TPT March 2018

T E CHNOLOG Y

GMAW automated pipe spool welding solution

operate and reduces human error in the welding process thanks to its adaptive control. It is claimed to achieve results that even experienced welders cannot. The Rotoweld can weld 12" carbon steel pipes with a standard wall in only 12 minutes. The Rotoweld 3.0 welds the root with GMAW and the fill and the cap with GMAW, FCAW or SAW. Users can choose to work with a single bay or twin bay. The twin bay system has major advantages and is the most popular model. The twin bay is the most efficient because of the ability to work on two bays at the same time, and the higher output this results in. The vision-based welding technology enables the operator to control the com- plete process. The system continuously analyses the image of the root weld pool picked up by a video camera incorporated in the welding arm. Unique algorithms use this information to adjust welding parameters such as travel speed, wire feed rate, arc voltage and weaving width, constantly adapting the process to varying conditions such as changes in gap, alignment, root face or temperature. Full-penetration root pass in an open bevel joint represents fewer people are interested in dirty and tiring jobs in poor conditions. Advanced technologies are constantly being invented that improve efficiency and environmental standards. The important factors are now capacity, delivery period, lower cost, lower labour costs and how to make workers’ jobs easier and safer. The company that can achieve all of these things will prevail in the market. The industry is becoming

THE Rotoweld is a fully automated pipe welding work cell developed specifically for industrial pipe prefabrication, small pressure vessel manufacturing or other similar 1G welding. It integrates machine vision, adaptive control and robotics technology in a dedicated solution that is fast and offers full penetration 1G high quality welding. This system is up to five times faster than SMAW and uses GMAW for the root, the hot pass and the cap. The work cell will process spools from 4" to 42". The Rotoweld welding torch stands still and the pipe spool rotates on the idler rollers. It can weld pipe-to-pipe and pipe- to-fitting connections, and welds carbon steel pipes with standard wall in one dia-inch per minute. It is fast and easy to

Automated pipe welding

the epitome of pipe welding skill, and this applies in the fabrication of pipe spools, for example, a sub-assembly of pipes and fittings welded in pipe shops and then sent into the field. If the welder deposits metal too far above the weld pool it sinks and cools prematurely, so fusion is incomplete. However, if the welder keeps the arc in front of the weld pool, and at just the right height, hot metal flows toward the root and the result is a full-penetration root pass. The operator only needs to monitor the process and occasionally make minor corrections. In 2014 the company released the third iteration of Rotoweld, which uses a custom robot to perform 1G girth welds. The robot arm performs the root, fill and cap passes with one welding gun, though the system can still be configured with multiple processes.

Copier Bevelmachines – Netherlands Email: info@copierbv.com Website: www.bevelmachines.com How production of ERW pipes has changed

increasingly integrated and more focused on automation. In the future, a few dominant companies will merge, which will centralise the purchase of raw materials and administration, and a dozen workers will soon accomplish the same as a large factory currently can.

IT has been more than a century since the ERW pipe industry first began. There are now tens of thousands of production lines with millions of industrial workers around the world and it is still expanding rapidly, according to Dalian Field. For a long time, due to the low investment threshold and short payback period, the ERW pipe industry was dominated by small enterprises with poor profitability. However, worker welfare standards are improving and

Dalian Field – China Fax: +86 411 83192716 Email: fd@fdmachinery.com Website: www.fdmachinery.com

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MARCH 2018