KR101702525B1 - Welding apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a welding apparatus, comprising: a rail portion installed in a welding direction of a welded member; a welding carriage able to move along the rail portion; and a welding portion installed in the welding carriage. The welding portion comprises: a welding torch for welding the welded member; a torch gun installed to be spaced by a predetermined distance from the welding torch in the welding carriage, providing a welding wire to the welding torch; a connection portion connecting the welding torch to the torch gun, having a passage of the welding wire; a welding torch driving portion rotating the welding torch horizontally or vertically; and a torch gun driving portion rotating the torch gun horizontally or vertically. As such, the present invention may reduce a payload of a welding carriage.

Description

[0001] WELDING APPARATUS [0002]

The present invention relates to a welding apparatus, and more particularly, to a welding apparatus capable of reducing the payload of a welding carriage.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is a liquid that reduces the volume to 1/600 by cooling methane-based natural gas to -163 ° C. LNG storage tanks for LNG storage are made of structures and materials that can withstand cryogenic temperatures to maintain liquefaction of natural gas. In the liquefied natural gas storage tank, the barriers are designed to have a special structure to withstand the temperature load and to prevent the LNG leakage because they receive mechanical load, LNG pressure and liquid load, and contact with -163 ° C ultra-low temperature liquid. For example, in order to manufacture an LNG cargo hold, a membrane sheet having a corrugation structure must be welded inside the cargo hold. According to the CMT (cold metal transfer) welding method among the welding methods of the membrane sheet, welding can be performed at a high speed, and low spatter and low strain characteristics can be obtained. However, since the weight of the CMT welding torch must be designed to have a high payload of the welding carriage, the size and weight of the welding carriage increases, and the welding cost also increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a welding apparatus capable of reducing the payload of a welding carriage.

The problems to be solved by the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned problems. Other technical subjects not mentioned will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the description below.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a welding apparatus comprising: a rail part provided in a welding direction of a member to be welded; A welding carriage movable along the rail portion; And a welding portion provided on the welding carriage, wherein the welding portion includes: a welding torch provided on the welding carriage and for welding the member to be welded; A torch gun disposed at a distance from the welding torch to the welding carriage, for supplying welding wire to the welding torch; A connecting portion connecting the welding torch and the torch gun, the connecting portion having a passage of the welding wire; A welding torch driver for rotating the welding torch horizontally or vertically; And a torch gun driving unit for rotating the torch gun horizontally or vertically.

The welding apparatus may further include a height adjusting unit that supports the rail unit and adjusts the height of the rail.

The welding apparatus comprising: a profile calculating unit that calculates a distance profile of a distance between the welding torch and the welding line while moving the welding carriage along the rail portion; And a controller for calculating a height adjustment value of the rail according to the distance profile, wherein the height adjuster adjusts the height of the rail according to the height adjustment value.

The torch gun driving unit includes: a first driving unit for rotating the torch gun in a horizontal direction to adjust a yaw angle; And a second driving unit for rotating the torch gun in the vertical direction to adjust the roll angle.

The connecting portion may be provided of a flexible material so as to correspond to the rotation of the torch gun and the welding torch.

The welding torch driver includes: a frame provided in the welding carriage; A first link member having one end fixed to a lower side of the frame; A driving member installed on the frame to rotate the first link member; A first driving plate having a first connecting portion rotatably connected to the other end of the first link member; A second link member rotatably connected at one end to a second connecting portion formed at an upper side of the frame and having a first end rotatably connected to a third connecting portion formed at an upper portion of the first driving plate; And a second driving plate having a fourth connecting portion rotatably connected to the other end of the second link member, wherein a lower side of the welding torch bracket supporting the welding torch is formed on a lower side of the first driving plate The upper portion of the welding torch bracket may be rotatably connected to a sixth connecting portion formed on the lower side of the second driving plate.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a welding apparatus capable of reducing the payload of a welding carriage.

The effects of the present invention are not limited to the effects described above. Unless stated, the effects will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the description and the accompanying drawings.

1 is a perspective view schematically showing a welding apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is an enlarged view of the 'A' portion shown in FIG.
3 is an enlarged view of a portion 'B' shown in FIG.
4 is a front view showing a welding torch driver 170 constituting a welding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a rear view of a welding torch driving unit 170 constituting a welding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 and 7 are views for explaining the operation of the welding torch driver 170 constituting the welding apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. Which is a flow chart showing the welding method.
9 and 10 are views for explaining the operation of the first driving unit 150 constituting the welding apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
11 and 12 are views for explaining the operation of the second driving unit 160 constituting the welding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Other advantages and features of the present invention and methods for accomplishing the same will be apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, and the present invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. Although not defined, all terms (including technical or scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly accepted by the generic art in the prior art to which this invention belongs. A general description of known configurations may be omitted so as not to obscure the gist of the present invention. In the drawings of the present invention, the same reference numerals are used as many as possible for the same or corresponding configurations. To facilitate understanding of the present invention, some configurations in the figures may be shown somewhat exaggerated or reduced.

The terminology used in this application is used only to describe a specific embodiment and is not intended to limit the invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In the present application, the terms "comprises", "having", or "having" are intended to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, components, Steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof, whether or not explicitly described or implied by the accompanying claims.

The welding apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention has a structure in which the welding torch and the torch gun are separated from each other and the welding torch and the torch gun are connected by a connecting portion of a flexible material so that the payload of the welding carriage can be designed to be low. Accordingly, since only the welding torch except for the torch gun is installed on the side surface of the welding carriage, the load applied to the side portion of the welding carriage can be reduced, and the torch gun can be installed at a position less affected by the payload of the welding carriage, The payload of the welding carriage can be designed to be low. According to this embodiment, the torch gun driving portion for rotating the torch gun in the horizontal direction or the vertical direction is provided, and the torch gun is rotated in the horizontal direction or the vertical direction according to the welding direction of the welding torch (angle of the welding torch) The welding can be performed smoothly.

1 is a perspective view schematically showing a welding apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1, a welding apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes a rail part 110, a welding carriage 120, a height adjusting part 130, a welding part 140, a torch gun driving part 150 and 160, And a driving unit 170. The welding portion 140 provided on the welding carriage 120 welds the welding line WL of the member to be welded while moving along the rail portion 110 in the welding direction (the arrow direction shown).

The rail part 110 can be installed in the welding direction of the workpiece to be welded. The welding carriage 120 may be provided movably along the rail portion 110. In one embodiment, the weld carriage 120 may be guided by an LM guide or the like and provided to move along the rail portion 110.

The welding carriage 120 can be moved along the rail portion 110 by driving means such as a motor / speed reducer. The welding carriage 120 can move along the rail portion 110 by rotating a pinion gear engaged with a rack gear formed on the rail portion 110 by a motor.

The height adjusting part 130 supports the rail part 110 and adjusts the height of the rail part 110. The height adjusting portions 130 may be installed at both ends of the rail 110. 2 is an enlarged view of the 'A' portion shown in FIG. 1 and 2, the height adjusting unit 130 includes a motor 131, a screw 132 connected to the drive shaft of the motor 131, and a support 133 fixed on the support 134 .

The screw 132 is engaged with a screw groove formed in the upper portion of the support portion 133. When the screw 132 is rotated by the motor 131, the screw 132 ascends and descends in the screw groove, and the height of the screw 132 is adjusted, thereby adjusting the height of the rail 110. However, the height adjusting part 130 may adjust the height of the rail part 110 by a hydraulic cylinder or other elevating mechanism such as a rack / pinion gear.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the welding apparatus 100 may further include a profile calculating unit (not shown) and a control unit (not shown). The profile calculator calculates the distance profile of the welding torch 144 and the welding line WL while the welding carriage 120 moves at high speed along the rail part 110 before welding is performed. The profile calculator may be provided, for example, with a laser profile system (LPS) or a laser vision system (LVS) mounted on the welding carriage 120.

The control unit calculates the height adjustment value of the rail portion 110 according to the separation distance profile obtained by the profile calculation unit such as LPS or LVS. The control unit may be provided as at least one processor, and a program for calculating the height adjustment value may be stored in the memory. The height adjuster 130 adjusts the height of the rail 110 according to the height adjustment value calculated by the controller.

The height information of the welding start portion and the welding end portion and the height from the object to be welded to the welding torch are measured by LPS or LVS installed in the welding apparatus 100 and then the height of the welding portion The height of the rail portion 110 can be compensated by the height adjusting portion 130 attached to the left and right ends to prepare for welding. Therefore, the elevation height of the welding torch can be minimized in the welding process, and the welding speed can be increased.

3 is an enlarged view of a portion 'B' shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 3, a weld 140 is provided for welding the welded member. The welding portion 140 includes a torch gun 142, a welding torch 144, and a connecting portion 146. A welding torch 144 is provided for welding the workpiece to be welded. The welding torch 144 may be installed on the lower side of the side portion of the welding carriage 120 to be close to the welding line.

The torch gun 142 is installed on the other side of the welding carriage 120 by a predetermined distance from the welding torch 144. The torch gun 142 feeds the welding wire to the welding torch 144. The torch gun 142 may be provided to supply a cooling gas, an arc protection gas, or the like as needed. The torch gun 142 may be installed by a torch gun holder 148 on the upper side of the weld carriage 120 so as to distribute the load applied to the side portions of the weld carriage 120 by the welding torch 144 have.

The connection 146 has a passage of welding wire for welding and connects the welding torch 144 and the torch gun 142. The connection portion 146 may be provided of a flexible material so as to correspond to the rotation of the torch gun 142 and the welding torch 144. According to the present embodiment, since the torch key 142 is separated from the welding torch 144 via the connecting portion 146, the influence of the weight of the torch key 142 on the payload of the welding carriage 120 Can be reduced. Therefore, since it is not necessary to design the payload of the welding carriage 120 to be large, the size of the welding carriage 120 can be reduced, and the manufacturing cost of the welding apparatus can be reduced. The welding torch driver 170 can rotate the welding torch 144 horizontally and / or vertically.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a welding torch driving unit 170 constituting a welding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a front view of a welding torch driving unit 170 constituting a welding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Back view. 4 and 5, the welding torch driving unit 170 may be installed in the welding carriage 120 to adjust the welding angle of the welding torch 144 in the lateral direction. The configuration for rotating the welding torch 144 in the up-and-down direction is omitted in the drawing, and the welding torch 144 can be rotated up and down by a motor, a cylinder, or the like.

In one embodiment, the welding torch driver 170 includes a frame 171, a driving member, a first link member 174, a first driving plate 175, a second driving plate 176, a second link member 177, And a third link member 178. The frame 171 is fixed to the front portion of the welding carriage 120. The driving member may include a driving motor 172 and a driven pulley 173. The drive motor 172 and the driven pulley 173 are installed in the frame 171. The driven pulley 173 may be connected to the drive pulley connected to the drive shaft of the drive motor 172 by a timing belt.

The central axis of the driven pulley 173 is the center of rotation R of the first drive plate 175 and the second drive plate 176. The first drive plate 175 and the second drive plate 176 are formed in a substantially triangular shape and are connected to the link members 174, 177, 178 on both the lower side and the upper side. The second drive plate 176 may be installed so as to be located at the front side and at a slightly higher position than the first drive plate 175 so as not to be interfered with by the first drive plate 175. [

The first link member 174 is rotatably connected to a driven pulley 173 whose one end is a rotation center R and the other end is rotated by a first connection portion 175a formed on the lower side of the first drive plate 175 . The second link member 177 and the third link member 178 are rotatably fixed to the second connection portions 171a and 171b formed at both ends of the upper portion of the frame 171, And the second other end is rotatably connected to the fourth connecting portions 176a and 176b formed on the other side of the upper portion of the second driving plate 176. The fourth connecting portions 176a and 176b are rotatably connected to the third connecting portions 175b and 175c formed on one side of the plate 175, .

The welding torch bracket 144a supports the welding torch 144. The lower side of the welding torch bracket 144a is rotatably connected to a fifth connecting portion (reference numeral 175d in Fig. 11) formed on the lower side of the first driving plate 175 and the upper side of the welding torch bracket 144a is rotatably connected to the second And is rotatably connected to a sixth connection portion (reference numeral 176c in Fig. 11) formed on the lower side of the drive plate 176. [ Bearings may be provided in the respective connection portions 171a to 177b, 175a to 176d, and 176a to 176c.

6 and 7 are views for explaining the operation of the welding torch driver 170 constituting the welding apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. 4 to 7, when the driven pulley 173 is rotated by the drive motor 172, the first link member 174 rotates about the rotation center R, and the first drive plate 175 Is rotated by the first connection portion 175a. The second link member 177 and the third link member 178 also rotate about the second connecting portions 171a and 171b and the second driving plate 176 is also rotated together with the first driving plate 175 It turns. The first drive plate 175 and the second drive plate 176 are rotated by the link members 174, 177 and 178 while maintaining the horizontal position.

The welding torch bracket 144a is connected to the fifth connecting portion 175d of the first driving plate 175 and the sixth connecting portion 176c of the second driving plate 176 The first drive plate 175 and the second drive plate 176 rotate. Therefore, the welding torch 144 is rotated in the left-right direction by driving of the driving motor 172, whereby the welding angle is adjusted. At this time, since the tip portion of the welding torch 144 is always maintained at a constant height by the link structure and the welding torch 144 is positioned immediately below the rotation center R, So that the welding torch 144 can freely rotate.

8 is a flowchart illustrating a welding method performed by a welding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 8, a welding operation is performed after the welding apparatus is installed on the workpiece to be welded. First, the welding line is recognized by the sensor (S10). When the welding line is recognized, the welding torch is moved by an offset corresponding to the distance between the sensor and the welding torch, and the welding torch is positioned at the welding starting point (S20).

Thereafter, the weld line is traced by the sensor (S30), and it is determined whether the weld line is a straight line portion, a concave portion or a convex portion, and welding is performed (S40). If the weld line is a straight line portion, the straight line portion is welded (S50). If the weld line is a concave portion or a convex portion, the setting is changed to a concave condition or a convexity condition to perform welding (S60, S70) S70 is repeated to perform welding (S80). According to this embodiment, in the case of a concave or convex portion serving as a weld line, welding can be performed while rotating the welding torch by changing the setting to a predetermined concave condition or convex condition. At this time, as described above, the welding torch can be rotated without changing the position of the tip portion of the welding torch, so that the welding operation can be performed more quickly and accurately.

Referring again to FIG. 3, the torch gun driving units 150 and 160 may rotate the torch gun 142 horizontally or vertically. The torch gun driving unit may include a first driving unit 150 for rotating the torch gun 142 in the horizontal direction and a second driving unit 160 for rotating the torch gun 142 in the up and down direction.

9 and 10 are views for explaining the operation of the first driving unit 150 constituting the welding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 9 and 10, the first driving unit 150 may adjust the yaw angle of the torch gun 142 by rotating the torch gun 142 horizontally. For example, when the membrane sheet of the LNG hold is welded, the angles of the welding torch 144 and the torch gun 142 are adjusted to the left and right according to the corrugation shape of the membrane sheet, Can be performed smoothly.

11 and 12 are views for explaining the operation of the second driving unit 160 constituting the welding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The second driving unit 160 may adjust the roll angle of the torch key 142 by rotating the torch key 142 in the vertical direction. The angle of the welding torch 144 and the torch key 142 can be adjusted up and down as shown in Figs. 11 and 12 according to the corrugation shape of the membrane sheet, etc., so that welding can be performed smoothly.

The welding torch driver 150 and 160 can adaptively adjust the shape of the welding line so that the welding can be smoothly performed while performing the welding by the welding part 130 while performing seam tracking using LPS or LVS The torch gun 142 is rotated. That is, when the welding torch 144 is rotated according to the concave / convex shape of the welding line, the first driving part 150 and the second driving part 160 are operated so that the torch gun 142 can move correspondingly, 142 are imparted with roll and yaw degrees of freedom. Accordingly, the length of the connecting portion 146 can be reduced, and the angle of the welding torch 144 can be prevented from being unintentionally changed by the connecting portion 146, thereby enabling high-quality welding.

It is to be understood that the above-described embodiments are provided to facilitate understanding of the present invention, and do not limit the scope of the present invention, and it is to be understood that various modifications are possible within the scope of the present invention. It is to be understood that the technical scope of the present invention should be determined by the technical idea of the claims and the technical scope of protection of the present invention is not limited to the literary description of the claims, To the invention of the invention.

110: rail part 120: welding carriage
130: height adjusting section 140: welding section
142: torch gun 144: welding torch
146: connection part 150: first driving part
160: second driving unit 170: welding torch driving unit
171: frame 172: drive motor
173: driven pulley 174: first link member
175: first drive plate 176: second drive plate
177: second link member 178: third link member

Claims (6)

A rail portion provided in the welding direction of the workpiece to be welded;
A welding carriage movable along the rail portion; And
And a welding portion provided on the welding carriage,
The welding portion
A welding torch provided on the welding carriage for welding the member to be welded;
A torch gun disposed at a distance from the welding torch to the welding carriage, for supplying welding wire to the welding torch;
A connecting portion connecting the welding torch and the torch gun, the connecting portion having a passage of the welding wire;
A welding torch driver for rotating the welding torch horizontally or vertically; And
And a torch gun driving unit for rotating the torch gun in a horizontal direction or a vertical direction. The method according to claim 1,
And a height adjuster for supporting the rail portion and adjusting a height of the rail portion. 3. The method of claim 2,
A profile calculating unit for calculating a distance profile between the welding torch and the welding line while moving the welding carriage along the rail portion; And
And a controller for calculating a height adjustment value of the rail according to the spacing profile,
Wherein the height adjuster adjusts the height of the rail according to the height adjustment value. The method according to claim 1,
The torch gun driving unit includes:
A first driving unit for rotating the torch gun in a horizontal direction to adjust a yaw angle; And
And a second driving unit for rotating the torch gun in the vertical direction to adjust the roll angle. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the connecting portion is provided with a flexible material so as to correspond to the rotation of the torch gun and the welding torch. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the welding torch driver comprises:
A frame provided in the welding carriage;
A first link member having one end fixed to a lower side of the frame;
A driving member installed on the frame to rotate the first link member;
A first driving plate having a first connecting portion rotatably connected to the other end of the first link member;
A second link member rotatably connected at one end to a second connecting portion formed at an upper side of the frame and having a first end rotatably connected to a third connecting portion formed at an upper portion of the first driving plate; And
And a second connecting plate having a fourth connecting portion rotatably connected to the second other end of the second link member,
The lower side of the welding torch bracket supporting the welding torch is rotatably connected to the fifth connecting portion formed on the lower side of the first driving plate,
And an upper side of the welding torch bracket is rotatably connected to a sixth connecting portion formed on the lower side of the second driving plate.

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