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Welding Robots for Steel Frame Structures
Author(s) -
Yoshikawa Kaoru,
Tanaka Kazuo
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
computer‐aided civil and infrastructure engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.773
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1467-8667
pISSN - 1093-9687
DOI - 10.1111/0885-9507.00045
Subject(s) - welding , robot welding , automation , robot , mechanical engineering , computer science , process (computing) , frame (networking) , engineering drawing , materials science , engineering , artificial intelligence , operating system
It is difficult to automate the fabrication of steel frames because steel frames are generally nonuniform in size and shape and are composed of many kinds of members. However, robots have been introduced to a certain extent in the welding process. This paper consists of the following two parts: First, a description is given of the development of welding robots that carry out multilayer welding of thick diaphragms on box columns. We tried many welding experiments for various thicknesses of plates combined with different welding root gaps in order to determine appropriate welding conditions. In designing the system, we examined efficiency and various problems associated with welding operations. As a result, we obtained welding that was satisfactory in terms of both quality and cost–effectiveness. Second, the plates used on the connections of steel columns are very thick in comparison with the short welding line length. It is therefore difficult to introduce complete automation for welding these connections. We developed a welding system applicable in such a case using some six axis articulated welding robots. The robots operated well, permitting continuous and automated welding in practice.