Anchoring chain automatic welding system and method based on industrial welding robot

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of welding equipment, and more particularly to an anchor chain automatic welding system and method based on an industrial welding robot, which obtains three-dimensional point cloud data of a target chain link through a trajectory planning module to identify actual position coordinates and horizontal bar inclination and generate a running trajectory; a weld iteration module is also provided to obtain a physical center position according to weld bead coordinate mean values after welding of a current joint, and the reference distance of the track is updated in combination with the physical center of the adjacent historical chain link, thereby driving the robot to move; the system has the ability to adaptively adjust the welding gun pose for different inclined joints through real-time processing of visual point cloud data, and through dynamic extraction of the weld physical center and the travel step iteration mechanism, the cumulative positioning deviation of the flexible heavy component in long-distance flow production is eliminated, and the alignment accuracy of continuous welding and the consistency of the product are greatly improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of welding equipment technology, and in particular to an automatic anchor chain welding system and method based on an industrial welding robot. Background Technology

[0002] As a special mooring equipment connecting ships to anchors, anchor chains bear enormous mechanical tension. In order to improve the overall tensile strength and anti-twisting performance of the chain, it is usually necessary to add crossbars inside the chain links and reinforce the contact area between the crossbars and the chain links in all directions. A complete modern anchor chain for large and medium-sized ships is often composed of a large number of chain links connected together, with an extremely long overall size and a huge self-weight of each chain link.

[0003] In the field of engineering and manufacturing, in order to improve the processing efficiency of such long and heavy components, industrial welding robots mounted on ground rails are usually introduced for automated continuous operation. Conventional robot control logic often uses a pre-set fixed step size to control the single movement distance of the ground rail, and relies on a standard fixed trajectory programmed offline in the early stage to guide the welding torch to perform uniform action output.

[0004] However, when faced with continuous processing of long chain structures, existing automated control solutions make it difficult for industrial robots to always accurately align with the actual physical center of each part to be welded, and they cannot adaptively adjust the spatial posture of the welding gun for the independent and varied joint tilt angle of each crossbar. This results in a gradually increasing spatial misalignment between the robot's preset fixed step length travel logic and standard teaching trajectory and the actual physical position of the component to be welded during long-distance assembly line operations. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The main objective of this invention is to provide an automatic anchor chain welding system and method based on an industrial welding robot, aiming to solve the problem that existing technologies are unable to adapt the spatial posture of the welding torch to the varying inclination angles of the joints for each crossbar.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides an automatic anchor chain welding system based on an industrial welding robot, the system comprising: A welding robot, which is slidably mounted on a ground rail, and includes a welding torch and a vision sensor; A fixing fixture is provided on the side of the welding robot and is used to fix the anchor chain. The fixing fixture includes a tilting machine. The system also includes: The trajectory planning module is used to acquire three-dimensional point cloud data of the target link area and identify the actual position coordinates of the part to be welded and the tilt posture of the crossbar based on the three-dimensional point cloud data, so as to generate a running trajectory including the welding gun angle and position, so as to control the welding robot to perform the welding operation of the link. The weld iteration module is used to obtain the physical center position of the current chain link based on the average coordinate of the current weld bead in the longitudinal movement direction after the cross joint of the chain link is welded, update the reference travel distance of the ground rail based on the physical center positions of adjacent historical chain links, and drive the welding robot to move to the target position of the next chain link via the ground rail based on the physical center position of the current chain link and the updated reference travel distance.

[0007] Optionally, the flipping machine is used to tilt to one side at a first set angle to eliminate the self-torsional deformation of the anchor chain to be welded and to establish a reference posture.

[0008] Optionally, the trajectory planning module is specifically used for: Extract the point cloud data of the crossbars and chain links from the three-dimensional point cloud data; A linear fitting algorithm is used to fit the point cloud data of the crossbar into a spatial straight line, and the angle between the spatial straight line and the horizontal plane is calculated to obtain the tilt angle of the crossbar. Add the standard welding gun angle when the anchor chain is laid flat to the tilt angle of the crossbar to obtain the welding gun angle required for welding the current chain link; The running trajectory is generated based on the welding torch angle and the actual position coordinates.

[0009] Optionally, the system further includes an interaction module for inputting the initial length of a single link; The weld iteration module is also used to receive the initial length of the single link and use the initial length as the initial reference travel distance; The weld iteration module is also used to calculate half of the initial reference travel distance, and use the value of half of the reference travel distance as the theoretical expected position for welding the first link crossbar, and control the welding robot to move to the theoretical expected position via the ground rail to start welding the first link.

[0010] Optionally, the weld iteration module updates the baseline travel distance of the ground rail using a moving average algorithm: After completing the welding of the second link and any subsequent link, calculate the difference between the physical center position of the current link and the physical center position of the previous link, and use the difference as the actual spacing between adjacent links. Obtain the average of the reference travel distance used before welding the current link and the actual distance between the adjacent links, and use the average value as the updated reference travel distance; The reference travel distance for the second link is the same as that for the first link.

[0011] Optionally, the tilting machine is also used to tilt in the opposite direction at the first set angle after the welding of the cross joint on one side of the anchor chain to be welded is completed; The system also includes a gantry crane, which is used to flip the entire anchor chain over and reposition it on the fixed fixture for posture correction after all joints on one side of the anchor chain to be welded have been welded.

[0012] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention also provides an automatic anchor chain welding method based on an industrial welding robot, the method comprising the following steps: Secure the anchor chain to be welded and adjust its posture to establish a reference welding posture; Based on the preset initial reference travel distance, the welding robot is controlled to move along the ground rail to the theoretically expected position of the first link; The three-dimensional point cloud data of the target link region is acquired, and the actual position coordinates of the part to be welded and the tilt posture of the crossbar are identified based on the three-dimensional point cloud data to generate a running trajectory containing the welding gun angle and position, so as to control the welding robot to perform the welding operation of the link. After the cross joint of the chain link is welded, the physical center position of the current chain link is obtained according to the average coordinate of the current weld bead in the longitudinal movement direction; the reference travel distance of the ground rail is updated according to the physical center positions of adjacent historical chain links; based on the physical center position of the current chain link and the updated reference travel distance, the welding robot is driven to move to the target position of the next chain link via the ground rail. The process involves repeatedly acquiring 3D point cloud data of the target link region and driving the welding robot to move along the ground rail to the target position of the next link until continuous welding of all crossbars on one side is completed.

[0013] Optionally, the process of fixing the anchor chain to be welded and adjusting its posture to establish a reference welding posture specifically includes: Stretch the beginning and end of the anchor chain to be welded so that the anchor chain is laid flat; The control flipping machine tilts the flat-laid anchor chain to one side by 45 degrees.

[0014] Optionally, the step of updating the baseline travel distance of the ground orbit based on the physical center position of adjacent historical links is specifically implemented using a moving average algorithm, including: The weld iteration module specifically updates the baseline travel distance of the ground rail using a moving average algorithm: After completing the welding of the second link and any subsequent link, calculate the difference between the physical center position of the current link and the physical center position of the previous link, and use the difference as the actual spacing between adjacent links. Obtain the average of the reference travel distance used before welding the current link and the actual distance between the adjacent links, and use the average value as the updated reference travel distance; The reference travel distance for the second link is the same as that for the first link.

[0015] Optionally, after the continuous welding of all chain links on one side is completed, the following steps are also included: controlling the flipping machine to tilt in the opposite direction by 45 degrees, driving the welding robot to move to the beginning of the last chain link, and performing scanning and welding operations in reverse along the ground rail until the welding of all crossbar joints on the other side of the anchor chain is completed. The anchor chain is flipped over and the steps of attitude establishment and cyclic welding are repeated to complete the automated welding of all cross joints of the entire anchor chain.

[0016] The beneficial effects that this invention can achieve are as follows: This invention solves the problem of industrial robots lacking adaptive recognition of the local spatial pose of discrete nodes in continuous long-stroke operations, as well as the problem of global spatial cumulative misalignment that is easily caused by a fixed travel length, by introducing a vision sensor into a welding robot that slides on a ground rail and combining it with a trajectory planning module and a weld iteration module to work together. It achieves dual high-precision dynamic compensation in both microscopic pose and macroscopic span in the welding process of anchor chain crossbars. The trajectory planning module of this invention extracts the actual position of the part to be welded and the tilt posture of the crossbar in real time based on the acquired 3D point cloud data. This allows for the generation of a precise running trajectory that includes the angle and position of the welding torch for each link with local deformation or individual differences. This overcomes the limitations of traditional robots that rely on unified offline programming and fixed teaching trajectories, ensuring the accuracy of single-point welding. At the same time, the weld iteration module locks the true physical center position of the link by extracting the average longitudinal coordinate of the currently completed weld and links it with the physical center coordinates of adjacent historical links to update and correct the reference travel distance of the ground track step by step and dynamically. This iterative driving mechanism based on the superposition of historical feedback and current real physical parameters enables the welding robot to adaptively absorb the accumulated deviations caused by the self-weight distortion of long and heavy components, manufacturing tolerances, or welding thermal stress when moving to the next link. This ensures extremely high automated alignment accuracy, process consistency, and long-term stability of equipment operation in a continuous processing operation without continuous human intervention. Attached Figure Description

[0017] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of the welding system in Embodiment 1 of the present invention; Figure 2 This is a flowchart of the welding method in Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

[0018] Figure label: 1-Welding robot, 2-Welding torch, 3-Fixed fixture, 4-Tilting machine, 5-Anchor chain, 6-Vision sensor.

[0019] The realization of the objective, functional features and advantages of the present invention will be further explained in conjunction with the embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings. Detailed Implementation

[0020] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0021] It should be noted that all directional indications (such as up, down, left, right, front, back, etc.) in the embodiments of the present invention are only used to explain the relative positional relationship and movement of each component in a certain specific posture (as shown in the figure). If the specific posture changes, the directional indication will also change accordingly.

[0022] In this invention, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "connection," "fixed," etc., should be interpreted broadly. For example, "fixed" can mean a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral part; it can mean a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can mean a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium; it can mean the internal communication of two components or the interaction between two components, unless otherwise explicitly limited. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this invention according to the specific circumstances.

[0023] Furthermore, if the embodiments of this invention involve descriptions such as "first" or "second," these descriptions are for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying their relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, a feature defined with "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of those features. Additionally, the meaning of "and / or" throughout the text includes three parallel solutions; for example, "A and / or B" includes solution A, solution B, or a solution where both A and B are satisfied simultaneously. Furthermore, the technical solutions of the various embodiments can be combined with each other, but this must be based on the ability of those skilled in the art to implement them. When the combination of technical solutions is contradictory or impossible to implement, it should be considered that such a combination of technical solutions does not exist and is not within the scope of protection claimed by this invention.

[0024] Example 1: As attached Figure 1 As shown, this embodiment provides an automatic welding system for anchor chains 5 based on an industrial welding robot 1. The system includes: Welding robot 1, which is slidably mounted on a ground rail, and includes a welding torch 2 and a vision sensor 6; Fixture 3 is provided on the side of welding robot 1 and is used to fix anchor chain 5. Fixture 3 includes a turning machine 4. The system also includes: The trajectory planning module is used to acquire three-dimensional point cloud data of the target link area and identify the actual position coordinates of the part to be welded and the tilt posture of the crossbar based on the three-dimensional point cloud data, so as to generate a running trajectory containing the angle and position of the welding gun 2, so as to control the welding robot 1 to perform the welding operation of the link. The weld iteration module is used to obtain the physical center position of the current chain link based on the average coordinate of the current weld bead in the longitudinal movement direction after the cross joint of the chain link is welded, update the reference travel distance of the ground rail based on the physical center position of the adjacent historical chain links, and drive the welding robot 1 to move to the target position of the next chain link via the ground rail based on the physical center position of the current chain link and the updated reference travel distance.

[0025] It should be noted that at the initial stage of the welding operation, the built-in control system of the welding system first determines the initial length of a single link based on the specification parameters of the anchor chain 5 to be processed received by the interaction module, and uses this initial length as the initial reference travel distance of the ground rail. At this time, the welding robot 1 is initially located at the starting end of the anchor chain 5, that is, the longitudinal coordinate of the ground rail relative to the end position of the anchor chain 5 is zero. The control system calculates the theoretical expected position for welding the first link crossbar by halving the above-mentioned initial reference travel distance, and outputs control commands to drive the welding robot 1 to move precisely to the theoretical expected position via the ground rail, thereby preparing for the scanning and welding of the first link.

[0026] Once the welding robot 1 is positioned to the expected target link area via the ground rail, the trajectory planning module controls the vision sensor 6 to perform an optical scan of the current link area, thereby acquiring high-density three-dimensional point cloud data covering the surface morphology of the target link. The trajectory planning module uses a built-in feature extraction algorithm to accurately identify and extract the point cloud data corresponding to the crossbar and the chain link from the received three-dimensional point cloud data. By finding the gap features at the junction of the two, the module locks the part to be welded and calculates its actual position coordinates in three-dimensional space. These actual position coordinates directly serve as the basis for determining the position information of the welding torch 2 during the welding process.

[0027] Simultaneously, the trajectory planning module further performs spatial linear fitting on all point cloud data of the crossbar area. Specifically, it uses the least squares method to abstract and fit the crossbar point cloud structure as a straight line in space, and calculates the angle between this spatial straight line and the horizontal reference plane. This angle is used as the tilt angle of the crossbar. Next, the trajectory planning module superimposes and sums the preset standard welding torch 2 angle when the anchor chain 5 is in a flat standard state with the calculated crossbar tilt angle to calculate the welding torch 2 angle actually required for welding the current crossbar joint. Finally, the trajectory planning module performs a composite transformation between the calculated welding torch 2 angle and the actual position coordinates to generate a robot running trajectory online containing complete position and attitude information. Based on this trajectory, it drives the welding robot 1 to control the welding torch 2 to accurately perform the welding operation of the current chain link along the adaptively generated path.

[0028] After the welding action of the crossbar joint of the current chain link is completed, the weld iteration module first extracts the actual weld data that has been completed, and performs mean-based mathematical processing on all spatial coordinate points of the weld in the longitudinal movement direction along the ground rail, thereby calculating the real physical center position of the crossbar of the chain link in the longitudinal extension direction of the anchor chain 5.

[0029] Subsequently, the weld iteration module dynamically obtains the actual distance between adjacent links by calculating the absolute difference between the physical center position of the current link and the physical center position of the previously registered link. Next, the weld iteration module uses a moving average algorithm to average the baseline travel distance used before welding the current link with the calculated actual distance between adjacent links; the resulting average is used as the updated baseline travel distance.

[0030] During this process, considering the lack of earlier historical reference data before welding the second link, the weld iteration module does not modify the reference travel distance of the second link and directly uses the initial reference travel distance of the first link; while for all other links after the second link, the above-mentioned moving average calculation is strictly performed to achieve dynamic step-by-step iteration of the reference travel distance.

[0031] Finally, the weld iteration module adds the physical center position coordinates of the current link to the updated reference travel distance to accurately obtain the target position coordinates of the next link to be welded, and sends a motion drive signal accordingly to drive the welding robot 1 to move precisely to the target position of the next link via the slide of the ground rail. This process is repeated in a loop to complete the closed-loop transmission of the physical entity coordinates of the previous welding to the control input of the subsequent travel axis.

[0032] In this embodiment, the flipping machine 4 is used to tilt to one side at a first set angle to eliminate the torsion deformation of the anchor chain 5 to be welded and to establish a reference posture.

[0033] Understandably, after the anchor chain 5 to be welded is transferred and placed on the table of the turning machine 4, the ends of the anchor chain 5 are first stretched and straightened by the mechanical device equipped with the fixing fixture 3 to initially eliminate the local deformation of the flexible chain during long-distance laying. On this basis, the turning machine 4, carrying the straight-laid anchor chain 5 to be welded, tilts the entire chain to one side at a first set angle. In specific application scenarios, this first set angle can be set to forty-five degrees.

[0034] By tilting the entire system at a large angle, the system can effectively utilize the weight of the anchor chain 5 itself to reduce and counteract the complex multidimensional torsional deformation caused by the anchor chain 5 under its own weight and residual stress, forcing each link to naturally conform and stabilize towards the reference surface of the platform under the combined action of gravity and positioning constraints.

[0035] Therefore, before the visual sensor 6 performs the scanning operation, the system has pre-standardized and established a consistent welding posture for the entire anchor chain 5. This pre-processing mechanism, which combines mechanical leveling with the tilting of the flipping machine 4, not only eliminates the adverse interference caused by the macroscopic distortion of heavy components to subsequent three-dimensional data acquisition, but also provides an extremely stable and deterministic spatial pose prerequisite for the trajectory planning module to accurately fit the horizontal bar spatial straight line online, calculate the horizontal bar tilt angle, and finally generate accurate welding torch 2 posture parameters.

[0036] In this embodiment, the trajectory planning module is specifically used for: Extract the point cloud data of the crossbars and chain links from the three-dimensional point cloud data; A linear fitting algorithm is used to fit the point cloud data of the crossbar into a spatial straight line, and the angle between the spatial straight line and the horizontal plane is calculated to obtain the tilt angle of the crossbar. Add the standard welding gun 2 angle of the anchor chain 5 in its flat position to the tilt angle of the crossbar to obtain the welding gun 2 angle required for welding the current chain link; The running trajectory is generated based on the angle of the welding torch 2 and the actual position coordinates.

[0037] It should be noted that after separating and extracting the two core point clouds, the system accurately locates the weld to be applied and calculates the actual position coordinates of the part to be welded in the current spatial coordinate system by finding the boundary gaps and contour features at the intersection of the crossbar point cloud and the chain link point cloud. This provides accurate position data support for determining the spatial positioning of the welding torch 2 during the welding process.

[0038] Furthermore, to comprehensively quantify the local attitude changes caused by clamping tolerances, manufacturing errors, or stress release of the component itself, the trajectory planning module calls the built-in linear fitting algorithm. Specifically, it uses the least squares method to mathematically model all the extracted point cloud data of the crossbar, fitting and abstracting it in three-dimensional space into a spatial straight line that best represents the direction of its central axis. Subsequently, the system calculates the direction vector of this spatial straight line, directly calculating the three-dimensional angle between the spatial straight line and the horizontal plane, and defines this calculated angle as the current tilt angle of the crossbar.

[0039] To enable the welding torch 2 to adaptively follow the actual deflection state of the component during actual welding, the system further retrieves the standard welding torch 2 angle in the standard flat state of the anchor chain 5, which is pre-calibrated and stored in the control unit. This standard welding torch 2 angle is then mathematically superimposed and summed with the calculated crossbar tilt angle. The resulting value is the welding torch 2 angle required for welding the current chain link crossbar joint. After obtaining the actual position coordinates for spatial positioning and the welding torch 2 angle for attitude control, the trajectory planning module performs multi-dimensional composite processing and trajectory interpolation on the welding torch 2 angle and the actual position coordinates through spatial matrix transformation. This generates an online running trajectory containing complete pose trajectory information, ultimately driving the welding robot 1 to control the welding torch 2 to precisely perform automated welding operations on the current chain link crossbar along this trajectory.

[0040] In this embodiment, the system further includes an interaction module, which is used to input the initial length of a single link; The weld iteration module is also used to receive the initial length of the single link and use the initial length as the initial reference travel distance; The weld iteration module is also used to calculate half of the initial reference travel distance, and use the value of half of the reference travel distance as the theoretical expected position for welding the first link crossbar, and control the welding robot 1 to move to the theoretical expected position via the ground rail to start welding the first link.

[0041] During the initial positioning and calibration of the entire anchor chain 5, considering that the welding robot 1 is usually positioned at the very front of the anchor chain 5 (i.e., the mechanical origin of the ground rail relative to the longitudinal extension direction of the anchor chain 5) in the system reset state, and that the crossbar of the anchor chain 5 is usually located in the geometric center region of a single link, the weld iteration module extracts the previously determined initial reference travel distance and directly halves its value at the control layer. This calculated value, half of the reference travel distance, is then set by the system as the theoretical expected position of the first link crossbar joint on the longitudinal axis. Subsequently, the weld iteration module generates and outputs motion axis drive commands based on this calculated theoretical expected position, controlling the welding robot 1 to smoothly slide along the ground rail and accurately position itself above this theoretical expected position. Through this initial alignment mechanism based on parameterized data, welding robot 1 can accurately enter the working area where the first link to be welded is located in one go. This not only eliminates the tedious manual teaching and alignment process, but also provides the best initial field of view for the subsequent point cloud acquisition of the target area by vision sensor 6, thus successfully starting the overall welding cycle of the first link.

[0042] In this embodiment, the weld iteration module specifically updates the baseline travel distance of the ground rail using a moving average algorithm: After completing the welding of the second link and any subsequent link, calculate the difference between the physical center position of the current link and the physical center position of the previous link, and use the difference as the actual spacing between adjacent links. Obtain the average of the reference travel distance used before welding the current link and the actual distance between the adjacent links, and use the average value as the updated reference travel distance; The reference travel distance for the second link is the same as that for the first link.

[0043] When the system is preparing to move to the second link, since there are no earlier historical physical center coordinates to compare the spacing, the weld iteration module will stop calling the regular dynamic update logic. Instead, it will directly use the initial reference travel distance used by the first link as the reference travel distance for the second link to perform a transitional step movement.

[0044] Once the second link and any subsequent link on the production line have been welded, the system has accumulated enough front and rear reference data. At this point, the weld iteration module will officially start the core moving average algorithm to dynamically update the baseline travel distance of the ground rail.

[0045] First, by reading the physical center position of the current link, and then performing a rigorous subtraction calculation with the physical center position of the previous link recorded in the control system, the resulting coordinate difference is directly established as the actual distance between adjacent links. This actual distance is no longer the theoretical design size, but rather the true longitudinal span that includes the clearance changes of the anchor chain 5 under tension and the microscopic shrinkage caused by welding thermal stress.

[0046] To prevent the ground track from blindly following a link that has experienced severe deformation and causing abrupt overcompensation jumps, the weld iteration module does not directly force the measured actual distance onto the ground track as the next step. Instead, the module extracts the baseline travel distance that the ground track used before welding the current link and averages this historical distance with the most recently calculated actual distance between adjacent links using equal weights. Through this averaging process, the system effectively incorporates the latest local deformation deviation into the historical, steady inertia, thus mathematically smoothing out measurement fluctuations and outputting the resulting average as the updated baseline travel distance. In subsequent operations, the ground track steadily advances to the next node based on this dynamic distance parameter, which is continuously processed by moving averages and incorporates the latest physical feedback in real time. This mechanism ensures that even if the anchor chain 5 has irregular, long-span cumulative deformation, the robot's macroscopic movement can always maintain a stable, continuous, and highly adaptive dynamic following state. In this embodiment, the turning machine 4 is also used to tilt in the opposite direction at the first set angle after the welding of the crossbar joint on one side of the anchor chain 5 to be welded is completed. The system also includes a gantry crane, which is used to flip the entire anchor chain 5 over and reposition it on the fixed fixture 3 for posture correction after all joints on one side of the anchor chain 5 have been welded.

[0047] To automate the processing of the seam on the other side of the same plane, the flipping machine 4 is controlled to tilt in the opposite direction at the first set angle. At this time, the anchor chain 5 switches to a symmetrical reverse force state on the table, thereby fully exposing the part to be welded on the other side of the front to the workspace and establishing a corresponding reference posture. In actual assembly line operations, in order to minimize the movement time wasted by the robot's idle return and improve the overall equipment operating efficiency, after the flipping machine 4 completes the reverse tilt, the system will directly control the welding robot 1, which is already at the end of the track, to start on the spot and perform scanning, step length update and welding operations in reverse along the ground track from the last link, moving forward in sequence until it returns to the starting end and completes the welding operation of all joints on the other side of the front of the anchor chain 5.

[0048] After the welding process of all the crossbars on one side (i.e., both sides of the front) of the anchor chain 5 is completely completed, due to the huge weight of the anchor chain 5 and its flexible long strip structure, the equipment cannot directly flip the bottom surface using the bottom tooling. At this point, the gantry crane in the system officially intervenes. The gantry crane will safely lift the entire anchor chain 5 and flip it over, and then place it stably back onto the flipping machine 4 platform of the fixed tooling 3.

[0049] After repositioning, the system, in conjunction with mechanical devices, stretches and straightens the anchor chain 5 to complete strict posture correction, thereby eliminating a new round of torsional deformation generated during the flipping, hoisting, and re-landing process. After correction, the flipping machine 4 implements tilting fixation again. The system can then fully reuse the aforementioned positioning, three-dimensional scanning, error iteration, and automatic welding processes for the reverse side of the anchor chain 5, ultimately forming a closed-loop process and achieving fully automatic, high-quality double-sided welding coverage at all crossbar connections of the entire long-length heavy-duty anchor chain 5.

[0050] Example 2: As attached Figure 2 As shown, this embodiment provides an automatic welding method for anchor chain 5 based on an industrial welding robot 1. The method includes the following steps: Fix the anchor chain 5 to be welded and adjust its posture to establish a reference welding posture; Based on the preset initial reference travel distance, control the welding robot 1 to move along the ground rail to the theoretically expected position of the first link; The three-dimensional point cloud data of the target link area is acquired, and the actual position coordinates of the part to be welded and the tilt posture of the crossbar are identified based on the three-dimensional point cloud data, so as to generate a running trajectory containing the angle and position of the welding gun 2, so as to control the welding robot 1 to perform the welding operation of the link. After the cross joint of the chain link is welded, the physical center position of the current chain link is obtained according to the average coordinate of the current weld bead in the longitudinal movement direction; the reference travel distance of the ground rail is updated according to the physical center position of the adjacent historical chain links; based on the physical center position of the current chain link and the updated reference travel distance, the welding robot 1 is driven to move to the target position of the next chain link via the ground rail. The process of repeatedly acquiring the 3D point cloud data of the target link area and driving the welding robot 1 to move to the target position of the next link via the ground rail is repeated until the continuous welding of all the crossbars on one side is completed.

[0051] In this embodiment, fixing the anchor chain 5 to be welded and adjusting its posture to establish a reference welding posture specifically includes: Stretch the first and last ends of the anchor chain 5 to be welded so that the anchor chain 5 is laid flat. The control flipping machine 4 tilts the flat-laid anchor chain 5 to one side at a 45-degree angle.

[0052] In this embodiment, the step of updating the baseline travel distance of the ground orbit based on the physical center position of adjacent historical links is specifically implemented through a moving average algorithm, including: The weld iteration module specifically updates the baseline travel distance of the ground rail using a moving average algorithm: After completing the welding of the second link and any subsequent link, calculate the difference between the physical center position of the current link and the physical center position of the previous link, and use the difference as the actual spacing between adjacent links. Obtain the average of the reference travel distance used before welding the current link and the actual distance between the adjacent links, and use the average value as the updated reference travel distance; The reference travel distance for the second link is the same as that for the first link.

[0053] In this embodiment, after the continuous welding of all chain links on one side is completed, the following steps are also included: control the flipping machine 4 to tilt in the opposite direction by 45 degrees, drive the welding robot 1 to move to the beginning of the last chain link, and perform scanning and welding operations in reverse along the ground rail until the welding of all crossbar joints on the other side of the front of the anchor chain 5 is completed. Turn the anchor chain 5 over and repeat the steps from attitude establishment to cyclic welding to complete the automated welding of all cross joints of the entire anchor chain 5.

[0054] Based on the above steps, in the actual production process, it can be further broken down into the following steps: Step 1: Use a gantry crane to transfer the anchor chain 5 to be welded to a special turning machine 4, and use a mechanical device to stretch the ends of the anchor chain 5 to make it as straight as possible on the table to eliminate local deformation. Then, tilt the entire turning machine 4 to one side at 45° to use gravity to reduce the multidimensional torsional deformation of the anchor chain 5 caused by its own weight and residual stress, thus establishing a stable and consistent reference posture for the subsequent automated and high-precision welding by the robot.

[0055] Step 2: The ground rail does not move a fixed distance, but rather the precise length of each link is input from the human-machine interface according to the specifications of the current welded anchor chain 5 (such as link type and size). (For example, 0.35m, 0.5m, etc.) are used as the initial ground rail movement parameters. This distance is the single reference travel distance of the ground rail, which enables a system to flexibly adapt to various specifications of anchor chains 5, realizing flexible production.

[0056] Step 3: The robot system is initially positioned at the starting end of anchor chain 5, meaning the distance between the ground rail and the end position of anchor chain 5 along the x-axis (direction of anchor chain 5) is 0m. The control system calculates the theoretical expected position for welding the first link crossbar by halving the ground rail movement parameters (i.e., link length), and controls the robot to move to that area, i.e., the ground rail movement position. +0.

[0057] Step 4: Instead of relying on a pre-set, fixed teaching trajectory, after completing the ground track movement, the high-precision 3D vision sensor 6 installed at the robot's end scans the target link area, acquiring high-density 3D point cloud data in real time. Through a built-in vision algorithm, the system accurately identifies the point cloud data of the crossbar and chain links from the point cloud, and provides the actual coordinates of the connection point (weld seam) between the crossbar and chain links, thus obtaining the position information of the welding torch 2 during the welding process. Furthermore, using all the point cloud information of the crossbar, a linear fitting (least squares) method is used to fit the crossbar point cloud data into a straight line in space. Then, the angle between this line and the horizontal plane is calculated, which is the tilt angle of the crossbar. .

[0058] The angle of the welding torch during welding can then be calculated. , ,in The welding angle of anchor chain 5 when it is laid flat is used to obtain the posture information of welding gun 2 during the welding process. By combining the position information and posture information of each point, the robot's running trajectory can be obtained, driving the robot to perform welding operations. This solves the problem of offline programming caused by anchor chain 5 twisting, manufacturing tolerances and clamping errors, and realizes the intelligent and automated operation of anchor chain 5 welding.

[0059] Step 5: After completing the welding of the current crossbar joint, the system will perform mean averaging on the x-axis coordinate of the weld to calculate the physical center position of the crossbar in the direction of anchor chain 5. Using this central position as a reference, the ground track is controlled to move to the target link position according to the ground track movement parameters. ,Right now This method enables the movement of the ground rails between each link. During the movement of each link's ground rail, the necessary ground rail movement parameters are adjusted in real time. The specific procedure is as follows: Each time, calculate the physical center distance Δx between adjacent chain links, where... The moving average algorithm is used to automatically adjust the track movement parameters to reduce problems caused by errors in the track movement parameter settings.

[0060] The specific calculation formula is as follows: , in, The parameters for moving the ground rail before welding the next link are specified. These are the ground rail movement parameters for the movement of this chain link before welding.

[0061] For the ground track movement parameters of the second link Since there is no data for the zeroth link, the orbital movement parameters are not modified at this point; proceed directly. The subsequent links are then processed using the same moving average algorithm described above to update the orbital movement parameters. This method eliminates error accumulation and ensures consistent weld point positions across all weld points in long-distance welding.

[0062] For example, after completing the first section of welding, this method can be used to first calculate the physical center position of the first link. Then calculate the distance the second link traveled on the ground track. , Then move the ground rail to the position of the second link. , Then, the welding of the second link is carried out.

[0063] After welding the second link, calculate the center position of the second link. Updated later , Then calculate the distance the ground track moves in the third section. , And move according to the above formula. The same applies to subsequent cases.

[0064] Step 6: Repeat the cycle of steps 4 and 5 to complete the welding of the crossbar joints on one side of the front of all chain links in sequence.

[0065] Step 7: Tilt the flipper 4 45° in the opposite direction to begin welding the crossbar joint on the other side of the front. To minimize the robot's idle travel time and improve overall work efficiency, the system has optimized the work sequence: the robot starts directly from the last link, performs scanning and welding operations in reverse, and moves forward in sequence. The specific execution method is the same as steps 3 to 5, until all joints on that side are welded.

[0066] Step 8: Use a gantry crane to flip the entire anchor chain 5 over and re-stretch and straighten it to correct its posture. Then, place it back on the flipping machine 4 and fix it at a 45° angle. For the reverse side of the anchor chain 5, repeat the automated process from steps 3 to 7 to complete the fully automated, high-quality welding of all crossbar connections of the entire anchor chain 5.

[0067] In summary, this invention utilizes an industrial welding robot 1 mounted on a ground rail to move longitudinally along the anchor chain 5, thereby completing the continuous welding of multiple sections of the anchor chain 5. It also solves the problem of cumulative positioning errors caused by factors such as deformation and twisting of the anchor chain 5. The system embeds a compensation algorithm during ground rail operation to correct position deviations in real time, ensuring the accuracy of the welding position.

[0068] To address the problem of inconsistent teaching due to the complex shape and pose of the connection between the anchor chain 5 crossbar and the chain link, this invention integrates a 3D vision sensor 6 on the robot's end effector. This sensor scans the anchor chain 5 and the crossbar connection area to acquire three-dimensional point cloud data. Through feature extraction and analysis, it identifies the specific spatial coordinates and orientation angle of the part to be welded, and dynamically adjusts the welding trajectory accordingly to achieve adaptive and precise welding of joints with different inclination degrees.

[0069] Furthermore, by combining a ground rail moving system, a position compensation algorithm, and 3D visual positioning technology, the system systematically solved the problems of twisting, deformation, and positioning in the welding of long anchor chains 5, realizing fully automated operation of anchor chain 5 crossbar welding. While improving welding quality and efficiency, it also has good process consistency and adaptability.

[0070] The above are merely preferred embodiments of the present invention and do not limit the scope of the patent. Any equivalent structural or procedural transformations made based on the description and drawings of the present invention, or direct or indirect applications in other related technical fields, are similarly included within the scope of patent protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. An automatic anchor chain welding system based on an industrial welding robot, characterized in that, The system includes: A welding robot, which is slidably mounted on a ground rail, and includes a welding torch and a vision sensor; A fixing fixture is provided on the side of the welding robot and is used to fix the anchor chain. The fixing fixture includes a tilting machine. The system also includes: The trajectory planning module is used to acquire three-dimensional point cloud data of the target link area and identify the actual position coordinates of the part to be welded and the tilt posture of the crossbar based on the three-dimensional point cloud data, so as to generate a running trajectory including the welding gun angle and position, so as to control the welding robot to perform the welding operation of the link. The weld iteration module is used to obtain the physical center position of the current chain link based on the average coordinate of the current weld bead in the longitudinal movement direction after the cross joint of the chain link is welded, update the reference travel distance of the ground rail based on the physical center positions of adjacent historical chain links, and drive the welding robot to move to the target position of the next chain link via the ground rail based on the physical center position of the current chain link and the updated reference travel distance.

2. The automatic anchor chain welding system based on an industrial welding robot as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The tilting machine is used to tilt to one side at a first set angle to eliminate the twisting deformation of the anchor chain to be welded and to establish a reference posture.

3. The automatic anchor chain welding system based on an industrial welding robot as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The trajectory planning module is specifically used for: Extract the point cloud data of the crossbars and chain links from the three-dimensional point cloud data; A linear fitting algorithm is used to fit the point cloud data of the crossbar into a spatial straight line, and the angle between the spatial straight line and the horizontal plane is calculated to obtain the tilt angle of the crossbar. Add the standard welding gun angle when the anchor chain is laid flat to the tilt angle of the crossbar to obtain the welding gun angle required for welding the current chain link; The running trajectory is generated based on the welding torch angle and the actual position coordinates.

4. The automatic anchor chain welding system based on an industrial welding robot as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The system also includes an interaction module, which is used to input the initial length of a single link; The weld iteration module is also used to receive the initial length of the single link and use the initial length as the initial reference travel distance; The weld iteration module is also used to calculate half of the initial reference travel distance, and use the value of half of the reference travel distance as the theoretical expected position for welding the first link crossbar, and control the welding robot to move to the theoretical expected position via the ground rail to start welding the first link.

5. The automatic anchor chain welding system based on an industrial welding robot as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The weld iteration module specifically updates the baseline travel distance of the ground rail using a moving average algorithm: After completing the welding of the second link and any subsequent link, calculate the difference between the physical center position of the current link and the physical center position of the previous link, and use the difference as the actual spacing between adjacent links. Obtain the average of the reference travel distance used before welding the current link and the actual distance between the adjacent links, and use the average value as the updated reference travel distance; The reference travel distance for the second link is the same as that for the first link.

6. The automatic anchor chain welding system based on an industrial welding robot as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The tilting machine is also used to tilt in the opposite direction at the first set angle after the welding of the cross joint on one side of the anchor chain to be welded is completed. The system also includes a gantry crane, which is used to flip the entire anchor chain over and reposition it on the fixed fixture for posture correction after all joints on one side of the anchor chain to be welded have been welded.

7. An automatic anchor chain welding method based on an industrial welding robot, characterized in that, The method is based on an automatic anchor chain welding system based on an industrial welding robot as described in any one of claims 1 to 6, and the method includes the following steps: Secure the anchor chain to be welded and adjust its posture to establish a reference welding posture; Based on the preset initial reference travel distance, the welding robot is controlled to move along the ground rail to the theoretically expected position of the first link; The three-dimensional point cloud data of the target link region is acquired, and the actual position coordinates of the part to be welded and the tilt posture of the crossbar are identified based on the three-dimensional point cloud data to generate a running trajectory containing the welding gun angle and position, so as to control the welding robot to perform the welding operation of the link. After the cross joint of the chain link is welded, the physical center position of the current chain link is obtained according to the average coordinate of the current weld bead in the longitudinal movement direction; the reference travel distance of the ground rail is updated according to the physical center positions of adjacent historical chain links; based on the physical center position of the current chain link and the updated reference travel distance, the welding robot is driven to move to the target position of the next chain link via the ground rail. The process involves repeatedly acquiring 3D point cloud data of the target link region and driving the welding robot to move along the ground rail to the target position of the next link until continuous welding of all crossbars on one side is completed.

8. The automatic anchor chain welding method based on an industrial welding robot as described in claim 7, characterized in that, The process of fixing the anchor chain to be welded and adjusting its posture to establish a reference welding posture specifically includes: Stretch the beginning and end of the anchor chain to be welded so that the anchor chain is laid flat; The control flipping machine tilts the flat-laid anchor chain to one side by 45 degrees.

9. The automatic anchor chain welding method based on an industrial welding robot as described in claim 7, characterized in that, The step of updating the baseline travel distance of the ground orbit based on the physical center position of adjacent historical links is specifically implemented through a moving average algorithm, including: The weld iteration module specifically updates the baseline travel distance of the ground rail using a moving average algorithm: After completing the welding of the second link and any subsequent link, calculate the difference between the physical center position of the current link and the physical center position of the previous link, and use the difference as the actual spacing between adjacent links. Obtain the average of the reference travel distance used before welding the current link and the actual distance between the adjacent links, and use the average value as the updated reference travel distance; The reference travel distance for the second link is the same as that for the first link.

10. The automatic anchor chain welding method based on an industrial welding robot as described in claim 8, characterized in that, After the continuous welding of all chain links on one side is completed, the following steps are also included: control the tilting machine to tilt in the opposite direction by 45 degrees, drive the welding robot to move to the beginning of the last chain link, and perform scanning and welding operations in reverse along the ground rail until the welding of all crossbar joints on the other side of the anchor chain is completed. The anchor chain is flipped over and the steps of attitude establishment and cyclic welding are repeated to complete the automated welding of all cross joints of the entire anchor chain.

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