Ring gear based welding system

摘要

A welding system having a traveling base carriage, a carriage positioning mechanism engaging the base carriage; and a ring gear assembly mounted on the base carriage. The ring gear assembly will include: (i) two half ring sections, each having at least one gear track; (ii) a ring gear mount attaching each of the half ring sections to the base carriage, where the ring gear mounts allow the half ring sections to separate and guide the half ring sections into mating engagement. The system further includes at least one weld head assembly mounted on the ring gear assembly. The weld head assembly includes: i) a welding torch; ii) a torch positioner, and iii) a position sensor. A system controller is programmed to control at least the carriage positioning mechanism and the weld head assembly in order to perform the steps of: (i) setting a velocity of the base carriage to approximate the pipe joint's lateral movement in order to maintain the position of the weld head assembly approximately at the pipe joint; and (ii) adjusting a path of the welding torch to accommodate a geometry of the pipe joint as detected by the position sensor.

主权项

1. A welding system for welding a pipe joint between two pipe sections, the welding system comprising:
a. a traveling base carriage; b. a carriage positioning mechanism engaging the traveling base carriage; c. a ring gear assembly mounted on the traveling base carriage, the ring gear assembly comprising:
i. half ring sections, each including at least one gear track;ii. a ring gear mount attaching the half ring sections to the traveling base carriage, the ring gear mounts allowing the half ring sections to separate and guiding the half ring sections into mating engagement; d. at least one weld head assembly mounted on the ring gear assembly, the at least one weld head assembly including: i) a welding torch; ii) a torch positioner, and ii) a position sensor; e. a system controller programmed to control at least the carriage positioning mechanism and the at least one weld head assembly to perform the following steps:
i. setting a velocity of the traveling base carriage to approximate a pipe joint's lateral movement in a direction along a length of the pipe sections, in order to maintain a position of the at least one weld head assembly approximately at the pipe joint;ii. adjusting a path of the welding torch to accommodate a geometry of the pipe joint as detected by the position sensor; andiii. allowing the traveling base carriage to maintain the velocity approximate the pipe joint's lateral movement while adjusting the path of the welding torch to weld the pipe joint.