DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING CONTROL SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC WELDING OPERATION

摘要

An automatic welder is used in an internal welder unit (30) which travels along the interior of a pipeline and provides the interior weld passes at the junction of abutting pipe joints (32, 33). The internal welder unit has an elecronic control system which includes a plurality of microprocessor control units, (92-98) each of which performs specific functional operations for the internal welder unit. The microprocessor control units are interconnected by a serial communication link (100) which permits the transmission of commands and data between all of the microprocessor control units. The control system includes a back end control unit (92) positioned in the internal welder unit, a front end control unit (94) with a panel in the weld unit, a reach rod control unit (96) at the end of reach rod and a power supply control unit (98) adjacent the arc power supply.