JP3572127B2 - Automatic piping welding equipment and method of handling the same - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an automatic pipe welding apparatus used for automatically welding pipes of, for example, a thermal power plant or a nuclear power plant, and a handling method for attaching and detaching the automatic pipe welding apparatus to and from a pipe.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there have been known various types of automatic pipe welding apparatuses that are attached to pipes of a thermal power plant or a nuclear power plant and that automatically weld the pipes along a circumferential direction.
[0003]
FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a general configuration of such an automatic pipe welding apparatus. This automatic pipe welding apparatus performs a rotating operation along a circumferential direction of the pipe 1 guided by the ring rail 2 and coaxially mounted around a pipe 1 disposed in a power plant or the like. The vehicle includes a truck 3 and a torch 4 for automatic welding mounted on the truck 3.
[0004]
The ring rail 2 is provided with a plurality of, for example, three fixing screws 5 which are screwed into the peripheral wall of the ring rail and tighten the pipe 1 at intervals in the circumferential direction. By adjusting the abutment degree, the axes of the pipe 1 and the ring rail 2 are made to coincide with each other. The corners of both sides in the axial direction and the inner and outer peripheral surfaces of the ring rail 1 are inclined surfaces, and these inclined surfaces serve as guide surfaces 6 for guiding the following rolls. The carriage 3 has a substantially U-shaped cross section surrounding the ring rail 2 in the axial direction, and has a roll holder 7 at a portion facing both axial side surfaces of the ring rail 2. The roll holder 7 is pressed against the ring rail 2 by a push screw 8.
[0005]
The roll holder 7 is provided with a roll 9 whose axis is inclined, and this roll 9 rolls into contact with the guide surface 6 at the corner of the ring rail 2, whereby the carriage 3 is guided by the ring rail 2, and the outer periphery of the pipe 1 It can be turned along the plane.
[0006]
The carriage 3 is provided with a pinion 10 that is rotationally driven by a drive source such as a motor (not shown). The pinion 10 meshes with a ring-shaped rack 11 provided on the outer peripheral surface of the ring rail 2. The bogie 3 turns around the pipe 1 by the engagement of the rack 11 with the rack 11.
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the above-described conventional configuration, the centering of the ring rail 2 and the pipe 1 is performed by adjusting the insertion degree of the fixing screw 5 screwed into the ring rail 2. During installation, an operator holding the ring rail 2 and the bogie 3, adjustment of the fixing screw 5, and adjustment of the distance between the pipe 1 and the ring rail 2 are performed while measuring the distance between the ring rail 2. An operator for measurement is required, which requires much time and labor, and the operation is complicated, requires a long time, and has a low work efficiency.
[0008]
Further, since the ring rail 2 needs to be mounted so as to cover the outer peripheral side of the pipe 1, various measures have been taken for mounting such as a divided shape. In this case, the ring-shaped metal molded body is often divided by cutting or the like, but at the time of the division, the residual stress in the metal material is released and the shape is likely to change. Normally, a modification is performed to remove the deformation, but it cannot be completely removed. Further, the ring rail 2 is sandwiched between the rolls 9, and the roll holder 7 holding the roll 9 is pressed against the ring rail 2 by the push screw 8. In such a structure, the deformation of the ring rail 2 is performed. Since it is impossible to deal with the situation sufficiently, the carriage 3 cannot smoothly turn around the pipe 1. As described above, when the operation of the bogie 3 becomes uneven, the movement of the welding torch 4 during the welding operation becomes uneven, which adversely affects the operation control of the tip of the torch 4, and It causes the deterioration of welding quality.
[0009]
The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and can easily perform operations such as attachment and detachment to a pipe as an object to be welded, shortening time for welding setup and the like, and improving work efficiency related to handling. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic pipe welding apparatus and a method for handling the same, which can perform welding work smoothly and can effectively prevent the occurrence of poor welding.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, an invention according to claim 1 has a ring rail coaxially mounted around a pipe constituting a power plant or the like, and is guided by the ring rail and extends along the circumferential direction of the pipe. In a piping automatic welding apparatus including a bogie that performs a turning operation and a torch for automatic welding mounted on the bogie, a means for guiding the bogie to the ring rail is provided on both sides in the axial direction of the ring rail. A guide groove having a substantially V-shaped cross-section formed over the entire direction, and a pair of traveling wheels that are provided at positions opposing the carriage and that roll by rolling a V-shaped peripheral edge portion into each of the guide grooves and each of the traveling wheels. A pair of overturn prevention wheels, which are provided at positions opposite to the bogies at a predetermined distance from the traveling wheels and are fitted with V-shaped peripheral portions in the respective guide grooves to roll. Said Bearing of the car while the non-self-aligning bearings, the bearing to the bogie of the anti-tip wheel in the pipe automatic welding device being characterized in that a self-aligning bearing.
[0012]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the automatic piping welding apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the ring rail and the bogie are configured to be detachable from each other.
[0013]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the automatic pipe welding apparatus for a welding machine according to the second aspect , the bogie includes a pair of traveling wheels and a pair of fall prevention wheels that face each other and are fitted into the respective guide grooves of the ring rail. Elastic means for urging in the direction to increase the degree of fitting, and reducing the degree of fitting of the traveling wheels and the fall prevention wheels to the respective guide grooves of the ring rail, respectively, against the urging force of the elastic means. And an adjusting means for adjusting the movement in the direction.
[0014]
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of handling an automatic pipe welding apparatus for attaching or removing the automatic pipe welding apparatus according to the third aspect of the present invention to a pipe. After placing the rail in the open state on the outer peripheral side of the pipe, the ring rail is closed and the center of the pipe and the ring rail is automatically adjusted by the action of the leaf spring in the ring rail. The ring rail is fixed to the pipe, and then the adjusting means is adjusted against the urging force of the elastic means in the direction in which the distance between the traveling wheels of the bogie and between the wheels for preventing overturning increases, and each wheel is fixed to the ring rail. After arranging each adjusting groove in each guide groove, the adjusting means is fitted in each guide groove while loosening the adjusting force in the direction along the urging force of the elastic means to perform the mounting operation. Automatic When the contact device is removed, on the contrary, each of the ring rails is adjusted by adjusting the adjusting means against the urging force of the elastic means in the direction in which the distance between the traveling wheels of the bogie and the wheels for preventing the fall of the bogie is increased. An automatic pipe welding apparatus, comprising: removing each wheel fitted into the guide groove from the guide groove, thereby removing the bogie from the ring rail, and opening the ring rail to remove the wheel from the pipe. In the handling method.
[0015]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a side view partially showing the configuration of the automatic pipe welding apparatus according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the ring rail shown in FIG. 1 in a state where the leaf spring is in its original shape, and FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a modification in which the number of leaf springs is increased.
[0016]
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the automatic pipe welding apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a ring rail 22 that is coaxially attached to a periphery of a pipe 21 that is disposed along a vertical direction in a power plant or the like. A bogie 23 guided by the ring rail 22 to perform a turning operation along the circumferential direction of the pipe 21, and a torch 24 for automatic welding mounted on the bogie 23 are provided.
[0017]
The ring rail 22 includes half ring-shaped rail elements 25 and 26 having a split structure that can be opened and closed around the pipe 21. These rail elements 25 and 26 are connected to each other by a rotary joint 27 at one end, and are detachably locked by a fastener 28 at the other end.
[0018]
Leaf springs 29, 30 having the same spring constant are symmetrically installed inside each of the rail elements 25, 26, and the leaf springs 29, 30 sandwich the pipe 21 with a uniform elastic force from the opposite direction. Thus, the axes of the pipe 21 and the ring rail 22 are made to coincide with each other. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the leaf springs 29 and 30 are, for example, a flat plate-like one that is curved in a semicircular arc and is locked in a pair inside the rail elements 25 and 26. At the time of attachment to the pipe 21, the pipe 21 is sandwiched with the rail elements 25 and 26 opened, and then closed, so that the leaf springs 29 and 30 are attached to the outer peripheral surface of the pipe 21 as shown in FIG. The pipe 21 is bent in an arcuate shape when pressed, and presses the pipe 21 to a concentric position. The configuration having a pair of leaf springs 29 and 30 shown in FIG. 3 is desirably applied when the pipe diameter is relatively small.
[0019]
As shown in FIG. 4, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which two or more leaf springs 29a, 29b, 30a, 30b are attached to the respective rail elements 25, 26 of the ring rail 22. The configuration shown in FIG. It is desirable to apply when the pipe diameter is relatively large.
[0020]
Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of, for example, four fixing screws 31 for tightening the pipe 21 are screwed into the peripheral wall of the ring rail 22 at intervals in the circumferential direction. By contacting these fixing screws 31 with the outer peripheral surface of the pipe 1, the ring rail 22 can be fixed to the pipe 21 in a state where their axes are aligned.
[0021]
Next, the cart 23 has a substantially U-shaped vertical section as shown in FIG. 1, and is arranged so as to straddle both axial side surfaces (upper and lower surfaces) 22a and 22b of the ring rail 22. This cart 23 has a plurality of wheels 32, 33, 34 , 35 arranged along the axial direction and the circumferential direction of the ring rail 22, as shown in FIGS. The rolling of the pipes 34 and 35 on the side surfaces 22 a and 22 b in the axial direction of the ring rail 22 guides the ring rail 22 and turns around the pipe 21. That is, the carriage 23 has a predetermined width along the axial direction and the circumferential direction of the ring rail 22.
[0022]
The trolley 23 is provided with a DC motor 36 as a drive source, and a pinion shaft 38 connected to a rotation shaft of the motor 36 via a coupling 37 is supported by the trolley 23 by brackets 39 and 40. A pinion 41 attached to the pinion shaft 38 meshes with a rack 42 provided integrally on the outer peripheral surface of the ring rail 22, and the driving force of the motor 36 is applied to the ring rail 22 via the pinion 41 and the rack 42. The trolley 23 rotates along the outer peripheral surface of the ring rail 22, that is, around the pipe 21 by the reaction.
[0023]
Next, referring to FIGS. 5 to 9, wheels 32, 33, 34, 35 and the like as means for guiding the carriage 23 to the ring rail 22 will be described. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a wheel supporting structure of the bogie, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are a side view and a plan view of FIG. FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing a wheel interval, a guide groove and the like, and FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing an engagement state of the wheel with the guide groove.
[0024]
As shown in FIGS. 5 to 9, guide grooves 43 and 44 having a substantially V-shaped cross section are formed on both side surfaces 22 a and 22 b in the axial direction of the ring rail 22 over the entire circumferential direction. The wheels 32, 33, 34, 35 are arranged in pairs at positions facing the carriage 22, and roll by fitting the V-shaped peripheral edges into the respective guide grooves 43, 44 of the ring rail 22. I have.
[0025]
The trolley 23 has a wheel holder 45 opposed to one side (downward) of the ring rail 22 in the axial direction. The wheel holder 45 is supported by the trolley 23 via a vertically long guide bar 46 so as to be slidable in the vertical direction. I have.
[0026]
5 and 6, the guide bar 46 has an upper end fixed to the carriage 23 by snap rings 47 and 48, and a lower end inserted into a sliding bearing 49 provided on the wheel holder 45. Thus, the wheel holder 45 is supported so as to be able to move up and down.
[0027]
A tension coil spring 50 is disposed in parallel with the guide bar 46, and each end ( upper and lower ends) of the tension coil spring 50 is connected to the lower surface of the bogie 23 and the upper surface of the wheel holder 45 via spring retainers 51 and 52. Respectively. The tension coil springs 50 cause the wheels 32 and 33 and the wheels 34 and 35 to be pulled in opposite directions , respectively , thereby reducing the degree of fitting of the wheels 32, 33, 34 and 35 to the guide grooves 43 and 44. An elastic means for urging in an increasing direction is configured.
[0028]
An adjustment screw 53 is arranged on the wheel holder 45 in a parallel arrangement with the guide bar 46 . The lower end of the adjusting screw 53 is fixed to the wheel holder 45 via a fixing pin 54, and the male screw 55 at the upper end of the adjusting screw 53 is inserted into the hole 56 of the bogie 23, and the male screw 55 is screwed into the male screw 55 . The bogie 23 can be moved up and down via the adjusting nut 57 by rotating the adjusted adjusting nut 57. The adjusting screw 53 and the adjusting nut 57 constitute an adjusting means for adjusting the movement of the wheels 32, 33, 34, 35 in the direction of decreasing the degree of fitting to the guide grooves 43, 44 against the urging force of the elastic means. You.
[0029]
In addition, among the above-mentioned wheels 32, 33, 34, 35, a pair of wheels 32, 33 opposed in the up-down direction is a traveling wheel for mainly supporting the traveling of the bogie 23. These traveling wheels 32 and 33 are rotatably supported by the cart 23 and the wheel holder 45 via a wheel shaft 58 and a bearing 59. The bearing 59 that supports the traveling wheels 32 and 33 is a non-self-aligning bearing having a fixed axis.
[0030]
Further, another pair of opposed wheels 34 and 35 is a fall-preventing wheel for assisting the traveling of the carriage 23. The overturn prevention wheels 34, 35 are provided at a certain distance from the traveling wheels 32, 33, respectively, and are rotatably supported by the truck 23 and the wheel holder 45 via the wheel shaft 60 and the bearing 61. ing. The bearing 61 that supports these wheels 34 and 35 is a self-aligning bearing that performs automatic centering.
[0031]
As shown in FIG. 8, the V-shaped guide grooves 43 and 44 formed in the ring rail 22 have a curvature R and are arranged concentrically with the ring rail 22. The running wheels 32 and 33 and the overturn preventing wheels 34 and 35 are arranged so that their axes intersect with each other at an angle θ. Thus, for example, when the type of the ring rail 22 changes and the curvature R changes, the angle θ also changes due to the action of the self-aligning bearing 61, and the bogie 23 is free to respond to the change in the type of the ring rail 22. You can run on. The conventional technology cannot cope with this change, but in the present invention, one truck 23 can be used arbitrarily in correspondence with the plurality of ring rails 22 whose curvature has changed.
[0032]
Next, the operation will be described.
[0033]
When the automatic pipe welding apparatus according to the present embodiment is mounted on the pipe 21, the ring rail 22 is first opened and arranged on the outer peripheral side of the pipe 21, and then the ring rail 22 is closed and the plate in the ring rail 22 is closed. The centering between the pipe 21 and the ring rail 22 is automatically performed by the action of the springs 29 and 30. In this state, the ring rail 22 is fastened with a fastener 28 as a fastening means, and then the elastic means is used as an elastic means in the direction in which the distance between the traveling wheels 32, 33 of the bogie 23 and the distance between the fall prevention wheels 34, 35 are increased. The adjusting nut 57 as an adjusting means is adjusted against the urging force of the tension coil spring 50, and the wheels 32, 33, 34, 35 are arranged in the guide grooves 43, 44 of the ring rail 22. Thereafter, the adjusting nut 57 is loosened, and the wheels 32, 33, 34, 35 are fitted into the respective guide grooves 43, 44 while applying an adjusting force in a direction along the urging force of the tension coil spring 50, whereby the mounting operation is performed. I do.
[0034]
In this case, the ring rail 22 can be attached to the pipe by tightening the fastener 28 with the ring rail alone with the carriage 23 separated between the rack 42 and the pinion 41. At this time, since a plurality of leaf springs 29 and 30 having the same spring constant are arranged in contact with the pipe 22, the axes of the pipe 21 and the ring rail 22 automatically match. In this state, the fixing screws 31 are tightened. However, since the pipe 21 and the ring rail 22 have already been aligned, the opposing fixing screws 31 need only be tightened with care that the ring rail 22 does not move. Good.
[0035]
Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is not necessary to tighten the fixing screw while measuring the dimension between the ring rail 22 and the pipe 21, and the operation can be easily performed, and the conventional troublesome alignment can be omitted. Therefore, the work can be simplified, and one-person work can be performed.
[0036]
After the ring rail 22 is mounted, the wheels 32, 33, 34, 35 are arranged at positions facing each other across the ring rail 22, and fitted into the guide grooves 43, 44 of the ring rail 22. In this case, since the traveling wheels 32 and 33 are supported by the non-self-aligning bearing 59 and urged by the tension coil spring 50 so as not to come off from the guide grooves 43 and 44, the radius of the ring rail 22 is increased. Even if the weight moment of the bogie 23 acts in the direction or the like, the bogie 23 is secured in a stable posture without falling down.
[0037]
The wheels 32, 33, 34, 35 are urged by the tension coil spring 50 so as not to come off from the guide grooves 43, 44 of the ring rail 22 as described above. Is indirectly attached to the carriage 23 via the rails. Therefore, even if the split ring-shaped rail elements 25 and 26 are slightly deformed by the action of the tension coil spring 50, the carriage can be reliably and smoothly moved to the ring rail 22. You can travel along.
[0038]
Therefore, in this embodiment, the bogie 23 runs sufficiently in response to deformation of the ring rail 22 and the like, so that the tip of the welding torch 24 is reliably controlled, and the welding quality of the pipe welded portion 62 is improved. Can also be improved.
[0039]
Further, since the ring rail 22 can be mounted independently of the carriage 23, there is no restriction on the arrangement of the welding machine power supply, the control device and the like. Furthermore, since the combination of the carriage 23 and the plurality of types of ring rails 22 is also free, the ring rail 22 can be attached to the pipe 21 in advance. Therefore, when automatically welding a pipe of a thermal power plant or a nuclear power plant or the like for which a large number of pipe welding operations are to be performed, it is possible to perform the setup alone and to set up the ring rail 22 externally, and thus extremely advantageous work becomes possible. .
[0040]
When the automatic pipe welding apparatus is removed from the pipe 21, the tension coil spring 50 is moved in the direction in which the distance between the traveling wheels 32, 33 of the bogie 23 and the distance between the fall prevention wheels 34, 35 are increased. The wheels 32, 33, 34, 35 fitted in the respective guide grooves 43, 44 of the ring rail 22 by adjusting the adjusting screw 53 against the urging force of the ring rails are removed from the guide grooves 43, 44, Next, an operation of removing the ring rail 22 from the pipe 21 to open the ring rail 22 by releasing the restraint by the fastener 28 is performed. Thus, the removal operation can be easily performed.
[0041]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, operations such as attachment and detachment to and from a pipe as a welding target can be easily performed, and the time required for welding setup and the like can be reduced to improve the work efficiency related to handling. At the same time, smoothing of the welding work and prevention of occurrence of poor welding can be effectively achieved.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a side view showing a partial cross section of a configuration of an automatic pipe welding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the ring rail shown in FIG. 1 in a state where a leaf spring is in an original shape.
FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a modified example of a ring rail in which the number of leaf springs is increased.
FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a wheel supporting structure of the bogie according to the embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a side view of FIG.
FIG. 7 is a plan view of FIG.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing wheel intervals, guide grooves, and the like according to the embodiment.
FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing the engagement state of the wheel with the guide groove according to the embodiment.
FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional example.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 21 Piping 22 Ring rail 23 Bogie 24 Torch 25, 26 Rail element 27 Rotary joint 28 Clamping fixture 29, 30 Leaf spring 29a, 29b, 30a, 30b Leaf spring 31 Fixing screw 32, 33 Running wheel 34, 35 Falling prevention wheel 36 DC motor 37 Coupling 38 Pinion shaft 39, 40 Bracket 41 Pinion 42 Rack 43, 44 Guide groove 45 Wheel holder 46 Guide bar 47, 48 Snap ring 49 Sliding bearing 50 Tension coil spring 51, 52 Spring retainer 53 Adjusting screw 54 Fixing pin 55 Male screw part 56 Hole 57 Adjusting nut 58 Wheel shaft 59 Non-self-aligning bearing 60 Wheel shaft 61 Self-aligning bearing 62 Pipe welding part

Claims (4)

A ring rail coaxially mounted around a pipe constituting a power plant or the like, a bogie guided by the ring rail to perform a turning operation along the circumferential direction of the pipe, and an automatic welding mounted on the bogie. In the automatic pipe welding apparatus provided with a torch, as means for guiding the carriage to the ring rail, a guide groove having a substantially V-shaped cross-section formed over the entire circumferential direction on both axial side surfaces of the ring rail. A pair of running wheels that are provided at a position opposed to the truck and are fitted with a V-shaped peripheral edge portion in each of the guide grooves and roll, and are arranged at a position separated by a predetermined distance from the traveling wheels so as to be opposed to the truck. A pair of rollover prevention wheels which are provided and are fitted with a V-shaped peripheral portion in each of the guide grooves to roll. The bearing of the traveling wheel to the bogie is a non-self-aligning bearing. Turn Bearing to the bogie of the anti-wheel pipe automatic welding device being characterized in that a self-aligning bearing. 2. The automatic pipe welding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the ring rail and the bogie are detachable from each other. 3. The automatic pipe welding apparatus for a welding machine according to claim 2, wherein the bogie includes a pair of traveling wheels and a pair of wheels for preventing falling which oppose each other in a direction of increasing the degree of fitting into the respective guide grooves of the ring rail. Resilient means for biasing, and adjusting means for moving and adjusting the traveling wheels and the fall-prevention wheels in a direction to reduce the degree of fitting into the respective guide grooves of the ring rail against the biasing force of the resilient means. An automatic pipe welding apparatus comprising: A method for handling an automatic pipe welding apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the automatic pipe welding apparatus is attached to or removed from a pipe. After being arranged on the outer peripheral side, the ring rail is closed and the center of the pipe and the ring rail is automatically adjusted by the action of the leaf spring in the ring rail. In this state, the ring rail is fixed to the pipe. After that, after adjusting the adjusting means against the biasing force of the elastic means in the direction in which the distance between the traveling wheels of the bogie and between the wheels for preventing overturning increases, each wheel is arranged in each guide groove of the ring rail. The fitting operation is performed by fitting each wheel into each guide groove while loosening the adjusting force of the adjusting means in the direction along the urging force of the elastic means, while removing the automatic pipe welding apparatus from the pipe. Contrary to the above, the adjusting means is adjusted against the urging force of the elastic means in the direction in which the distance between the traveling wheels of the bogie and between the wheels for preventing overturning increases, and fitted into each guide groove of the ring rail. A method for handling an automatic pipe welding apparatus, comprising removing each wheel from its guide groove, removing the bogie from the ring rail, opening the ring rail and removing it from the pipe.

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