• Title/Summary/Keyword: Automatic welding

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Automatic Inspection of Reactor Vessel Welds using an Underwater Mobile Robot guided by a Laser Pointer

  • Kim, Jae-Hee;Lee, Jae-Cheol
    • 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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    • 2004.08a
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    • pp.1116-1120
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    • 2004
  • In the nuclear power plant, there are several cylindrical vessels such as reactor vessel, pressuriser and so on. The vessels are usually constructed by welding large rolled plates, forged sections or nozzle pipes together. In order to assure the integrity of the vessel, these welds should be periodically inspected using sensors such as ultrasonic transducer or visual cameras. This inspection is usually conducted under water to minimize exposure to the radioactively contaminated vessel walls. The inspections have been performed by using a conventional inspection machine with a big structural sturdy column, however, it is so huge and heavy that maintenance and handling of the machine are extremely difficult. It requires much effort to transport the system to the site and also requires continuous use of the utility's polar crane to move the manipulator into the building and then onto the vessel. Setup beside the vessel requires a large volume of work preparation area and several shifts to complete. In order to resolve these problems, we have developed an underwater mobile robot guided by the laser pointer, and performed a series of experiments both in the mockup and in the real reactor vessel. This paper introduces our robotic inspection system and the laser guidance of the mobile robot as well as the results of the functional test.

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Design of Adaptive Inverse Control for Center Position Control of Steel-Strip in Continuous Annealing Line (연속소둔로에서 판중심 위치 제어를 위한 적응 역비례 제어기의 설계)

  • Kim, Young-Su;Jo, Sung-Eun;Lee, Young-Kow;Kim, Sang-Woo
    • Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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    • 2004.11c
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    • pp.608-610
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    • 2004
  • In continuous annealing line (CAL), POSCO, the center position control (CPC) is an essential technique that renders the steel-strip to pass at the center of a roll in order to prevent the strip from skewing or breaking. The CPC algorithm currently installed on the steering roll in the heating section of CAL is to control the strip position by using the reverse phase of error from the center position, without considering the dynamics of strip horizontal movement. Such algorithm may, unfortunately, require a manual operation occasionally when the range of strip input becomes wide, causing the dynamics 0 be dominant. Other PID-type control is rarely used in automatic operation because the excess of response may occur when the discontinuous points such as welding joints pass through rolls. In this paper, we identify the CPC system by using off-line data and design a compensator for the excessive dynamics by using the adaptive inverse control. Simulation result depicts the improved reliability of the proposed CPC system.

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A CSP-based Load Leveling Algorithm for Ship Block Erection Network

  • Ryu, Ji-Sung;Park, Jin-Hyoung;Kim, Hong-Tae;Lee, Byung-No;Shin, Jong-Gye
    • Journal of Ship and Ocean Technology
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    • v.10 no.2
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    • pp.37-44
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    • 2006
  • The erection in shipbuilding is the process to assemble all the blocks one by one in certain order and requires more leveled and efficient schedule than other processes do. However, erection schedule includes too many constraints to be systemized with simple programs and constraints are changed frequently. These difficulties make it rare to find automatic erection schedule generation system with load leveling ability. In this paper, a CSP (Constraint Satisfaction Problem)-based load leveling algorithm using a maximum load diminution technique is proposed and applied to the block erection scheduling of a dock in a shipyard. The result shows that it performs better than currently used scheduling method based on empirical logics. The maximum load of welding length and crane usage are reduced by 31.63% and 30.00% respectively. The deviation of resource usage amount also decreases by 8.93% and 7.51%.

Fabrication and Experiment of Pneumatic Steel Plate Chamfering Machine and Sensor System for Active Control of Chamfering (면취 공정의 능동 제어를 위한 공압식 자동 강재 면취기와 센서 시스템의 제작 및 실험)

  • Na, Yeong-min;Lee, Hyun-seok;Kim, Min-hyo;Park, Jong-kyu
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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    • v.19 no.12
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    • pp.80-86
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    • 2020
  • With the exception of welding activities, it is forbidden to use electricity in shipyards, owing to safety concerns such as the possibility of fire, explosions, and short circuits. In this paper, an automatic chamfering machine using pneumatics is proposed for use in such environments. Customers specify their requirements and the machine derives the corresponding theoretical design conditions. The proposed machine was used to perform 3D modeling, and its suitability and performance were confirmed via cutting experiments of the manufactured device. Two types of sensors may be used in this system: contact and non-contact. In the case of the contact type, an end-stop switch that can recognize the end of the material is installed, and when the machine reaches the end of the material, the end-stop switch is operated to cut off the air pressure. In the non-contact type, four sensors were used: photonic, ultrasonic, metal detection, and encoder. The use of the four sensors was repeated 30 times, and the average error determined. Thus, the optimum sensor was identified.

Evaluation of a Back Face Strain Compliance of CT specimen (CT시험편의 Back Face Strain Compliance 평가)

  • Kim, Won Beom
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.17 no.12
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    • pp.686-691
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    • 2016
  • In welded steel structures, there are many stress concentration sites such as weld beads, and welding defects are likely to occur at the welded parts. When a repeated fatigue load acts on a stress concentration site, fatigue crack occurs and propagates, leading to fatigue fracture. Therefore, it is necessary to understand fatigue life, crack initiation life, and crack propagation life in order to prevent fatigue failure. In this study, a compliance method was derived for use in the study of fatigue crack propagation characteristics. This compliance can be used for automated measurement of fatigue cracks. The compliance was calculated using an in-house FEM program for a CT specimen. The results of this calculation are presented in relation to a/W and compared with calculation results using the J integral and a program from a previous study. In addition, the strain distribution in the upward and downward directions was calculated from the center of the back face of the CT specimen. In this distribution, the strain tended to decrease from the center to the top and bottom. The compliance method was achieved from these calculations and can be used for automatic execution of crack propagation tests.

Comparison of TOFD and Radiographic Testing for a Mock-up Specimen (모의 시험편에 대한 TOFD와 방사선투과시험의 비교)

  • Kim, Chung-Jick;Jeon, Jong-Gun;Kim, Jin-Taek
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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    • v.28 no.1
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    • pp.64-69
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    • 2008
  • In order to detect the internal defects which occur in welding parts of pressure vessel and structures, radiographic testing and ultrasonic testing is applied. However, because of the risks of radiation exposure and film processing, radiographic testing takes a relatively long time to verify the test results and it has affected in the production process. Typically, the manual ultrasonic testing is not easy to reproduce the result and it is highly dependent on the tester's skills. The TOFD technique, one of the automatic ultrasonic testings is spreading alternatively. This research describes the comparing test results by applying radiographic testing and TOFD technique to a mock-up specimen incruding the flaws. The TOFD technique will contribute to improve the objective reliability of the ultrasonic technique.

FATIGUE DESIGN OF BUTT-WELDED TUBULAR JOINTS

  • Kim, D. S.;S. Nho;F. Kopp
    • Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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    • 2002.10a
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    • pp.127-132
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    • 2002
  • Recent deepwater offshore structures in Gulf of Mexico utilize butt welded tubular joints. Application of welded tubular joint includes tendons, production risers, and steel catenary risers. Fatigue life assessment of these joints becomes more critical because the structures to which they are attached are allowed to undergo cyclic and sometimes large displacements around an anchored position. Estimating the fatigue behavior of these tubular members in the design stage is generally conducted by using S-N curves specified in the codes and standards. Applying the stress concentration factor of the welded structure to S-N approach often results in very conservative assessment because the stress field acting on the tubular has a non-uniform distribution through the thickness. Fracture mechanics and fitness for service (FFS) technology have been applied in the design of the catenary risers. This technology enables the engineer to establish proper requirements on weld quality and inspection acceptance criteria to assure satisfactory structural integrity during its design life. It also provides guidance on proper design curves to be used and a methodology for accounting for the effects of non-uniform stress distribution through the wall thickness. An attempt was made to develop set of S-N curves based on fracture mechanics approach by considering non-uniform stress distribution and a threshold stress intensity factor. Series of S-N curves generated from this approach were compared to the existing S-N curves. For flat plate butt joint, the S-N curve generated from fracture mechanics matches with the IIW class 100 curve when initial crack depth was 0.5 mm (0.02"). Similar comparison with API X′ was made for tubular joint.. These initial crack depths are larger than the limits of inspection by current Non-destructive examination (NDE) means, such as Automatic Ultrasonic Inspection (AUT). Thus a safe approach can be taken by specifying acceptance criteria that are close to limits of sizing capability of the selected NDE method. The comparison illustrates conservatism built into the S-N design curve.

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Experimental Study on Steel Beam with Embossment Web (엠보싱 웨브를 가지는 보 부재의 실험적 연구)

  • Park, Han-Min;Lee, Hee-Du;Shin, Kyung-Jae;Lee, Swoo-Heon;Chae, Il Soo
    • Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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    • v.29 no.6
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    • pp.479-486
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    • 2017
  • Steel beams with corrugated web have been widely used in the steel structures. However, it is challenging to weld the section between the corrugated web and the flange straight, which increases the cost of production. In order to solve this issue, steel beam with intaglio and embossed web (It is called an IEB) was invented. A web with embossment is produced by cold pressing and welded to flange by automatic welding machine. The loading tests were conducted to investigate the load-carrying capacity of IEB, and its test result was compared with that of H-shaped beam having a same size of flange and web. The test results of IEB series showed about 40% higher load capacities than H-shaped series. As a result of comparing the IEB specimen with Eurocodes for steel beams with corrugated web, all of specimens tested in this study did not meet the design value. Therefore, it is difficult to apply existing formula to IEB and new design formula should be presented for field application.

Case Study on Economical Fabrication and Erection of Steel Structure and Reduction in Field Erection Time (경제적 철골제작$\cdot$설치 및 공기단축 사례분석연구)

  • Ahn Jae-Bong;Choi Yoon ki
    • Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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    • v.5 no.5 s.21
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    • pp.183-192
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    • 2004
  • Even in Korea the number of steel structure buildings that allow internal space and easy change of their layouts in accordance with the purpose of buildings and box-type steel bridges constructed with thick plates with thickness in a rage just from a few $\beta$AE to \$100\beta$AE is increasing these days and therefore, domestic fabrication and processing technology of members for steel structures is being improved at a pace faster than in the past to meet the growing requirements of consumers for high reliability on quality control on the related steel structures. However, most domestic fabricators os steel structures who are turning out their steel products in accordance with the designs prepared by engineering companies in their respective works for the sake of cost cut more than anything else, hesitating to introduce any advanced new technology into themselves. In the case of the steel structure design application for small and mid-size buildings in particular, it is quite meaningful not only for those who are involved in steel structure business, but also for the people working at construction work fields to review the result of the study on the connections of steel structure members deigned to obtain superb quality of steel structures within short period for steel fabrication and erection at fields in economical ways, as there is a glowing tendency seeking standardization of connection of steel structure members as well as whole structure together with the development on design of construction system of buildings including their exterior and interior decoration materials, manufacture of the related members and fabrication technique structure. This paper has been prepared with the aim to review the peculiar characteristics of buildings constructed with the main frames of steel structures and actual cases of the change made ing the connections between steel structure columns and between columns and girder members in order to reduce the work period necessary for fabrication and erection of steel structures at the maximum as well as the some examples of steel structures fabricated through automatic welding by robots for box-type columns in addition to the description of the problems found in the course of fabricating those steel structures, suggesting possible counter-measures to solve them.