JP3421725B2 - Method and system for automatically determining welding process near the end of welding line - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a welding process automatic determination method and a welding process automatic determination system near the end of a welding line. More specifically, the present invention relates to a welding process automatic determination method and a welding process automatic determination system near the end of a welding line that automatically determines a welding process suitable for the shape of the processed product near the end of the welding line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, automatic welding by a welding robot has been widely performed because it can be applied to welding of various objects. In order to perform this automatic welding, it is necessary to give the welding robot position information of the welding line indicating the welded part, but if the shape of the processed product is simple, the target operation is detected by the patterned operation program. Then, the starting end and the ending end of the welding line can be calculated based on the detected position. That is, when the shape of the processed product is simple, the position of the welding line can be automatically taught to the welding robot by the patterned operation program.

However, in the production of a product having a complicated structure such as equipment for ships, it is impossible to automatically teach the welding line by the above-described patterned operation program, and therefore, the teaching of the welding line is manually performed. Although forced, manual teaching is not efficient, and therefore it is desired to use a system for automatically instructing a welding robot to directly perform a welding process including teaching of a welding line using numerical data. Under these circumstances, so-called three-dimensional CAD (Computer A
Using the ided Design system, development of a system that automatically creates teaching data without manual labor is being developed.

However, the structure of the processed product including the joint portion between the mounting member and the mounted member is diverse, and in the case where the structure of the processed product is complicated or when it is necessary to perform beat joint processing, the welding line is used. It is not possible to automatically determine the welding process near the edges. Therefore, in such a case, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-298215, the present situation is to handle the welding process suitable for the shape near the end by manual input.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and automatically performs a welding process suitable for the shape of the processed product near the end of the welding line regardless of the shape of the processed product. It is an object of the present invention to provide a welding process automatic determination method and a welding process automatic determination system in the vicinity of the end of a welding line to be determined in a mechanical manner.

[0006]

According to a method for automatically determining a welding process near the end of a welding line of the present invention, the welding process near the end of the welding line is based on a torch angle with respect to the welding line and a torch operation at the end of the welding line. Then, the required number of end processing patterns are classified in advance, and which part of the pattern the vicinity of the end to be welded corresponds to is determined by using the shape data of each member.
It is characterized in that it is automatically determined based on a simulation of assembling a material into a processed product, and the welding process near the end of the welding line is automatically determined based on the determination result.

The method for automatically determining the welding process near the end of the welding line according to the present invention is specifically a three-dimensional CAD system and a CAM.
And a welding line obtained by the simulation, which is a method for automatically determining a welding process near an end of a welding line using the system and a simulation for assembling each member including a mounting member into a workpiece by a three-dimensional CAD system. Based on the shape near the end, it is determined which of the required number of end processing patterns that is set in advance the vicinity of the welding target end is based on the torch angle with respect to the welding line and the torch operation at the end. It is characterized by including a procedure and a procedure for selecting a welding process corresponding to the determination result.

On the other hand, the welding process automatic determining system near the end of the welding line of the present invention is a welding process automatic determining system near the end of the welding line using a three-dimensional CAD system and a CAM system. A simulation of assembling each member including a mounting member into a processed product by the system was performed, and due to the shape near the end of the welding line obtained from the simulation, the vicinity of the end to be welded was a torch angle with respect to the welding line and a torch operation at the end. Based on the above, it is configured to determine which of the required number of end portion processing patterns set in advance, and to select the welding processing corresponding to the determination result.

Here, the torch angle with respect to the welding line is classified into, for example, perpendicular to the welding line and inclined with respect to the welding line, and the torch operation at the end portion is, for example, a bead splicing for performing a square winding process. It is categorized into that the treatment is performed, the square winding treatment and the bead splicing treatment are not performed.

[0010]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it is possible to automatically determine a welding process suitable for the shape of the processed product near the end of the welding line regardless of the shape of the processed product near the end of the welding line. .

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to such embodiments.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a welding process automatic determination system T to which a welding process determination method near the end of a welding line according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. Even if the shape is complicated or a bead splicing process is required, the welding process suitable for the shape of the processed product near the end of the welding line is automatically determined.

The welding processing automatic determination system T is a three-dimensional C
AD system 11 and CAM (Computer Aided Manufac)
Turing) system 12, a manufacturing site control device 13 that gives a specific operation command to the welding robot 15 at the manufacturing site according to an instruction from the CAM system 12, and an operation of the welding robot 15 according to an instruction from the manufacturing site control device 13. It is composed of a robot controller 14 for controlling.

The three-dimensional CAD system 11 stores the shape data of each of the members constituting the workpiece to be welded and the shape of the welding line including the information about the candidate welding line which is expected to become the welding line. Welding line database 11
A has a simulation function of assembling each member into a processed product by using the shape data of each member. Here, the shape data of each member is held in the form of the coordinates of the vertices of the polygon, for example, by approximating the surface forming the member by a polygon.

The CAM system 12 uses welding condition data,
It has a welding work database 12A for storing data relating to the execution of welding work such as rod operating method data, end processing pattern data, and sensing direction data, and also has a function of determining welding processing near the end of the welding line. The contents of the edge processing pattern data will be described later.

The manufacturing site controller 13 stores the numerical control data created by the CAM system 12 in the numerical control database 13A and instructs the robot controller 14 to operate the robot 15 based on the numerical control data.

The robot controller 14 controls the operation of the robot 15 based on an instruction from the manufacturing site controller 13.

Next, the welding process in the vicinity of the end of the welding line for the shape of each processed product will be described with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 2, when there is no member other than the mounting member 21 and the mounted member 22 at the end of the welding line 23,
The torch is set perpendicular to the welding line 23 to perform a square winding process.

As shown in FIG. 3, when there are no members other than the mounting member 31 and the mounted member 32 at the end of the welding line 33, but a welding residue is provided, the torch is perpendicular to the welding line 33 and square winding is performed. Weld without processing and bead splicing. In the example shown in FIG. 2, when the square winding process is not performed, the remaining amount d can be considered to be extremely small.

As shown in FIG. 4, when there is no member other than the mounting member 41 and the mounted member 42 at the end of the welding line 43 and the preceding bead 44 exists in the mounting portion of the mounting member 41 and the mounted member 42. The bead splicing process is performed with the torch perpendicular to the welding line 43.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the other member 55 hits the left end of the welding line 53, the size of the intersection angle θ between the other member 55 and the welding line 53 (hereinafter simply referred to as the intersection angle θ). The welding method differs depending on the type.

If the crossing angle θ is large enough not to interfere with the torch when the torch is perpendicular to the welding line 53, welding is performed with the torch perpendicular to the welding line 53. Further, although the crossing angle θ is such a size that the other member 55 hinders the torch when the torch is perpendicular to the welding line 53, when the torch is tilted with respect to the welding line 53, welding near the intersection P1 should be performed. If the size is
For example, the torch is inclined with respect to the welding line 53 and welding is started from the intersection P1. On the other hand, if the intersection angle θ is large enough to prevent welding in the vicinity of the intersection P1 even if the torch is tilted, the torch is made perpendicular to the welding line 53 and welding residue is provided to perform welding. The range of the crossing angle θ at which welding can be performed near the intersection P1 by tilting the torch is (90 ° ±
α). Here, α is, for example, 30 degrees.

As shown in FIG. 6, when the other member 65 is not in contact with the mounting member 61 and is on the left end side of the mounting member 61, the torch is perpendicular to the welding line 63 to perform the square winding process. However, if the distance d1 between the mounting member 61 and the other member 65 is of a size that does not hinder the torch, a square winding process is performed as shown in FIG. 6B. Further, as shown in FIG. 6C, if another member 65 is joined to the end surface of the mounting member 61, naturally, the square winding process is not performed.

As shown in FIG. 7, when the other member 73 does not contact the mounting member 71 and is on the welding line 73 side, depending on the size of the distance d2 between the mounting member 71 and the other member 75. The welding method is different.

The distance d2 between the mounting member 71 and the other member 75
Is wide and the other member 75 does not interfere with the torch,
Similar to the case of FIG. 2, the torch is perpendicular to the welding line 73 and the square winding process is performed. Conversely, if the distance d2 between the mounting member 71 and the other member 75 is narrow and the other member 75 interferes with the torch, the torch is moved near the point P2 where the extension line of the other member 75 strikes the welding line 73. Tilt and perform bead splicing.

As shown in FIG. 8, when the other member 85 having the scalloped end 85a is in contact with the attachment member 81 and the attached member 82, the vicinity of the point P3 where the other member 85 abuts the welding line 83. Tilt the torch to perform bead splicing.

As shown in FIG. 9, a member 9 other than the mounting member 91 having the scalloped end 91a and the mounted member 92.
When 5 is in contact with the mounting member 91 and the mounted member 92, as a general rule, the torch is perpendicular to the welding line 93 and the square winding process is performed. However, the radius r of the scalloped end
When is small, square winding is not performed.

As shown in FIG. 10, when the other member 105 hits the left end of the welding line 103, the welding process is performed in the same manner as in FIG.

From the above, it can be seen that the welding process near the end of the weld line can be classified as follows. First,
The torch angle can be classified into two types: (1) perpendicular to the welding line and (2) tilting. The torch operation can be classified into three types: (1) square winding process, (2) bead splicing process, and (3) square winding process and bead splicing process are not performed. Therefore, the welding process near the end of the welding line can be classified into six types of patterns (end processing pattern).

The respective patterns will be described below with reference to FIG.

The first pattern is a pattern in which the torch is perpendicular to the welding line to perform the square winding process, and the first pattern is hereinafter referred to as an "open end". The examples shown in FIGS. 2 and 9 correspond to this.

The second pattern is a pattern in which the torch is perpendicular to the welding line and welding is performed without square winding processing or bead splicing processing, and the second pattern is hereinafter referred to as a "semi-open end". The example shown in FIG. 3 corresponds to this.

The third pattern is a bead splicing pattern in which the torch is perpendicular to the welding line, and the third pattern is hereinafter referred to as a "semi-open splice end". Figure 4
The example shown in corresponds to this.

In the fourth pattern, the torch is tilted with respect to the welding line to perform the square winding process. However, since the welding cannot be actually executed, the pattern classified by the pattern classification process has the fourth pattern. Does not include pattern. The example shown in FIG. 6B corresponds to this.

The fifth pattern is a pattern in which the torch is inclined with respect to the welding line and welding is performed without square winding processing or bead joining, and the fifth pattern is referred to as a "closed end" below. The examples shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6C and FIG. 10 correspond to this.

The sixth pattern is a pattern for performing the bead splicing process by inclining the torch with respect to the welding line, and the sixth pattern is hereinafter referred to as "close splice end". The examples shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 correspond to this.

Next, with reference to FIG. 12, a description will be given of a procedure for determining which of the above patterns is used for the welding process in the vicinity of the end of the welding line based on the shape of the processed product in the CAM system 12. This determination procedure is performed after the welding line division work (see Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-221645) that has been previously proposed by the applicant of the present invention is performed by the abutting of a member.
Therefore, the following process is performed on the assumption that other members do not hit in the middle of the welding line. In addition, reference numerals S1 to S10 in FIG. 12 indicate step numbers.

In step S1, it is determined whether or not a member (hereinafter referred to as another member) which is an obstacle to welding exists near the end point of the welding line by using the respective members constituting the processed product by the three-dimensional CAD system 11. Determined based on the processed product. When it is determined that there is another member, the process proceeds to step S2, and when it is determined that there is no other member, the process proceeds to step S7.

In step S2, the crossing angle θ between the mounting member and another member is obtained, and the crossing angle θ is (90-α) or more (90+
α) Determine whether or not it is within the following range. When it is determined that the intersection angle θ is within the range, the process proceeds to step S3, and when it is determined that the intersection angle θ is not within the range, the process proceeds to step S6.

In step S3, it is determined whether another member is in contact with the welding line by calculating the distance between the welding line and the other member. When it is determined that they are in contact, the process proceeds to step S4, and when it is determined that they are not in contact, the process proceeds to step S5.

In step S4, the welding process near the end of the welding line is determined to be a closed end, and the process ends.

In step S5, the welding process near the end of the welding line is determined to be a closed joint end, and the process ends.

In step S6, the welding process near the end of the welding line is determined to be a semi-open end, and the process ends.

In step S7, it is determined whether or not there is a bead splicing weld line near the end point of the target weld line by three-dimensional C.
The determination is made based on the shape of the work piece assembled by the AD system 11 and the welding sequence. If it is determined that there is no weld line capable of bead joining, step S8
When it is determined that there is a weld line capable of bead joining, the process proceeds to step S10.

In step S8, the three-dimensional CAD system 11 determines whether the end points of the welding line coincide with the vertices of the mounting member.
Is determined based on the shape of the mounting member assembled into the processed product. When it is determined that they match, the process proceeds to step S9, and when it is determined that they do not match, the process proceeds to step S6.

In step S9, the welding process near the end of the welding line is determined to be an open end, and the process ends.

In step S10, the welding process near the end of the welding line is determined to be a semi-open joint end, and the process ends.

As described above, the end portion automatic determination system of this embodiment classifies the welding treatment methods near the end portion of the welding line (see FIG. 11), and which end portion treatment pattern corresponds to the end portion near the welding line. Since it is automatically determined whether or not to perform the welding, regardless of the shape of the processed product near the end of the welding line, it is possible to automatically determine the welding process suitable for that shape.

A specific example of the procedure for determining the welding process near the end of the welding line described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 12 will be described below with reference to FIG. Note that FIG.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of a procedure for determining a welding process in the vicinity of a weld line end.

In the processed product W, members 123, 124, 125, 126 other than the mounting member 121 and the mounted member 122.
Indicates that there is no obstacle to welding (step S1), it is determined that there is no member that interferes with welding, and the process proceeds to step S7.

It is determined whether there is a weld line capable of bead joining other than the weld line 127 to be welded (step S7), it is determined that there is no weld line capable of bead joining, and the process proceeds to step S8.

It is determined whether the end A of the welding line 127 coincides with the apex of the mounting member 121 (step S8), it is determined that they coincide, and the process proceeds to step S9.

The welding process pattern near the end of the welding line is determined to be an "open end" (step S9), and the process ends.

As described above, even when the processed product includes members other than the mounting member and the mounted member,
It is possible to automatically determine a welding process suitable for the shape of the processed product shown in FIG.

Further, according to this embodiment, since the end treatment pattern near the end of the welding line can be automatically determined, if the end rod data is set in advance for each end treatment pattern, the end treatment pattern can be set. A robot operation program for welding can be easily created automatically.

Although the present invention has been described above based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to such embodiments and various modifications can be made. For example, in the present embodiment, for ease of understanding, a case where a rectangular parallelepiped member is attached to a flat plate by horizontal fillet welding is described as an example, but the present invention is also applicable to a case where a member having another shape is attached. The welding method that can be used is not limited to horizontal fillet welding, but can be applied to various types of welding. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, a welding robot is described as an example,
The application of the present invention is not limited to the welding robot, but can be applied to the determination of the welding method in the vicinity of the end of the welding line in various automatic welding devices.

[0058]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
An excellent effect that the welding processing method suitable for the shape near the end of the welding line can be automatically determined regardless of the shape of the processed product near the end of the welding line is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a welding process automatic determination system to which a welding process determination method near an end of a welding line is applied.

2A and 2B are explanatory views of a welding processing method in the vicinity of an end portion of a welding line, in which FIG. 2A is a schematic perspective view and FIG. 2B is a plan view.

3A and 3B are explanatory views of a welding processing method in the vicinity of an end portion of a welding line, in which FIG. 3A is a schematic perspective view and FIG. 3B is a plan view.

4A and 4B are explanatory views of a welding treatment method near the end of the welding line, in which FIG. 4A is a schematic perspective view and FIG. 4B is a plan view.

5A and 5B are explanatory views of a welding processing method near the end of the welding line, in which FIG. 5A is a schematic perspective view and FIG. 5B is a plan view.

6A and 6B are explanatory views of a welding treatment method near the end of a welding line, in which FIG. 6A is a schematic perspective view, FIG. 6B is a plan view, and FIG. It is a top view.

7A and 7B are explanatory views of a welding treatment method near the end of the welding line, in which FIG. 7A is a schematic perspective view and FIG. 7B is a plan view.

8A and 8B are explanatory views of a welding treatment method near the end of the welding line, in which FIG. 8A is a schematic perspective view and FIG. 8B is a plan view.

9A and 9B are explanatory views of a welding processing method near the end of the welding line, in which FIG. 9A is a schematic perspective view and FIG. 9B is a plan view.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a welding treatment method near the end of the welding line, in which FIG. 10 (a) is a schematic perspective view and FIG. 10 (b) is a plan view.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a welding treatment pattern near the end of the welding line.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a classification procedure of welding processing in the vicinity of an end of a welding line.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a specific example of a method of determining a welding process near the end of a welding line.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 3D CAD system 11A shape / welding line database 12 CAM system 12A welding work database 13 Manufacturing site control device 13A Numerical control database 14 Robot controller 15 Welding robot T Welding process automatic determination system W processed products

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Junichi Kawabata 1-1 Kawasaki-cho, Akashi City Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. Akashi Factory (56) References JP-A-9-164483 (JP, A) JP-A-10- 211575 (JP, A) JP-A-6-301415 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B23K 9/127 B25J 9/22

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A welding process near the end of a welding line is pre-classified into a required number of end processing patterns based on a torch angle with respect to the welding line and a torch movement at the end of the welding line. To determine which of the above patterns the neighborhood corresponds to , use the shape data of each member to make each member a processed product.
A method for automatically determining a welding process near the end of a welding line, which is automatically determined based on a simulation for assembling, and the welding process near the end of the welding line is automatically determined based on the determination result. 2. A method for automatically determining a welding process in the vicinity of an end of a welding line using a three-dimensional CAD system and a CAM system, wherein a simulation for assembling each member including a mounting member into a work product by the three-dimensional CAD system is performed. By the procedure and the shape near the end of the welding line obtained from the simulation, the vicinity of the end to be welded is the required number of ends that are preset based on the torch angle with respect to the welding line and the torch operation at the end. A method for automatically determining a welding process in the vicinity of a weld line end, comprising a process of determining which of the process patterns the process corresponds to, and a process of selecting a welding process corresponding to the determination result. 3. The torch angle with respect to the welding line is classified as being inclined with respect to the welding line when it is perpendicular to the welding line,
And, the torch motion at the end performs square winding processing,
The method for automatically determining a welding process in the vicinity of the end of a welding line according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the method is classified into a bead splicing process, a square winding process, and a bead splicing process. 4. A system for automatically determining a welding process in the vicinity of an end of a welding line using a three-dimensional CAD system and a CAM system, wherein a simulation for assembling each member including a mounting member into a work product by the three-dimensional CAD system is performed. , The shape of the vicinity of the end of the welding line obtained from the simulation, the vicinity of the end of the welding target of the required number of end processing pattern preset based on the torch angle to the welding line and the torch operation at the end. A system for automatically determining a welding process near the end of a welding line, characterized in that it is configured to determine which one corresponds and to select a welding process corresponding to the determination result. 5. The torch angle with respect to the welding line is classified as being inclined with respect to the welding line when it is perpendicular to the welding line.
And, the torch motion at the end performs square winding processing,
5. The automatic welding process determination system in the vicinity of the end of the welding line according to claim 4, characterized in that the bead splicing process is performed, the square winding process and the bead splicing process are not performed.