Intelligent thin-walled conduit flexible welding equipment

Abstract

An intelligent thin-walled conduit flexible welding device includes an intelligent recognition system for identifying parameter information of the thin-walled conduit to be welded, a flexible clamping system for clamping the thin-walled conduit to be welded, an electrical control system for controlling the flexible clamping system, a visual system for locating the thin-walled conduit to be welded, and a welding system for performing welding. The visual system is connected to the intelligent recognition system, which is connected to the electrical control system, which is connected to the flexible clamping system. The device automatically generates clamping parameters based on the size and shape of the thin-walled conduit. The device, in conjunction with the flexible clamping system, the electrical control system, and the visual system, moves the thin-walled conduit to be welded from a conduit placement platform to the welding position, effectively reducing manual labor intensity. It can also help aircraft manufacturers reduce their heavy reliance on custom tooling, reducing the cost of custom tooling production and the effort required for subsequent maintenance and management.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of aviation mechanical processing, and in particular to an intelligent thin-walled conduit flexible welding device. Background Art

[0002] Welding, as a traditional processing technology, is widely used, including in the aircraft industry. Modern aircraft integrate performance, safety, economy, and comfort, and their interiors contain a set of complex thin-walled pipes. Through scientific design and reasonable processing technology, these thin-walled pipes can enable the aircraft to achieve the desired goals.

[0003] Thin-walled pipes are like the blood vessels of an aircraft. Their safety and reliability greatly affect the overall performance of the aircraft. Welding processes are often used in the manufacture of thin-walled pipes. The welding process is mainly divided into two steps: one is to use welding tooling to clamp and fix the thin-walled pipes, and the other is to manually intervene to weld the thin-walled pipes. However, the typical characteristics of aircraft parts are high variety, small batches, and rapid update and iteration. Companies mainly use customized tooling for welding production, that is, a customized welding tool is customized for each type of thin-walled pipe. Using this one-to-one welding tooling is simple and reliable, but it requires frequent tooling replacement, and the cost of manufacturing the welding tooling will also increase. As the number of welding tooling accumulates, the difficulty of subsequent management, maintenance, and production modifications will also increase.

[0004] At the same time, existing welding flexible tooling generally uses quick-change plugs. Although a set of tooling can fix multiple thin-walled tubes in this application scenario, the quick-change plugs need to be replaced frequently. The wide variety of parts easily leads to hundreds or thousands of combinations of quick-change plugs. The replacement process is cumbersome and the work efficiency is low, which makes it difficult to improve the welding production process of thin-walled tubes. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The technical problem solved by the present invention is to provide an intelligent thin-walled conduit flexible welding device to solve the problems in the above-mentioned background technology.

[0006] The technical problem solved by the present invention is achieved by adopting the following technical solutions:

[0007] An intelligent thin-walled conduit flexible welding device includes an intelligent recognition system for identifying parameter information of the thin-walled conduit to be welded, a flexible clamping system for clamping the thin-walled conduit to be welded, an electrical control system for controlling the flexible clamping system, a visual system for positioning the thin-walled conduit to be welded, and a welding system for performing welding. The visual system is connected to the intelligent recognition system, the intelligent recognition system is connected to the electrical control system, and the electrical control system is connected to the flexible clamping system. The specific structure of each part is as follows:

[0008] The intelligent recognition system is equipped with an intelligent recognition model, which is used to identify the parameter information of the thin-walled pipe to be welded and generate the corresponding optimal clamping position and clamping angle of the thin-walled pipe. It can also comprehensively process all the received information to obtain the optimal thin-walled pipe movement route and control the movement instructions of the six-axis robot arm in the flexible clamping system.

[0009] The flexible clamping system includes a welding plate, an electric clamping head, four six-axis robotic arms, a servo motor, a catheter placement platform, a mechanical interface and a welding tailstock. Among them, the six-axis robotic arms connected to the servo motor are symmetrically installed on both sides of the welding plate, and the first axis of each six-axis robotic arm is a rotation axis, which can rotate around the center of the first axis axis position. The second axis is a bending axis, and the bending angle is affected by the mechanical structure and controller programming. The third axis is a bending axis, and the movement mode is the same as the second axis. The fourth axis is a rotation axis, and the movement mode is the same as the first axis. The fifth axis is a bending axis, and the movement mode is the same as the second axis. The sixth axis is a rotation axis, and the movement mode is the same as the first axis. At the same time, an electric clamping head is installed at the end of the sixth axis to perform thin-walled catheter clamping. The welding plate is also centrally arranged with electrical circuits in the electrical control system. The thin-walled conduit to be welded is welded by welding the special-shaped thin-walled conduit with a relatively regular pipe joint. During the welding operation, the relatively regular pipe joint is installed on the welding tail frame, and the special-shaped thin-walled conduit is placed on the conduit placement platform. The relatively regular pipe joint and the special-shaped thin-walled conduit are in a more reasonable initial position. This more reasonable initial position is provided by the intelligent recognition system after identifying the parameter information of the thin-walled conduit to be welded, and labels are affixed to the two ends of the special-shaped thin-walled conduit to facilitate the visual system to quickly locate the initial position of the special-shaped thin-walled conduit. The mechanical interface is used to install the flexible clamping system on the automation equipment.

[0010] The electrical control system includes a controller;

[0011] The visual system includes a visual camera, which scans and records the labels attached to the ends of the irregular thin-walled conduit and sends the identification information to the intelligent recognition system. The intelligent recognition model automatically generates the optimal clamping position and clamping angle for the thin-walled conduit and forms corresponding instructions. The controller of the electrical control system then sends these instructions to the servo motor used to control the six-axis robotic arm. The servo motor controls the six-axis robotic arm to lift the thin-walled conduit to be welded from the initial position to the designated welding position according to the optimal movement path and clamping method.

[0012] The welding system includes a welding gun, and a flexible clamping system is installed on the automation equipment through a mechanical interface. The rotation of the automation equipment drives the six-axis robotic arm of the flexible clamping system to rotate, thereby ensuring that the welding section of the special-shaped thin-walled conduit can rotate at any angle around its axis, and the more regular pipe joint is installed on the welding tail frame, and ensuring that the special-shaped thin-walled conduit and the more regular pipe joint are in the best welding position. At this time, it is only necessary to move the welding gun to the weld between the special-shaped thin-walled conduit and the more regular pipe joint, and the automation equipment drives the special-shaped thin-walled conduit and the more regular pipe joint installed on the welding tail frame to rotate synchronously, so as to realize automated welding with the welding gun stationary and the workpiece rotating at multiple angles.

[0013] In the present invention, the intelligent recognition model training method is as follows:

[0014] 1) Enter thin-walled conduit size information

[0015] Collect information on a large number of customized welding tooling from aircraft manufacturers and thin-walled pipes processed using these tools, build an intelligent recognition model in the same coordinate system, and obtain parameter information such as the size, shape, and spatial curve of the thin-walled pipes;

[0016] 2) Obtaining a sample of thin-walled catheter clamping

[0017] The intelligent recognition model obtains samples of the clamping angle and clamping position of each thin-walled conduit according to the clamping angle and clamping position of the customized welding tooling;

[0018] 3) Training intelligent recognition model

[0019] The thin-walled conduit clamping samples obtained in step 2) are feature processed and then used to train the intelligent recognition model to form an intelligent recognition model with an optimal solution. After training, the intelligent recognition model can intelligently generate the optimal clamping position and clamping angle for each thin-walled conduit based on parameter information such as the size, shape, and spatial curve of the thin-walled conduit to be welded.

[0020] In the present invention, a six-axis robotic arm places the special-shaped thin-walled conduit from an initial position to an optimal welding position, that is, a position where the axis of the welding section of the special-shaped thin-walled conduit is collinear with the axis of the more regular pipe joint. Beneficial effects

[0021] 1) The intelligent recognition system of the present invention is capable of automatically generating clamping parameters based on the size and shape of the thin-walled conduit. It cooperates with the flexible clamping system, electrical control system, and visual system to move the thin-walled conduit to be welded from the conduit placement platform to the welding position, effectively reducing manual labor intensity;

[0022] 2) This invention not only helps aircraft manufacturers reduce their heavy reliance on custom tooling, reducing the cost of custom tooling production and the effort required for subsequent maintenance and management, but also improves the clamping efficiency of thin-walled ducts, positively impacting the overall production progress of thin-walled ducts.

[0023] 3) This invention enables flexible clamping and automated production of thin-walled duct parts in multiple varieties and small batches, significantly improving the welding qualification rate of thin-walled ducts. It also enables unified management of welding quality, further accelerating the overall production progress of thin-walled ducts and bringing a more positive impact on aircraft delivery and production. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the structure of a special-shaped thin-walled conduit in a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 2 Schematic diagram of welding operation of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] In order to make the technical means, creative features, objectives and effects achieved by the present invention easier to understand, the present invention is further described below with reference to specific illustrations.

[0027] See also Figures 1-2 An intelligent thin-walled catheter flexible welding equipment includes an intelligent recognition system, a flexible clamping system, an electrical control system, a visual system and a welding system. The specific structure of each part is as follows:

[0028] Intelligent recognition system

[0029] 1) Enter thin-walled conduit size information

[0030] Collect information on a large number of customized welding tooling from aircraft manufacturers and thin-walled pipes processed using these tools, build an intelligent recognition model in the same coordinate system, and obtain parameter information such as the size, shape, and spatial curve of the thin-walled pipes;

[0031] 2) Obtaining a sample of thin-walled catheter clamping

[0032] The intelligent recognition model obtains samples of the clamping angle and clamping position of each thin-walled conduit according to the clamping angle and clamping position of the customized welding tooling;

[0033] 3) Training intelligent recognition model

[0034] The thin-walled conduit clamping samples obtained in step 2) are subjected to feature processing and then trained on an intelligent recognition model to form an intelligent recognition model with an optimal solution. The trained intelligent recognition model can intelligently generate the optimal clamping position and clamping angle for each thin-walled conduit to be welded based on parameter information such as the size, shape, and spatial curve of the thin-walled conduit. It can also comprehensively process all received information to obtain the optimal thin-walled conduit movement route and control the movement instructions of the six-axis robotic arm in the flexible clamping system. The intelligent recognition model is loaded into the intelligent recognition system, and the intelligent recognition system is connected to the barcode scanner.

[0035] Flexible clamping system

[0036] The flexible clamping system includes a welding plate, an electric clamping head, four six-axis robotic arms, a servo motor, a catheter placement platform, a mechanical interface and a welding tailstock. The welding plate is used for the installation of the six-axis robotic arm and the centralized arrangement of electrical circuits in the electrical control system. The six-axis robotic arms connected to the servo motor are symmetrically installed on both sides of the welding plate. The first axis of each six-axis robotic arm is a rotation axis, which can rotate around the center of the first axis axis position. The second axis is a bending axis, and the bending angle is affected by the mechanical structure and controller. The third axis is a bending axis, and its movement mode is the same as the second axis. The fourth axis is a rotation axis, and its movement mode is the same as the first axis. The fifth axis is a bending axis, and its movement mode is the same as the second axis. The sixth axis is a rotation axis , the movement mode is the same as the first axis, and an electric chuck is installed at the end of the sixth axis to perform the thin-walled tube clamping operation, which can effectively control the clamping stroke to avoid damage to the thin-walled tube; the thin-walled tube to be welded is welded by the special-shaped thin-walled tube and the relatively regular pipe joint. When the welding operation is performed, the relatively regular pipe joint is installed on the welding tail frame, and the special-shaped thin-walled tube is placed on the tube placement platform. The relatively regular pipe joint and the special-shaped thin-walled tube are in a more reasonable initial position. This more reasonable initial position is provided by the intelligent recognition system after identifying the parameter information of the thin-walled tube to be welded, and labels are affixed to the head and tail ends of the special-shaped thin-walled tube, which facilitates the visual system to quickly locate the initial position of the special-shaped thin-walled tube;

[0037] Electrical control system

[0038] The electrical control system controls the servo motor in the flexible clamping system through the controller, and controls the stroke of the six-axis robot arm through the servo motor. The stroke includes the movement, power on and off, emergency stop, and reset of the six-axis robot arm.

[0039] Vision System

[0040] The visual system includes a visual camera. The visual camera scans the code to record the labels attached to the ends of the special-shaped thin-walled tube and sends the label information to the intelligent recognition system. The intelligent recognition model automatically generates the optimal clamping position and clamping angle of the tube, and forms corresponding instructions. The controller of the electrical control system then sends the instructions to the servo motor used to control the six-axis robot arm. The servo motor controls the six-axis robot arm to lift the thin-walled tube to be welded from the initial position to the specified welding position according to the optimal movement path and clamping method. When the visual camera scans the code to record the labels attached to the ends of the special-shaped thin-walled tube, the intelligent recognition model automatically generates the optimal clamping position and clamping angle of the tube and forms corresponding instructions. The instructions are then sent to the servo motor used to control the six-axis robot arm. The servo motor controls the six-axis robot arm to lift the thin-walled tube to be welded from the initial position to the specified welding position according to the optimal movement path and clamping method. Having received parameter information such as the size and spatial curve of the thin-walled conduit to be welded, the labels affixed to the ends of the irregular thin-walled conduit can help the visual camera quickly locate the initial position of the irregular thin-walled conduit and perform specific positioning and clamping of the irregular thin-walled conduit based on the optimal clamping position generated by the intelligent recognition model. At the same time, the visual system generates a 3D model of the irregular thin-walled conduit in real time using the collected parameter information in the intelligent recognition system. When adding a new model of thin-walled conduit to be welded, it only needs to enter the parameter information of the thin-walled conduit to be welded into the intelligent recognition system to generate the optimal clamping parameters.

[0041] From the placement of the irregular thin-walled conduit onto the conduit placement platform to the final welding position, the intelligent recognition model calculates the optimal movement path. Based on this optimal movement path, the generated six-axis robotic arm movement instructions control the movement of the six-axis robotic arm, thereby placing the irregular thin-walled conduit from the initial position to the optimal welding position, that is, the position where the axis of the welding section of the irregular thin-walled conduit is collinear with the axis of the more regular pipe joint, and the weld width is within the range required by the process document. After the six-axis robotic arm reaches the specified position, it is locked, and the thin-walled conduit to be welded is now fixed.

[0042] welding system

[0043] The welding system includes a welding gun. Since the thin-walled conduit flexible welding equipment has a mechanical interface reserved in the flexible clamping system, the thin-walled conduit flexible welding equipment can be easily installed on automated equipment, such as a positioner. The six-axis robotic arm in the flexible clamping system clamps the thin-walled conduit to be welded to ensure that the axis of the welding section of the special-shaped thin-walled conduit is collinear with the axis of the positioner output shaft. At this time, the rotation of the positioner output shaft drives the six-axis robotic arm to rotate, thereby ensuring that the welding section of the special-shaped thin-walled conduit can rotate at any angle around its axis, and the more regular pipe joint is installed on the welding tailstock, and the special-shaped thin-walled conduit and the more regular pipe joint are ensured to be in the optimal welding position. At this time, it is only necessary to move the welding gun of the welding system to the weld seam between the special-shaped thin-walled conduit and the more regular pipe joint. With the combination of welding wire, shielding gas and appropriate welding parameters, the special-shaped thin-walled conduit and the more regular pipe joint installed on the welding tailstock are driven by the positioner output shaft to rotate synchronously, thereby realizing automated welding with the welding gun stationary and the workpiece rotating at multiple angles. This process requires only a small amount of human intervention, and the entire welding process is completed entirely by automated equipment, largely ensuring the consistency of welding quality and a high welding pass rate.

[0044] In this embodiment, if Figure 2 As shown, a welding method of an intelligent thin-walled conduit flexible welding device is as follows:

[0045] A barcode scanner is used to scan the QR code of the thin-walled conduit to be welded. The barcode scanner enters the parameter information of the thin-walled conduit to be welded into the intelligent recognition system. The intelligent recognition model generates the corresponding optimal clamping position and clamping angle of the thin-walled conduit. Then, the more regular pipe joint is clamped on the welding tail frame, and the special-shaped thin-walled conduit is placed on the conduit placement platform according to the clamping angle generated by the intelligent recognition model. At this time, the visual system quickly locates the initial position of the thin-walled conduit to be welded through the labels pasted on the ends of the special-shaped thin-walled conduit and feeds the initial position information back to the intelligent recognition model. The intelligent recognition model comprehensively processes all the received information to obtain the optimal thin-walled conduit movement route and the movement instructions of the six-axis robotic arm in the flexible clamping system. The movement instructions are then sent to the flexible clamping system through the electrical control system. The four six-axis robotic arms of the flexible clamping system cooperate with each other in pairs, and finally move the thin-walled conduit to be welded from the initial position to the specified welding position, and then lock the various active components of the flexible clamping system, thereby completing the flexible clamping of the thin-walled conduit, and finally welding.

Claims

1. An intelligent thin-walled conduit flexible welding device, characterized in that: It includes an intelligent recognition system for identifying parameter information of thin-walled conduits to be welded, a flexible clamping system for clamping thin-walled conduits to be welded, an electrical control system for controlling the flexible clamping system, a visual system for positioning thin-walled conduits to be welded, and a welding system for welding. The visual system is connected to the intelligent recognition system, the intelligent recognition system is connected to the electrical control system, and the electrical control system is connected to the flexible clamping system. The specific structures of each part are as follows: The intelligent recognition system is equipped with an intelligent recognition model, which is used to identify the parameter information of the thin-walled pipe to be welded and generate the corresponding optimal clamping position and clamping angle of the thin-walled pipe. It can also comprehensively process all the received information to obtain the optimal thin-walled pipe movement route and control the movement instructions of the six-axis robot arm in the flexible clamping system. The flexible clamping system includes a welding plate, an electric clamping head, four six-axis robotic arms, a servo motor, a catheter placement platform, a mechanical interface, and a welding tailstock. The six-axis robotic arms connected to the servo motor are symmetrically mounted on both sides of the welding plate, and an electric clamping head is installed at the end of the six-axis robotic arms. The welding plate also centrally houses the electrical circuits of the electrical control system. The thin-walled catheter to be welded is welded from a special-shaped thin-walled catheter to a relatively regular pipe joint. The relatively regular pipe joint is mounted on the welding tailstock, and the special-shaped thin-walled catheter is placed on the catheter placement platform. Labels are affixed to both ends of the special-shaped thin-walled catheter. The mechanical interface is used to install the flexible clamping system on the automated equipment. The electrical control system includes a controller; The visual system includes a visual camera, which scans and records the labels attached to the ends of the special-shaped thin-walled catheter and sends the label information to the intelligent recognition system; The welding system includes a welding gun, and a flexible clamping system is installed on the automation equipment through a mechanical interface. The rotation of the automation equipment drives the six-axis robotic arm of the flexible clamping system to rotate, thereby ensuring that the welding section of the special-shaped thin-walled conduit can rotate at any angle around its axis. The welding gun is moved to the weld between the special-shaped thin-walled conduit and the more regular pipe joint. The automation equipment drives the special-shaped thin-walled conduit and the more regular pipe joint installed on the welding tail frame to rotate synchronously, thereby realizing automated welding with the welding gun stationary and the workpiece rotating at multiple angles.

2. The intelligent thin-walled conduit flexible welding equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first axis of each six-axis robotic arm is a rotation axis, which can rotate around the center of the first axis axis position; the second axis is a bending axis; the third axis is a bending axis, and its movement method is the same as the second axis; the fourth axis is a rotation axis, and its movement method is the same as the first axis; the fifth axis is a bending axis, and its movement method is the same as the second axis; and the sixth axis is a rotation axis, and its movement method is the same as the first axis.

3. The intelligent thin-walled conduit flexible welding equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that: An electric chuck is installed at the end of the sixth axis.

4. The intelligent thin-walled conduit flexible welding device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The intelligent recognition model training method is as follows: 1) Enter thin-walled conduit size information Collect information about a large number of customized welding tooling and thin-walled pipes processed by customized welding tooling from aircraft manufacturers, build an intelligent recognition model in the same coordinate system, and obtain parameter information of thin-walled pipes; 2) Obtaining a sample of thin-walled catheter clamping The intelligent recognition model obtains samples of the clamping angle and clamping position of each thin-walled conduit according to the clamping angle and clamping position of the customized welding tooling; 3) Training intelligent recognition model The thin-walled conduit clamping samples obtained in step 2) are feature processed and then used to train the intelligent recognition model to form an intelligent recognition model with an optimal solution. After training, the intelligent recognition model can intelligently generate the optimal clamping position and clamping angle for each thin-walled conduit based on the parameter information of the thin-walled conduit to be welded.

5. The intelligent thin-walled conduit flexible welding equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The six-axis robotic arm places the special-shaped thin-walled conduit from its initial position to the optimal welding position, that is, the position where the axis of the welding section of the special-shaped thin-walled conduit is collinear with the axis of the more regular pipe joint.

6. A welding method using the intelligent thin-walled conduit flexible welding device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The parameter information of the thin-walled conduit to be welded is entered into the intelligent recognition system, and the intelligent recognition model generates the corresponding optimal clamping position and clamping angle of the thin-walled conduit. Then, the more regular pipe joint is clamped on the welding tail frame, and the special-shaped thin-walled conduit is placed on the conduit placement platform according to the clamping angle generated by the intelligent recognition model. At this time, the visual system quickly locates the initial position of the thin-walled conduit to be welded through the labels pasted on the ends of the special-shaped thin-walled conduit and feeds back the initial position information to the intelligent recognition model. The intelligent recognition model comprehensively processes all the received information to obtain the optimal thin-walled conduit movement route and the movement instructions of the six-axis robotic arm in the flexible clamping system. The movement instructions are then sent to the flexible clamping system through the electrical control system. The four six-axis robotic arms of the flexible clamping system cooperate with each other in pairs, and finally move the thin-walled conduit to be welded from the initial position to the specified welding position, and then lock the various active components of the flexible clamping system to complete the flexible clamping of the thin-walled conduit, and finally perform welding.

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