The Application of Robotic Welding in the Shipbuilding

Abstract

Welding is the most critical, expensive and time consuming procedure among the whole shipbuilding manufacturing process. Welding automation and intelligence play an important role in the modern shipbuilding industry. Arc welding robot can be ideal for the shipbuilding to increase productive efficiency and improve the working conditions. However, traditional “teach-playback” robot lack of intelligence on the assembly variation, welding deformation and the plate of machining errors. And the paper developed an off-line programming system for the inner bottom hull, which was implemented and successfully used in the shipbuilding. Firstly, we focus on the CAD model building of the inner bottom hull that can be described as geometry information. Secondly, we present a suitable offline programming and seam path planning method, which can generate robot program automatically. Finally, in combination with the touch and arc sensor, a novel arc welding robotic system is set up. Experiments on the inner bottom hull are conducted, and the fillet weld size can meet the requirements on the shipbuilding quality standards.