The production of pipe spools is a complex and time consuming process. KRANENDONK developed a robot line which automates this process. This is made possible by changing the production flow. The flanges are welded onto the tube before bending them in the right dimension. The deformation which occurs during bending is calculated upfront. Using this information the pipe can be sawed on the right length and the bolting holes can be positioned with the right orientation.
Flange to tube assembly system
The flange assembly cell automatically picks, places and welds flanges to different tube sizes. The cell consists of in total four robots. Two robots combine picking and final welding application, the other two tack weld and final weld. The data to control the system is directly extracted from the 3D CAD system. With its intelligent sensors and software, the system can handle continuously changing designs. Manual programming is not needed and a continuous non-repetitive production flow is realized. Vision cameras are mounted directly on the robot, making it able to ‘see’ its environment. The system will self-detect the position of the flanges and the pipes, and assemble them automatically. The production of a pipe spool is therefore reduced to minutes, instead of hours.
Automatic picking and assembling the flanges
The system incorporates an integrated vision system. This vision system is able to recognize both flange and tube location to ensure automatic and smooth assembly using its robots. The vision tool used is build by KRANENDONK and picks up flanges and placing onto the tube. The camera recognizes size, center point and bolting holes. With a precision of maximum 0.3 millimeters the flanges are placed on the tubes. After the tack welding, the four robots simultaneously weld inner and outer the flange to the pipe.
Compensation for tube tolerances and bending distortions
The system compensates automatically for product tolerances, for sizes, as well as for form within the assembly tolerances, giving you accurate end products. An intelligent feature is embedded in the control software of the flange assembly cell. It pre-calculates the bending distortions that occur when the tubes are bended. As a result, the correct orientation of the flanges is known before the actual bending is done.
