• International Journal of Korean Welding Society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2002

In the multi-pass welding of pressure vessels or ships, the mechanical touch sensor system is generally used together with a manipulator to measure the gap and depth of the narrow gap to perform seam tracking. Unfortunately, such mechanical touch sensors may commit measuring errors caused by the deterioration of the measuring device. An automation system of narrow gap multi-pass welding using a laser vision system which can track the seam line of narrow gap and which can control welding power has been developed. The joint profile of the narrow gap, with 250mm depth and 28mm width, can be captured by laser vision camera. The image is then processed for defining tracking positions of the torch during welding. Then, the real-time correction of lateral and vertical position of the torch can be done by the laser vision system. The adaptive control of welding conditions like welding currents and welding speeds, can also be performed by the laser vision system, which cannot be done by conventional mechanical touch systems. The developed automation system will be adopted to reduce the idle time of welders, which happens frequently in conventional long welding processes, and to improve the reliability of the weld quality as well.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.08a
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• pp.499-503
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• 2004

This application-oriented paper describes an automated welding carriage system to weld a thin corrugated workpiece with welding seam tracking function. Hyundai Heavy Industries Corporation has developed an automatic welding carriage system, which utilizes pulsed plasma arc welding process for corrugated sheets. It can obtain high speed welding more than 2 times faster than traditional TIG based welding system. The aim of this development is to increase the productivity by using automatic plasma welding carriage systems, to track weld seam line using vision sensor automatically, and finally to provide a convenience to operator in order to carry out welding. In this paper a robust image processing and a distance based tracking algorithms are introduced for corrugated workpiece welding. The automatic welding carriage system is controlled by the programmable logic controller(PLC), and the automatic welding seam tracking system is controlled by the industrial personal computer(IPC) equipped with embedded OS. The system was tested at actual workpiece to show the feasibility and performance of proposed algorithm and to confirm the reliability of developed controller.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.706-713
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• 2002

In the multi-pass welding of pressure vessels or ships, the mechanical touch sensor system is generally used together with a manipulator to measure the gap and depth of the narrow gap to perform seam tracking. Unfortunately, such mechanical touch sensors may commit measuring errors caused by the eterioration of the measuring device. An automation system of narrow gap multi-pass welding using a laser vision system which can track the seam line of narrow gap and which can control welding power has been developed. The joint profile of the narrow gap, with 250mm depth and 28mm width, can be captured by laser vision camera. The image is then processed for defining tracking positions of the torch during welding. Then, the real-time correction of lateral and vertical position of the torch can be done by the laser vision system. The adaptive control of welding conditions like welding Currents and welding speeds, can also be performed by the laser vision system, which cannot be done by conventional mechanical touch systems. The developed automation system will be adopted to reduce the idle time of welders, which happens frequently in conventional long welding processes, and to improve the reliability of the weld quality as well.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.30-37
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• 1996

조선에서 추진되어온 용접로봇의 적용은 주로 대조립 용접공정의 자동화로서, 갠트리(Gantry)에 용접토치를 장착한 로봇을 설치하여 구성하였다. 이러한 시스템에 서의 용접은 로봇을 용접부위까지 이송시킨 후 로봇의 구동으로 용접을 수행하거나, 또는 로봇과 캔트리의 동시 구동으로 용접을 수행하기도 한다. 또한 이 공정은 복잡 한 용접구조물을 OLP(Off-Line Programming)를 이용하여 교시하므로서 효과적인 자동 화 시스템의 구성이 가능할 수 있었다. 소조립 공정은 대조립공정과 비교하면 더 간단 한 부재의 용접이라 할 수 있으나 공정과 공장의 생산방법에 따라 자동화의 어려움은 따른다. 적용되는 매니프레이타는 소조립 공정의 특성에 맞게 그 형태가 설계되어야 하고 이를 운용하는 시스템은 소조립 생산방법에 맞게 통합, 개발되는 Task-Based System"이 되어야 한다. 특히 소조립 공정은 대조립 공정과 달리 여러가지 용접 판넬 을 동시에 이송시킨 후 용접함으로서 OLP의 직접 적용을 어렵게 하는 요인이 있어 이것을 해결하는 것이 생산성을 증가시키는데 적지 않은 영향을 미친다 하겠다. 이 글에서는 소조립 용접 자동화를 구성하기 위해 필요한 젓으로서 소조립 용접 공정을 소개하고, 공정의 특성에 맞도록 설계된 매니퓰레이타 시스템과, OLP, 판넬인식, 자동 교시 모들로 이루어지는 작업인식 시스템에 관해 기술한다.기술한다.

• Journal of the Korea Society for Simulation
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.93-100
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• 2013

Mixed model production system means that various products are manufactured alternately in a line, and it has become a popular system in the era of multi-product small-quantity production. However, in the mixed model production system using flow line, the unbalance among stations is not inevitable because the workloads of stations cannot be the same. Thus, flow line system has been replaced to cellular manufacturing system for reducing the loss of waiting due to the unbalance of stations. In this paper, we introduce the simulation case study of an automated welding line which produces the parts of excavator. The factory has considered replacing the mixed model flow line to the cellular manufacturing system based on FMC concept. The increase of production quantity is estimated about 26.7%, and the lead time is reduced more than 55%. Furthermore sensitivity analyses are conducted considering the changes of product-mix.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.119-133
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• 1998

To implement full automation in pipe welding, it si most important to develop special sensors and their related systems which act like human operator when detecting irregular groove conditions. In this study, an automatic pipe Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) system was proposed to full control pipe welding procedure with intelligent sensor systems. A five-axes manipulator was proposed for welding torch to automatically access to exact welding position when pipe size and welding angle were given. Pool status and torch position were measured by using a weld-pool image monitoring and processing technique in root-pass welding for weld seam tracking and weld pool control. To overcome the intensive arc light, pool image was captured at the instance of short circuit of welding power loop. Captured image was processed to determine weld pool shape. For weld seam tracking, the relative distance of a torch position from the pool center was calculated in the extracted pool shape to move torch just onto the groove center. To control penetration of root pas, gap was calculated in the extracted pool image, and then weld conditions were controlled for obtaining appropriate penetration. welding speed was determined with a fuzzy logic, and welding current and voltage were determined from a data base to correspond to the gap. For automatic fill-pass welding, the function of human operator of real time weld seam control can be substituted by a sensor system. In this study, an arc sensor system was proposed based on a fuzzy control logic. Using the proposed automatic system, root-pass welding of pipe which had gap variation was assured to be appropriately controlled in welding conditions and in torch position by showing sound welding result and good seam tracking capability. Fill-pass welding by the proposed system also showed very successful result by tracking along the offset welding line without any control of human operator.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.49-54
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• 2007

Since the wall thickness can be up to 6" or greater, welds must be made in many layers, each layer containing several passes. However, the welding time for the conventional welding processes such as SAW(Submerged Arc Welding) and FCAW(Flux Cored Arc Welding) can be required many hours. The aim of this paper is to develop a high speed welding system with multi-torch and laser vision sensor for increasing the production speed on the line and to remove the need for the operator so that the system can run automatically for the complete multi-torch multi-layer weld. It was shown that the developed laser vision sensor and analysis of arc blow for multi-torch were effective for multi-pass seam tracking and stable arc. A new automated multi-torch welding systems for thick wall applications has been proved in several production lines.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.95-105
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• 1996

Korea Gas Corporation has operated high pressure gas transmission line of about 600 kilometers and, therefore, a series of repair welding processes are required in order to cope with external defects such as dent, gouge, cracking usually due to mechanical attacks. Most of gas pipelines repair processes are performed after completely venting remaining gas. However, in some case, though it is very unusual, repairs require without venting gas. For instance, this case is that damaged pipeline is remedied with split sleeve by welding. In this paper, in an effort to confirm a safe application of the split sleeve welding, residual stress, strain and temperature distributions are evaluated by computer simulation and experiments. The results obtained are as follows : 1) Computer modelling is supposed to be reasonable because microstructure changes due to welding is simulated coincidently as compare to that of real condition. 2) The maximal temperature on inside surface of pipeline is 50$0^{\circ}C$ for the repair welding process. 3) The amount of residual stress is estimated as the stress corresponding to 0.8% strain. 4) The repair process employed is determined to be technically preferable because of its avoiding cracks and fractures in the course of welding.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.63-69
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• 1997

Welding distortion is more serious problem than any other problems caused by welding process, especially, in the heavy-industrial place. These welding distortions are caused by nonuniform heating and cooling of metal during and after welding operations. And these distortion quantities are must be known to worker in production line because distorions are important role in assembling part. Therefore an analytical model to explain and predict the welding distortion are needed. A numerical analysis of welding distortion which is inelastic behavior of weldment would require the three dimensional calculation. But computing time and memory would be very large, and the resulting cost might be unacceptable. Therefore we use a numerical technique for two dimensional analysis in the section normal to the weld direction of weldment under an assumption of quasi-stationary conditions. But the result of the calculation under two dimensional(plane strain) assumption was not satisfied as compared with experimental result. This paper proposed a technique for analysing the welding angular distortion by using a constraint boundary condition on the two dimensional finite element model. The simulation results revealed that the constraint boundary model could more reasonably describe the welding distortion than the plane strain model did.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.60-69
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• 1989

The present study was aimed at investigating the effect of welding parameters such as welding current, electrode force(or squeeze force) and parts cleaning on the sound weld, and establishing the most reliable weld conditions for HWP(Heavy Water Reactor) fuel end capping with the resistance upset butt welding. Major results obtained are as follows. 1. The amount of sound weld was increased with increasing weld current(5.0-11KA) because the activated diffusion with increasing heat generation played an important role in eliminating the porosity and weld line in the weld interface. 2. It was found that weld current was not significantly influenced by the electrode force although the increase of it caused a slight increase of weld current and upset deformation. 3. Acetone rinsing before drying for the Zircaloy-4 end cap cleaning produced the reliable sound weld because it would remove the remaining solvent and surface films, and provided the uniform contact between the end cap and the tube. 4. The optimum welding conditions for fuel end capping by a resistance upset hytt welding are obtained as follows. weld current: 10-11KA, electrode force: 62-90KPa parts cleaning: vapor degreasing.rarw.water, acetone rinsing.rarw.drying.