JP2012218031A - Automatic centering device for pipeline - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic centering device for a pipeline capable of performing accurate centering in a simple facility and without depending on the skill of an operator.SOLUTION: The automatic centering device for a pipeline includes: a fixed roller 1 for supporting an existing pipe P1; a movable roller 2 for supporting a newly laid pipe P2 and which is movable in three directions of a direction along the pipe axis, the horizontal direction, and the vertical direction; a ring body 11 attached to the peripheral face of the newly laid pipe; a band laser position displacement sensor 12 provided on the circumference of the ring body and detecting a clearance amount between two pipe ends, and a pipe deviation amount at the pipe end circular cross sections; an angle sensor 13 provided to the ring body and detecting an angular deviation amount of the pipes P1, P2 from reference axes of the pipe end circular cross sections; a data processing means 14 for calculating a correction value of the horizontal direction and the vertical direction of the pipe end circular cross section of the movable roller; and a movable roller control device 15 for driving the movable roller so that the correction value calculated by the data processing means and the clearance amount detected by the band laser position displacement sensor become fixed values or less.

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic centering device for a pipeline that positions a pipe end of a pipeline so that the pipe axes coincide with each other.

The centering in the pipeline laying site is an operation for matching the pipe axis of the pipe newly joined with the pipe axis of the pipe already laid. Conventional standard centering adjustment has been performed by attaching a plurality of chain blocks to a new pipe and aligning both pipe axes by unwinding the chain block.
However, such a centering method using a chain block not only requires a lot of time and manpower for work preparation and centering work, but also because the pipe suspended by the chain block shakes. However, there is a problem that the welding groove of the other pipe collides with the welding groove of the other pipe and seriously damages the groove, and the following Patent Documents 1 and 2 are provided to solve such a problem.

  In the “pipe centering method” shown in Patent Document 1, a pipe is placed on each of a fixed roller and a movable roller, and a position control device that can slide up and down, front and rear, and left and right is pulled into the movable roller side, and the position control is performed. The apparatus supports the pipe on the movable roller so that the pipe and the pipe on the fixed roller are aligned, thereby shortening the centering operation time.

  An "automatic centering device for a work tube" shown in Patent Document 2 is a butt support between a rotation support roller that rotates around a tube axis while horizontally supporting two butted work tubes. A set of two band laser sensors that are arranged in the tangential direction of the pipe so as to irradiate the positions of both pipe end machining surfaces and that are arranged adjacent to the rotation support roller so that the optical axes are orthogonal to each other. Tube diameter data and measurement data obtained by the two sets of band laser sensors are compared, and the rotation support roller is moved with respect to the tube axis of each tube to be processed so that the comparison value is not more than a certain value. And a control device that adjusts the movement in the orthogonal direction. Then, while rotating the pipe with such a rotation support roller, the centering accuracy is improved by automatically centering using the measurement data obtained by one set of two band laser sensors.

JP 61-14095 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-10486

  By the way, the centering method shown in Patent Document 1 does not have an automatic control function, the centering accuracy depends on the operator skill, and the variation in the centering repeatability is large, so the welding quality varies and the welding failure. There is a problem that the amount of work increases and the work time increases.

  Moreover, in the automatic centering apparatus described in Patent Document 2, there is a problem that it is physically impossible to rotate the pipe that is centered at the pipeline laying site. The automatic centering device of Patent Document 2 is large and has a problem that welding cannot be started immediately after centering.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and provides a pipeline automatic centering device that can perform centering with high accuracy regardless of operator skill.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides the following means.
That is, claim 1 of the present application is an automatic centering device for a pipeline that joins pipe end portions of two pipes to each other, and includes a fixed roller that supports an existing pipe, and the existing pipe that is supported by the fixed roller. A movable roller that supports the newly installed tube so that the tube end is close to the tube end of the tube, and is movable in three directions, a horizontal direction and a vertical direction along the tube axis and in the tube end circular section. A ring body attached to the circumferential surface of the pipe, and at least three locations on the circumference of the ring body at equal intervals, the gap amount along the pipe axis of the two pipe ends, and the horizontal direction in the pipe end circular section A position displacement sensor for detecting a pipe displacement amount in the vertical direction, an angle sensor provided on the ring body for detecting an angle deviation of a tube from a reference axis on the pipe end circular section, and the position displacement sensor The amount of tube deviation detected in step 1 and the angle Data processing means for calculating correction values in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction in the tube end circular section of the movable roller from the amount of angular deviation of the pipe detected by the sensor, the correction value calculated by the data processing means, and the And a movable roller control device for driving the movable roller so that the gap amount detected by the position displacement sensor is a predetermined value or less.

According to this invention, in the data processing means, the movable roller is calculated from the horizontal and vertical pipe deviation amounts in the pipe end circular section detected by the position displacement sensor and the angular deviation amount of the pipe detected by the angle sensor. The correction values in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction in the pipe end circular section are calculated. After that, the movable roller control device adjusts the movable roller so that the correction value calculated by the data processing means and the gap amount along the tube axes of the two tube ends detected by the position displacement sensor are equal to or less than a certain value. To do. As a result, the new pipe supported by the movable roller approaches the existing pipe supported by the fixed roller, and finally the pipe axes of these two pipes can be made coincident.
That is, in the automatic centering device of the present invention, the position displacement sensors provided at three or more locations at equal intervals on the circumference measure the amount of pipe deviation in real time, and the angle sensor measures the amount of angular deviation of the pipe, Based on these pipe deviation amount and angle deviation amount, the pipe deviation amount is automatically adjusted by the movable roller, so that the centering operation of the pipe can be performed in a short time without rotating the pipe. Accurate and stable centering work that does not depend on skill can be performed.
Further, in the automatic centering device of the present invention, the pipe deviation amount is automatically adjusted by the movable roller based on the pipe deviation amount and the angle deviation amount measured by the sensor attached to the ring body. Therefore, it is not necessary to make the mounting accuracy of the ring body strict, and the mounting time of the ring body can be shortened. Further, by clarifying the division of roles of the movable rollers, it is possible to improve work efficiency and shorten the centering time.

  In the automatic centering device for a pipeline according to claim 2 of the present application, the ring body is configured such that two halved rings can be opened and closed by a hinge.

  According to the present invention, the ring body to which the position displacement sensor is attached has a halved structure, so that the ring body can be removed immediately after the centering operation is completed, and welding can be started. The loss time can be shortened. Further, the ring body can be easily mounted even at the start of the centering operation.

  In the pipeline automatic centering device according to claim 3 of the present application, the adjustment of the gap amount and the pipe deviation amount of the pipe end is performed by rough adjustment before gripping the joint portion with the inner surface clamp in the pipe, and after gripping. It is characterized in that the adjustment is performed in two stages of precision adjustment.

  According to this invention, the adjustment of the gap amount and the pipe deviation amount at the pipe end by the data processing means and the movable roller control device is performed by rough adjustment before gripping the joint portion with the inner surface clamp and fine adjustment after gripping. By adjusting in two steps, the welding operation after gripping the inner surface clamp can be performed smoothly, and the efficiency of the welding operation can be improved.

  In the pipeline automatic centering apparatus according to claim 1 of the present application, the position displacement sensors provided at three or more locations on the circumference at equal intervals measure the amount of pipe deviation in real time, and the angle sensor detects the angle deviation of the pipe. Since the amount of pipe displacement was measured and the amount of pipe displacement and the amount of angle deviation were automatically adjusted by the movable roller, the pipe was centered in a short time without rotating the pipe, and Therefore, accurate and stable centering work that does not depend on the skill of the centering operator can be performed. In addition, since the tube displacement amount is automatically adjusted by the movable roller based on the tube displacement amount and the angle displacement amount measured by the sensor attached to the ring body, the accuracy of attaching the ring body to the tube is strictly regulated. There is no need to do so, and the mounting time of the ring body can be shortened. Further, by clarifying the division of roles of the movable rollers, it is possible to improve work efficiency and shorten the centering time.

  Further, in the pipeline automatic centering device according to claim 2 of the present application, the ring body to which the position displacement sensor is attached has a halved structure, so that the ring body is removed immediately after the centering operation is completed, and welding is performed. It can be started, and the loss time between the centering operation and the welding operation can be shortened. Further, the ring body can be easily mounted even at the start of the centering operation.

  Further, in the pipeline automatic centering apparatus according to claim 3 of the present application, the adjustment of the gap amount and the pipe deviation amount of the pipe end by the data processing means and the movable roller control device is performed by holding the joint portion with the inner surface clamp. By performing the adjustment in two stages, the coarse adjustment before gripping and the fine adjustment after gripping, the welding work after gripping the inner surface clamp can be performed smoothly, and the efficiency of the welding work can be improved.

It is a perspective view which shows the whole automatic centering apparatus of a pipeline. It is a figure which shows the sensor installation state of the pipe positioning mechanism arrange | positioned at the pipe end. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the pipe | tube deviation | shift amount.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
1 are pipes connected to each other. Reference numeral P1 is an existing pipe that is already connected in plural, and reference numeral P2 is a new pipe that is newly joined to the existing pipe P1.

  The existing pipe P1 is arranged on the fixed roller 1 having a plurality of rotation support rollers 1A along the tube axis O1, and the tube P1 is moved to the tube axis O1 by the rotation support roller 1A of the fixed roller 1. It can move in the z direction. Two sets of the fixed rollers 1 are arranged at intervals in the length direction of the existing pipe P1.

The new pipe P2 is supported on the movable roller 2 having a plurality of rotation support rollers 2A, and is disposed so as to be close to the existing pipe P1 and end faces thereof.
Two sets of the movable rollers 2 are arranged at intervals in the length direction of the new pipe P2, and each support the vicinity of the pipe end of the new pipe P2. Further, each movable roller 2 is driven by the driving mechanism 3 on the rotation support roller 2A in the arrow x direction which is a horizontal direction, the arrow y direction which is a vertical direction, and the arrow z direction which is perpendicular to these and along the tube axis direction. The new pipe P2 is movable so that the pipe axis (indicated by symbol O2) of the new pipe P2 is positioned so as to coincide with the pipe axis O1 of the existing pipe P1 supported by the fixed roller 1. And on-site centering work is possible.

The movable roller 2 is provided with a tube positioning mechanism 10 that adjusts the movable roller 2 so that the tube displacement amount Li and the tube end gap amount C are equal to or less than a predetermined value.
In the following description, the gap amount C means the gap amount C along the tube axis direction (z direction) of the adjacent pipe ends P1A and P2A of the two pipes P1 and P2, and the pipe deviation amount Li Means the displacement amount of the pipe end P2A of the new pipe P2 from the pipe axis O1 in the plane formed by the horizontal direction (x direction) and the vertical direction (y direction).

  This pipe positioning mechanism 10 includes a ring body 11 attached to one pipe end P2A of the new pipe P2, and a band provided at three or more points (four places in this example) at equal intervals on the circumference of the ring body 11. A laser position displacement sensor 12; an angle sensor 13 provided on the ring body 11 for detecting an angle deviation θi from an axis (reference axis) in the y direction of each band laser position displacement sensor 12; and the band laser position. Data processing means 14 for calculating a correction value of the new pipe P2 with respect to the existing space P1 based on detection data from the displacement sensor 12 and the angle sensor 13, and a driving mechanism for the movable roller 2 based on output data from the data processing means 14 3 and a movable roller driving means 15 for driving 3.

In the tube positioning mechanism 10 as described above, in the band laser position displacement sensor 12, the gap amount C in the direction (z direction) along the tube axis O2 of the tube ends P1A and P2A adjacent to the two tubes P1 and P2 and The tube displacement amount Li in the xy direction with respect to the tube axis O1 is measured, and in the angle sensor 13, the angle displacement amount θi from the y-direction axis of each band laser position displacement sensor 12 is measured. Thereafter, the data processing means 14 uses the tube displacement amount Li measured by the band laser position displacement sensor 12 based on the data detected by the band laser position displacement sensor 12 and the angle sensor 13 as the movable direction (xy direction) of the movable roller 2. A correction value (Xi, Yi) for correcting to is calculated.
In the movable roller driving unit 15, the correction values (Xi, Yi) calculated by the data processing unit 14 and the tube axes of the tube ends P1A and P2A adjacent to the two tubes P1 and P2 in the band laser position displacement sensor 12 are used. Based on the gap amount C in the direction along the O2 (z direction), the movable roller 2 is adjusted so that the pipe displacement amount Li and the gap amount C between the pipe ends P1A and P2A are equal to or less than a predetermined value.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, the ring body 11 to which the band laser position displacement sensor 12 and the angle sensor 13 are attached has two halved rings 16 formed corresponding to the outer diameter of the new pipe P2 as hinges. 17 is provided so as to be openable and closable. When the half ring 16 is opened, it is detached from the outer peripheral portion of the new pipe P2. Further, a ring fixing member 16A that is supported on the outer peripheral surface of the new pipe P2 and holds the half ring 16 at a certain distance from the new pipe P2 is provided inside the half ring 16. Yes.

  The reason why the ring body 11 is composed of two halved rings 16 is to allow the welding operation to be started immediately after the centering operation of the pipes P1 and P2. Further, in this embodiment, one of the half rings 16 can be opened and closed by a hinge 17 and the other can be connected by a lock pin 18 so that the ring body 11 can be easily opened and closed by inserting and removing the lock pin 18. However, the opening / closing component of the ring body 11 is not limited to the lock pin 18, and a snap lock, a latch knob, or the like may be used.

In the present embodiment, the band laser position displacement sensor 12 is used as a position displacement sensor for measuring the gap amount C between the two tube ends P1A and P2A and the tube displacement amount Li of the tube displacement amount Li in the xy direction with respect to the tube axis O1. Although employed, the gap laser position displacement sensor 12 is not limited as long as the gap amount C and the tube displacement amount Li can be measured.
The reason why the position displacement sensor 12 is set to three or more points is that the measurement target tube is not a perfect circle due to flatness or local deformation, and it is difficult to accurately grasp the tube displacement amount Li at two points. is there. As for the gap amount C, if there are two measurement points, it is difficult to estimate the gap amount C of the entire circumference, and local centering occurs. In order to adjust the gap amount C between the ends P1A and P2A to a certain value or less, three or more position displacement sensors 12 are required. The reason why the position displacement sensors 12 are arranged at equal intervals is to facilitate the calculation of the approximate circle center necessary for adjusting the amount of tube deviation.

  Next, in the pipe positioning mechanism 10 of the pipeline automatic centering apparatus shown in the present embodiment, the movable roller 2 is adjusted so that the pipe displacement amount Li and the gap amount C of P1A and P2A are equal to or less than a predetermined value. The processing will be described with reference to FIGS. The following data processing is executed by the data processing means 14 of the pipe positioning mechanism 10.

  (1) The band laser position acquired by the angle sensor 13 attached to the ring body 11 by detecting the pipe displacement amount Li of the pipe end P2A of the new pipe P2 from the pipe axis O1 by each band laser position displacement sensor 12. Using the angular deviation amount θi from the y-direction axis of the displacement sensor 12, the correction values (Xi, Yi) of the movable roller 2 in the x-direction and y-direction are calculated by the following equation (1).

  (2) When the radius of the new pipe P2 to which the belt laser position displacement sensor 12 is attached is assumed to be constant R, and the cross-sectional center of the new pipe P2 is the origin (the position of the pipe axis O2 of the new pipe P2), The XY coordinates (XAi, YAi) of the cross section of the new pipe P2 at the belt laser position displacement sensor 12 are calculated by the following formula 2 using the angular deviation amount θi.

(3) Using the cross-sectional coordinates (XAi, YAi) and correction values (Xi, Yi) of the new pipe P2 described above, a pipe (hereinafter referred to as a virtual pipe PS) to which the band laser position displacement sensor 12 is not attached is used. XY coordinates (XBi, YBi) corresponding to each band laser position displacement sensor 12 are calculated by the following equation (3).

(4) As for the approximate circle center coordinates (a, b) of the virtual tube PS, the band laser position displacement sensors 12 are arranged at equal intervals on the circumference using the cross-sectional coordinates (XBi, YBi) of the virtual tube PS. It is calculated from the following number 4 shown by the following least squares method of the circle.

  The approximate circle center coordinates (a, b) of the virtual pipe PS mean the existing pipe P1 as a reference. Therefore, in this example, the new pipe P2 from the pipe axis O1 by the band laser position displacement sensor 12 is used. XY coordinates (XBi, YBi) of the new pipe P2 calculated by the pipe deviation amount Li of the pipe end P2A and the angle deviation quantity θi from the axis in the y direction of the band laser position displacement sensor 12, and the virtual pipe PS (= Based on the center coordinates (a, b) of the existing pipe P1), the position of the new pipe P2 is corrected in the direction of reducing the pipe displacement amount Li. Note that the position correction of the new pipe P2 at this time is executed by inputting an operation command from the data processing means 14 to the driving mechanism 3 of the movable roller 2 through the movable roller driving means 15.

  In the present embodiment, the tube deviation adjustment method automatically corrected based on the angle deviation amount θi from the angle sensor 13 is described. However, the band laser position displacement sensors 12 are equally spaced at four points on the ring body 11, And when one of them is arranged at the apex of the new pipe P2, the measuring direction of the band laser position displacement sensor 12 and the movable axis of the movable roller 2 coincide with each other. There is no problem even if the measured tube displacement amount Li is adopted as the tube displacement amount Li to be adjusted as it is.

  Further, the adjustment of the gap amount C between the tube ends P1A and P2A is performed in the direction along the tube axis O2 of the tube ends P1A and P2A adjacent to the two tubes P1 and P2 obtained from the respective band laser position displacement sensors 12 (z direction). ) And the movable roller 2 is operated so that the respective gap amounts C are equal. For example, when there is a large gap at the top of the pipe ends P1A and P2A, the movable roller 2 on the side close to the welding joint is moved downward, or the movable roller 2 on the side far from the joint is moved upward. This makes it possible to adjust the gap. And after equalizing each gap | interval amount C (along the circumferential direction) of pipe end P1A * P2A, the movable roller 2 is operated to a pipe-axis direction, and it adjusts so that the gap amount C may become below a fixed value.

  As described above in detail, according to the automatic centering device for a pipeline according to the present embodiment, the horizontal direction (x direction) in the tube end circular section detected by the band laser position displacement sensor 12 in the data processing means 14. ) And the pipe displacement amount Li in the vertical direction (y direction) and the angle displacement amount θi of the tubes P1 and P2 detected by the angle sensor 13, the vertical direction in the horizontal direction (x direction) in the tube end circular section of the movable roller 2 A correction value (Xi, Yi) in the direction (y direction) is calculated. Thereafter, the movable roller control device 15 applies the correction values (Xi, Yi) calculated by the data processing means 14 and the tube axes O2 of the two tube ends P1A and P2A detected by the band laser position displacement sensor 12. The movable roller 2 is adjusted so that the gap amount C along the line is equal to or less than a certain value. As a result, the new pipe P2 supported by the movable roller 2 approaches the existing pipe P1 supported by the fixed roller 1, and finally the pipe axes O1 and O2 of these two pipes P1 and P2 are made to coincide. It becomes possible.

That is, in the automatic centering device, the band laser position displacement sensor 12 provided at three or more positions at equal intervals on the circumference measures the pipe displacement amount Li in real time, and the angle sensor 13 detects the angles of the pipes P1 and P2. Since the displacement amount θi is measured and the tube displacement amount Li is automatically adjusted by the movable roller 2 based on the tube displacement amount Li and the angle displacement amount θi, the pipe is centered without rotating the pipe. In addition, a stable and accurate centering operation that does not depend on the skill of the centering operator can be performed in a short time.
Further, in the automatic centering device, the pipe deviation amount is automatically adjusted by the movable roller 2 based on the pipe deviation amount Li and the angle deviation amount θi measured by the sensors 12 and 13 attached to the ring body 11. Therefore, it is not necessary to strictly attach the ring body 11 to the pipe, and the time for attaching the ring body 11 can be shortened. In addition, by clarifying the division of roles of the movable roller 2, it is possible to improve work efficiency and shorten the centering time.

In the automatic centering device, the ring body 11 to which the band laser position displacement sensor 12 is attached has a halved structure, so that the ring body 11 can be removed immediately after the centering operation is completed and welding is started. The loss time between the centering operation and the welding operation can be shortened. Further, the ring body 11 can be easily mounted even at the start of the centering operation.

  In the above embodiment, an inner surface clamp that supports the joint portion from the inside is provided on the inner surface of the joint portion of the existing pipe P1 and the new pipe P2, and rough adjustment and gripping before the joint portion is gripped by the inner surface clamp. You may divide and adjust in two stages of subsequent fine adjustment. And by capturing such pipe gripping information, the centering state after the inner surface clamping is automatically confirmed and adjusted, so that it is possible to provide an environment in which welding can be reliably performed with good centering accuracy.

  In the above-described embodiment, the angle sensor 13 detects the angular deviation θi from the axis in the y direction of each band laser position displacement sensor 12 provided on the ring body 11, that is, a vertical axis along the y direction. The reference axis may be a horizontal axis (x direction) and can be set as appropriate.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was explained in full detail with reference to drawings, the concrete structure is not restricted to this embodiment, The design change etc. of the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention are included.

  The present invention relates to an automatic centering device used for joining a submarine pipeline or an onshore pipeline.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Fixed roller 2 Movable roller 10 Tube positioning mechanism 11 Ring body 12 Band laser position displacement sensor 13 Angle sensor 14 Data processing means 15 Movable roller control device 16 Split ring 17 Hinge O1 (new tube) tube axis O2 (existing tube) Pipe axis P1 Existing pipe P1A Pipe end P2 New pipe P2A Pipe end Li Pipe deviation θi Angle deviation

Claims (3)

An automatic centering device for a pipeline that joins pipe end portions of two pipes together,
A fixed roller that supports the existing pipe;
The new pipe is supported so that the pipe end is close to the pipe end of the existing pipe supported by the fixed roller, and the three directions of the direction along the pipe axis and the horizontal direction and the vertical direction in the pipe end circular section are provided. A movable roller that is movable,
A ring attached to the peripheral surface of the new pipe;
Positions that are provided at at least three locations on the circumference of the ring body to detect the amount of gap along the tube axis at the two tube ends and the amount of horizontal and vertical pipe displacement in the tube end circular section. A displacement sensor;
An angle sensor provided on the ring body for detecting an angle deviation of the tube from a reference axis on the tube end circular section;
Data processing means for calculating a correction value in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction in the tube end circular section of the movable roller from the tube displacement amount detected by the position displacement sensor and the tube angle displacement amount detected by the angle sensor; ,
A movable roller control device for driving the movable roller so that the correction value calculated by the data processing means and the gap amount detected by the position displacement sensor are below a certain value. Automatic centering device.   2. The automatic centering device for a pipeline according to claim 1, wherein the ring body is configured such that two halved rings can be opened and closed by a hinge.   The adjustment of the gap amount and the pipe deviation amount of the pipe end is performed in two stages, that is, a coarse adjustment before gripping the joint portion by an inner surface clamp in the pipe and a fine adjustment after gripping. An automatic centering device for a pipeline according to 1 or 2.

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