2012 12th International Conference on Control, Automation and Systems

Oct. 17-21, 2012 in ICC, Jeju Island, Korea

1. INTRODUCTION

Welding process occupies very big portion in ship
building construction, so a lot of studies for welding
automation have been performed so as to increase
productivity. As a result of numerous studies, more than
65% of entire welding processes were automated in ship
building area. The welding position stands for the
posture of worker. Typical positions of welding fall into
flat, vertical, horizontal and overhead position. A level
of difficulty on welding depends on the welding
position. Weld designers are eager to plan as many flat
positions as possible, because it is easy to weld in flat
position. Therefore, the automation of welding process
has been concentrated on the flat position. However, the
other welding positions occupy a large portion of ship
building construction. Thus, the demand for automation
in these positions is increased recently.
In the horizontal position welding, several trials for
various welding technique have been conducted for
welding automation[1]-[4]. SAW(Submerged Arc
Welding) and EGW(Electro Gas Welding) techniques
were applied, however, these techniques have been
applied to limited application areas [5]-[7]. SAW
technique can be used for high welding speed due to the
high deposition rate of weld metal and is robust against
external influences such as wind. Owing to spray and
recovery of flux to maintain a stable arc, SAW system
should be large size and heavy weight, finally, its
installation and usage are restricted. The high
productivity of welding can be accomplished through
EGW because of its high deposition rate. Regardless of
workpiece shape, EGW can weld workpieces by one
pass. This technique has an advantage which can weld
various workpiece regardless of welding gap sizes, but
it is difficult to control the flow of molten metal due to
highly deposited molten metal in a groove in horizontal
position of welding. Too much molten metal is hardly
controlled and forms a poor weld bead or porosities.
This technique is required sophisticated control under
the horizontal position. In order to implement the
automation of horizontal position welding, the welding
equipment should be as small and light as possible. Also,
the control algorithm which can weld on various
horizontal welding gaps has to be considered.
Most of the workpieces in the horizontal position
welding are normally welded by manual in the ship
building. Generally, this position can be found in ship
block with many stiffners and is located at the bottom.
Due to uncomfortable posture for welding, the
productivity of welding is low, and the workers would
like to avoid this welding area. In this study, the
welding robot system was developed to automate the
horizontal position welding. The developed welding
robot has four driving axis with CAN-communication
based motor drivers to minimize the wiring. In order to
carry out welding on various gaps of workpiece, an
automatic gap measurement and an algorithm for
multi-pass were developed. Also, a database for
automatic generation of the welding conditions was
established.

2. AUTOMATIC WELDING ROBOT SYSTEM
FOR HORIZONTAL POSITION WELDING

2.1 Configuration of groove
The ship is made by assembling numerous blocks.
When upper and bottom blocks are assembled, they are
welded on the horizontal position. The typical
configuration is shown in Fig. 1. Because the space in
the ship block is limited by stiffner, the space to install
the welding robot is small. The welding robot can be
installed on the stiffner of the bottom block or on the
plate of the upper block. As the stiffner is joined to the
Automatic Welding Robot System for the Horizontal Position in the Shipyard
Sung Hoon Ko
1*
, Jeom Goo Kim
2
and Hyeong Soon Moon
3

1*
Automation & Control Research Department, Hyundai Heavy Industrials co., ltd., Ulsan, Korea
(Tel : +82-52-202-3214; e-mail: [email protected])
2
Automation & Control Research Department, Hyundai Heavy Industrials co., ltd., Ulsan, Korea
(Tel : +82-52-203-9965; e-mail: [email protected])
3
Automation & Control Research Department, Hyundai Heavy Industrials co., ltd., Ulsan, Korea
(Tel : +82-52-202-3213; e-mail: [email protected])


Abstract: In the horizontal position welding, a series of trials for automatic welding technique have been carried
out. However, their results have been used under some limited scopes. In this study, a welding robot system was
developed to automate the horizontal welding in ship building construction. The small mechanical robot
incorporates CAN-communication based motor drivers to minimize wiring of the welding robot. In order to weld
on various gaps between workpieces, an automatic gap measurement and an algorithm for weld pass design were
developed. A database of optimum welding conditions for FCAW(flux cored arc welding) and GMAW(gas metal
arc welding) process was also established. The developed welding robot system showed a good performance in
the shop test, and it is being optimized in HHI shipyard.

Keywords: Automatic welding robot, FCAW, horizontal position welding, shipyard


240
978-89-93215-04-5 95560/12/$15 ICROS


block by welding, it can be distor
deformation. To install the welding robo
it needs a complicated algorithm for
tracking. Therefore, the developed w
installed on the plate of the upper bloc
height is limited to less than 550mm
Because the welding robot travels alo
length of rail for travel was designed
1.5m for easy handling.
The shape of groove to be welded is
The upper plate is cut with slope of 30
formation of multi pass welding layers
plate is flat to prevent an overflow of t
The gap between the upper and bott
consistent and varies from 4mm to 20
accomplish the proper back bead, a
plate was attached on the back of the pl
torch should be able to move anywhe
space and to rotate with tilting angl
groove with the welding wire.

Fig. 1. Configuration of horizontal p

2.2 Design of welding robot
The welding robot system should ha
the multi pass with weaving motion i
position. It consists of a header for m
welding torch, the body of the w
travelling guide and a rail. The head
Rotation-axis which can tilt the weldin
mounting bracket. The body consists of
moving along the rail, X-axis to change
for the multi pass layer and Y-axis for
The travelling guide is to clamp the b
and to move it along the rails. It was se
body for light weight and easy handlin
The permanent magnets which have st
force were used for easy removal of it
the ship block. The length of the ra
between 1m and 1.5m to cope with the
welding. The body of rail was made of
for minimization of the weight.
The rack-pinion type driving gear, a B
a reducer with backlash less than 1 deg
the travel-axis. A unit which can a
between travel rollers and gear of the r
rted by welding
ot on the stiffner,
r the weld seam
welding robot is
ck by rail. So, its
m for installation.
ong the rail, the
between 1m and
s shown in Fig. 2.
0 degrees for the
s and the bottom
the molten metal.
tom plate is not
0mm. In order to
ceramic backing
late. The welding
re in the groove
le() to fill the

position welding
ave a function of
in the horizontal
mounting of the
welding robot, a
der consists of a
ng torch and the
f a travel axis for
e the torch height
weaving motion.
body into the rail
eparated from the
ng of attachment.
trong attachment
from the plate of
ail was designed
various length of
f aluminum alloy
BLDC motor and
gree were used in
adjust the space
rail are designed.
The body of welding robot
guide by using the clamps. I
the welding torch moves alo
layer of welding pass. In X
directly connected to a ba
position control, and two LM
robot body to support drivin
limit driving range, two conta
used. The motor and the red
traveling-axis were used in t
Y-axis controls weaving mo
and height of the weld bead
guides were used for Y-axis.
driving part of X-axis was att
of the robot body and all par
to the top cover. A harmonic d
wobble of the welding torch,
part was designed to turn th
rotation-axis [8].


Fig. 2. Shape of groove in h

Fig. 3. Composition of cont
is assembled to the travel
In the multi pass welding,
ong X-axis to change the
X-axis, a driving motor is
all screw for the precise
M guides were installed to
ng part solidly. In order to
actless limit switches were
ducer which were used in
his part. A driving part of
tion of the welding torch
d. A ball screw and a LM
For easy maintenance, all
tached to the bottom cover
rts of Y-axis were attached
drive was used to prevent a
and a passive mechanical
he direction of a torch in

horizontal position welding

trol system
241
2.2 Design of controller
In the horizontal position welding, the welding robot
should be able to measure the gap automatically because
the gap of the workpiece is changed irregularly. The
controller of the welding robot generates a database for
passes to weld along the measured gaps and control
sequences of four driving parts. The control system
consists of a main controller, a touch screen, a touch
sensor unit, a remote pendant and a welding machine.
All units of the control system were put into a steel
cabinet to store safely and to move easily as shown Fig.
3.
The main controller measures the gap of the
workpiece and controls the four motors to change the
welding conditions such as welding speed and position
of welding torch. It sends the messages to the welding
machine to change welding current and voltage through
the analog output signal, and also communicates the
remote pendant with CAN communication. The
controller can input and save the welding conditions
according to the workpiece thickness and the gap
between workpieces through the touch screen. Because
the welding robot has CAN-communication based
onboard BLDC motor drivers, the controller sends
commands to the drivers through CAN communication.
The CAN communication is normally improper method
to control motor under real time control. However, this
was adopted to reduce errors caused by wiring because
fast control and monitoring are not necessary in the
welding procedure [9]-[11]. The components of main
controller are shown in Fig. 4.
Due to its small size, the four drivers for motion
control could be installed into the welding robot. It
consists of a PWM power control module, a motion
control module, a rotor status calculation module and
CAN communication module. The PWM power control
module receives current commands of motion control
module and controls 3 phase power of motor using
MOSFET. The motion control module compares the
measured rotor position and the velocity with the
reference values, and calculates the current command
value to send the PWM power control module. The
rotor status calculation module calculates position and
velocity of the rotor using 3 phase hall sensor signals.
The CAN module exchanges reference control
parameters and values with high level controller [12-13].
The schematic block diagram of driver is shown in Fig.
5.

3. AUTOMATIC WELDING PROCESS
IN HORIZONTAL POSITION

3.1 Gap sensing algorithm

The touch sensor unit was used in this study to
measure initial position and gap of the workpiece. The
touch sensor unit applies high voltage between the
conductive welding wire and the workpiece. When
welding wire touches the workpiece, the sensor unit can
detect a position of workpiece due to rapid voltage
drop[14-15]. In order to measure the position and gap of
the workpiece, the sequence of trajectory of the welding
torch is shown in Fig. 6. To start measurement, the torch
should be located in adequate position by an operator. It
moves along x direction until it touches the upper plate,
and the coordinates of touched position are memorized.
It moves 2mm in y direction and repeats the same
operation. If the x coordinates of measured points are
2mm greater than the previous point, this point is
considered as a slope part of the upper plate. If the
coordinates of two points on tilting part are measured,
the torch sensor moves to measure a position of the
bottom plate in y direction. The coordinates of point A
on upper plate and point B on bottom plate are
calculated by using the measured positions in Fig. 6 [16].
The gap can be estimated by using y coordinate of the
point A and B. The derived equations are as follows.


Fig.4. Configuration main controller for communication


Fig. 5. Schematic block diagram of motor driver
Motion control module PWM power control module
CAN communication module Rotor status calculation module
242


X
A
=
X
1
+X
2
2
- t ,
Y
A
=
Y
3
-Y
4
X
3
-X
4
[
X
1
+X
2
2
- X
3
- t +
X
B
= X
A
, Y
B
= Y
5
,
u = Y
A
- Y
B

=
Y
3
-Y
4
X
3
-X
4
[
X
1
+X
2
2
- X
3
- t +
where, X
n
is x coordinate of point n, Y
n
of point n, G is gap of workpiece and
of workpiece.

Fig. 6. Sequence to measure the gap
the workpiece

3.2 Design of the welding condition
performance test

In the horizontal position welding
FCAW process, the deposition of 1 pa
certain volume. A shape of weld bead h
deposition is as shown in Fig. 7. Due t
of the surface tension and gravity fo
similar to convex oval. When next pas
porosity and the weld defect are likely
W. Therefore, the pass design should
have the proper deposition.
Multi passes design on a gap of 10m
GMAW process are shown in Fig. 8. I
use a same pass design when the gap is
If the pass design is varied, the welding
Because the gap could be changed fr
welding conditions for each pass w
according to each gap size by experi
database was established. A number of
process is greater than that of GMA
force of GMAW process is stronger tha
penetration in GMAW is more deep
(1)
+ Y
3
, (2)
(3)
Y
3
- Y
5
. (4)
n
is y coordinate
t is thickness

p and position of
n database and
g of GMAW or
ss is limited to a
having too much
to the interaction
orce, the bead is
ss is welded, the
to occur at point
be considered to
mm in FCAW and
It is important to
changed slightly.
defect can occur.
rom 4 to 20mm,
were determined
iments and their
passes in FCAW
AW process. Arc
an that of FCAW,
per than that of
FCAW. So, W point sho
compensated if GMAW p
productivity in GMAW is h
under this background. Opera
process due to harsh enviro
light and lots of spatters. Als
process in outdoor workplace
process is strongly influenced
welding condition database
processes.


Fig. 7. Shape of h

The gap of workpiece vari
the precision of assembly and
the gap is not consistent alon
shown in Fig. 9. The gaps
positions of the workpiec
conditions must be changed
prevention of the welding def
point C and D are different, th
as voltage, current, speed a
should be changed. If the de
than 4mm, the speed and we
linearly, so they are calculate
on any point O between point




(a) Pass design in FCAW

Fig. 8. Schemetic diagram
gap of 10mm

own in Fig. 7 can be
process is adopted. The
higher than that of FCAW
ators tend to avoid GMAW
nment such as strong arc
so, GMAW is not suitable
because the quality of this
d by wind. In this study, the
is established for both

huge weld bead
ies by the cutting qualities,
d the welding distortion, so
ng the whole workpiece as
are measured on several
ce because the welding
d along the gap for the
fects. When the gaps of the
he welding conditions such
and positions of the torch
eviation of the gap is less
elding current are changed
ed by equation (5) and (6)
C and D.

(b) Pass design in GMAW
of the pass design on the
243
v = v
C
+
(V
D
-V
C
)
d1
X
o
.

I = I
C
+
(I
D
-I
C
)
d1
X
o
.

where, v is welding speed, I is weldi
distance between point C and D, d
0
between point C and O, and G
n
is gap o

Fig.9. Schemetic diagram of gaps in m
workpiece



(a) Gap : 8mm (b) Gap : 10mm (c
Fig. 10. Cross section of the workpiec
gaps

A series of test were carried ou
proposed algorithm. The results sh
developed welding robot could be app
for the workpiece with various gaps
areas had no defects even though the
were varied along the workpiece. The
the specimens used in these tests are sho
The welding robot is now being optim
out welding in the field at H
Industries(HHI) shipyard.

4. CONCLUSION

Several trials were carried out to cov
position welding with varying gaps,
could not have satisfactory results be
pool sag due to horizontal position, lac
for different gaps and difficulty in
adaptive fill algorithm.
In this study, the welding robot
(5)
(6)
ing current, d
1
is
0
is the distance
f point n.

multi positions of

c) Gap : 13mm
ce having various
ut to verify the
howed that the
plied successfully
and the welded
e gap conditions
cross sections of
own in figure 10.
mized by carrying
Hyundai Heavy

ver the horizontal
however, these
ecause of molten
ck of adaptability
development of
system and the
adaptive fill control algorith
various gaps in horizontal po
developed welding robot h
CAN-communication based
handling and easy accessi
algorithm was also designed t
changing gap size. The weld
conditions could be generate
this algorithm. Finally, the a
was developed to minimize t
an extra pass on the groove
robot showed a good perform
it is being optimized in HHI s

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