TPT September 2023

ARTICLE

FD Machinery

The latest development of roll changing robots on pipe welding lines By Mr Gao, chief engineer, FD Machinery

Since the first pipe welding production line with robotic roll changing was made 11 years ago, it has been respected by customers in the pipe welding industry due to its unique advanced performance such as labour saving, safe operation, fast and error free. At present, nearly ten production lines have been made for production, including large and small production lines as shown below.

Large pipe welding

production line with robotic roll changing (in Africa, 2016)

With the rapid development of robotic roll changing technology, the latest robotic roll changing device adopts automatic adjustment to replace the adjustment by manipulator on the robot, which reduce the roll changing time by 30 per cent. The biggest improvement is the introduction of the automatic roll rack library, meaning no need for manual loading of rolls from the roll rack. As long as the specifications are entered, the roll rack will automatically be loaded onto the roll changing robot cart, and then the rolls on the equipment will be automatically replaced. The unloaded roll rack will be automatically placed in the roll rack library, completely removing the need for manual labour. The future robotic roll changing device will be combined with the automatic roll warehouse, which only needs two to three roll racks. The rolls will be automatically assembled onto the roll rack by the roll robotic arm, and the rolls on the roll racks will also be automatically placed back on the warehouse shelves by the robotic arm. Due to the elimination of roll rack, storage space is greatly reduced. During the process of disassembling the rolls, the cleaning robot can be used to clean and apply oil on the roll loading area. It can make sure that the rolls and roll shaft are maintained to prevent damage during disassembly and rusting due to prolonged storage. I believe that with the progress of society and the improvement of living standards, people will increasingly pursue comfortable work and enterprise upgrading and improvement is an inevitable trend. In addition to being able to produce robotic roll changing devices for horizontal roll, FD Machinery can also achieve automatic replacement of other rolls. However, in comparison, the willingness to automatically replace horizontal roll is stronger.

The first pipe welding production line with robotic roll changing (in China, 2012)

Small pipe welding

production line with robotic roll changing (in China, 2020)

Middle-size pipe welding production line with robotic roll changing (in Europe, 2017)

Middle-size pipe welding production line with robotic roll changing (in the USA, 2020)

FD Machinery www.fdmachinery.com

Double robotic roll changing (Europe, 2022)

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