First servo-motorized roller seam welding tongs for the use with robots Reis Robotics
"Seam welding tongs have been operated stationary or guided by a robot by 'dragging' so far, but now we implemented the servo-motorized movement in practical use for the first time and synchronized it with the robot movement", says Stefan Seiler, division manager for sales of automated welding systems at Reis Robotics. "Together with the specialists from Elektro-Schweißtechnik-Dresden GmbH we developed welding tongs for seam welding which are not only very compact, but is also actively driven by a servo-motor. This idea is subject to a patent application."
The automated seam welding so far was also associated with some disadvantages. The rolling welding electrodes could 'race' on the workpiece due to the drive not being synchronized, because robot and welding tongs did not communicate. Due to this slip there will be higher wear and worse seam quality due to insufficient contact. Very large rollers were used to obtain higher service lives of the electrodes. These rollers, however, cannot follow the narrow radii or S-shaped contours. With this old procedure individual adjustment of parameters – for example the advance rate – for every single welding process or any material combination was not possible. This system compensates for component tolerances automatically.
The roller drive now is a further axis of the robot, because its speed is synchronized via servo-motors and corresponding sensors directly via the robot control with its movement in space, or in other words: The movement of the rollers now reflects the actual speed of the welding process. This increases the service life of the electrodes considerably. Furthermore, the electrodes could be dimensioned smaller because of less wear. Thus, very narrow radii are possible for which this welding procedure could not be used in the past. The more compact electrodes now are water-cooled until immediately before the welding process.
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24 January 2012
