Product category:
Automatic and robotic welding systems
News Release from: Carl Cloos Schweisstechnik | Subject: High deposition rate robotic welding
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 28 March 2006
High capacity robotic welding systems to
be shown
As well as showing high deposition rate welding systems integrated with robots to weld construction industry components, Carl Cloos will demonstrate its 'cold' process at Automatica.
Carl Cloos Schweisstechnik will be presenting a variety of product innovations for robot automation of welding production processes in hall B2, stand 329 at Automatica 2006 (Munich, Germany) May 16-19, 2006) In addition to new developments in the field of the HighEnd power sources and software products, the high-capacity processes Tandem and MSG laser hybrid, integrated in complete robot solutions, are the main focus of the exhibits
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 14 Jan 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Thus the CP process reduces component distortion and the 'burn-off' of the coating is significantly reduced when processing coated plates - as with the small parts made of CrNi steel welded here.
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Improving welding production is a constant aim by a welding equipment and robot builder that is now offering automatic MIG strip welding as well as plasma-arc and powder plasma-arc welding.
Other advantages are the optimised gap bridging ability and the considerably increased weld speed.
All the components required for the welding process - such as robot, robot controller, manipulator and welding equipment - are mounted on a common base plate covering an area of 4200 x 2200 mm (L x W).
Two 6 axes Romat 320 industrial robots in the new range of compact Cloos robots demonstrate the efficient combination of welding and handling tasks: while one robot is welding, another Romat, which is equipped with a gripper system, is loading or unloading the positioning unit after the station has been changed.
The new modular Orbit 5 DP turn-tilt manipulator does not require much space, has a very high positioning speed and provides optimum workpiece accessibility.
The short cycle time for station change guarantees excellent productivity.
The combination of the high-capacity processes Tandem and MSG laser hybrid will be demonstrated in another robot station.
This combination of the two processes offers great benefits especially in the case of thick steel, as used for example in the construction machinery and shipbuilding industries.
Using a fully automatic tool changing system which enables a quick change between laser hybrid welding head and Tandem welding torch, an industrial robot demonstrates multi-layer welding of typical workpieces: the root pass of the seam is welded by means of the laser hybrid process which requires considerably less time spent on weld preparation and ensures a deep heat input at a high process speed.
The other cover passes are MAG Tandem welded: in the case of thick materials in particular, this process guarantees an excellent weld quality and an enormous increase in productivity due to the high deposition rate of the two wire electrodes and the high weld speed.
* Robotic welding software - in the area of robot-specific user software Cloos will be demonstrating the systems RoboPlan NT, WDM (Weld Data Monitoring) and PDM (Process Data Monitoring).
The RoboPlan NT programming system offers highly efficient possibilities for offline programming of Romat industrial robots on a PC using Windows.
Programs are generated offline and then tested for operational capability, workpiece accessibility and collision avoidance using a field-proven simulation module and transferred directly to the Rotrol robot controller.
The WDM user software is used for exchange of data between the computer-controlled pulsed arc power sources in the Quinto and MC series centrally from a PC.
The weld data are transferred and archived via appropriate interfaces.
With welding power sources from the same series there is the option of balancing the weld parameters and changing the welding characteristics.
Up to 20 welding power sources can be connected to the PC network.
The PDM software package makes it possible to document all available welding parameters and operating data for a robot system on an external PC.
In a unique way the data for the robot controller and the power source can be combined in one program.
The continuous evaluation of the operating data significantly increases the efficiency of the system.
The analysis of the welding parameters enables optimisation of the weld quality and guarantees the perfect match of power source, industrial robot and robot controller.
In total the data can be documented for up to 32 robot systems, each with up to two welding power sources.
* Laser seam tracking - the new laser sensor systems CSE (Cloos Seam Explorer) and CST60 (Cloos Seam Tracker) from the range of highly efficient Cloos sensors will also be exhibited.
The sensors are contact-free optical measuring systems for seam tracking and determination of weld position/geometry during robot welding.
They operate on the basis of a distance measurement using a laser beam with low capacity (up to maximum 50 mW).
With the CSE sensor, the search process is carried out offline, i e, before welding starts.
The workpiece is scanned and the measuring signal is electronically evaluated and significant positions are recognised.
During welding the weld parameters are adapted linear to the previously determined weld geometry.
The laser sensors in the CST series determine the weld start offline but measure the weld geometry online, i.e synchronously with the welding process.
The infinite adaptation of all weld parameters enables component tolerances and thermal distortion to be precisely balanced.
The CST60 and CST90 versions have different visual ranges for the seam tracking process.
The visual range of the CST90 HD design can be individually adjusted to the relevant application.
This offers particular benefits in the case of reflecting surfaces.
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