a dual-robot stud welding system for membrane walls. First, the membrane wall is divided into several zones and the welding paths are planned. Then, the pose of the pipes is calculated based on the data measured by light section sensors. The planned paths are compensated by the pose. Finally, the robots weld studs based on the compensated paths.

Findings

The method effectively eliminates manufacturing errors and welding distortions. The system can weld straight type and L-type membrane walls with high efficiency, high quality and high accuracy.

Originality/value

The system can weld straight type and L-type membrane walls with high efficiency and high quality. Experiments were performed in a factory to demonstrate the practicability of the method. The dual-robot system with two welding machines has approximately twice the efficiency of the manual welder with only one welding machine. The quality and accuracy of robot welding systems are higher than that of manual welding.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This research work is financially supported by the National Key R&D program grant (2019YFB1312202).

Citation

Chen, Y. and Hu, Q. (2022), "Dual-robot stud welding system for membrane wall", Industrial Robot, Vol. 49 No. 1, pp. 132-140. https://doi.org/10.1108/IR-03-2021-0049

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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