An automated installation apparatus for offshore engineering deep water jacket reinforcing rings and crushing rings

Abstract

The application relates to an automatic installation device for reinforcing rings and crushing rings of a deepwater jacket of offshore engineering, which comprises a measuring unit arranged on a supporting unit or a walking unit and used for collecting information about a welding position of a pipe section to be installed and size and position information of a ring to be installed; and a cutting unit arranged on the walking unit and used for cutting the ring to be installed according to the information collected by the measuring unit. Through the above structure, the application can collect the ellipticity and the center coordinate of the pipe section in real time through the measuring unit, and can adjust the installation posture and angle of the ring body according to the collected data through the carrying unit, so that the adverse effects caused by the winding error of the pipe section are effectively eliminated, the assembly gap of the ring body and the pipe section in the whole circumferential direction is kept consistent, a foundation guarantee for high-quality welding work is provided, and the structural reliability of the jacket is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a jacket installation device, particularly an automated installation device for reinforcing rings and crushing rings of deep-water jackets for marine engineering. The device uses a measuring unit to collect real-time data on the ellipticity and center coordinates of the pipe section, and a transport unit to adaptively adjust the installation posture and angle of the rings based on the collected data. This effectively eliminates the adverse effects of pipe section rolling errors, ensuring consistent alignment gaps between the rings and the pipe section throughout the circumference. This provides a fundamental guarantee for high-quality welding operations and improves the structural reliability of the jacket. Background Technology

[0002] Deepwater jackets are critical infrastructure for deep-sea oil and gas resource development, and their structural strength directly affects the platform's operational safety under harsh sea conditions. During the manufacturing process of jackets, numerous reinforcing rings or crushing rings need to be installed inside or outside the massive jacket and tie rod sections. These annular components primarily resist the enormous hydrostatic pressure and dynamic wave loads of the deep-water environment, preventing buckling instability of the jacket. Currently, the industry generally employs traditional manual or semi-automated auxiliary methods for the installation of these rings.

[0003] Specifically, existing construction processes typically rely on manual measurement of the ellipticity and circumference of pipe sections using measuring tools such as tape measures and calipers. The rings are then pre-cut on a flat surface based on experience, and finally, a crane or simple tooling is used to lift the rings to the vicinity of the pipe section for manual assembly. After assembly, welders enter the pipe section or perform welding work around it. However, due to the large diameter of the pipe sections used in deep-water jackets and the ellipticity errors inherent in the rolling process, coupled with the limited precision of manual measurement and cutting, it is often difficult to maintain a consistent assembly gap between the rings and the pipe sections. Furthermore, in the existing workflow, measurement, cutting, transportation, assembly, and welding are all independent processes, lacking unified digital coordination. This results in frequent equipment downtime during process switching, severely impacting the overall construction pace.

[0004] Therefore, the main problems with the existing technology in practical applications are: first, the assembly accuracy during the ring installation process is difficult to guarantee, resulting in unstable welding quality and affecting the structural strength of the jacket; second, the lack of automated coordination between various processes and the fragmented operation process lead to low overall production efficiency, which cannot meet the large-scale construction needs of deep-water jackets. Summary of the Invention

[0005] To address the aforementioned deficiencies in existing technologies, this invention provides an automated installation device for reinforcing rings and crushing rings of deep-water jacket supports for marine engineering. This device uses a measurement unit to collect real-time data on the ellipticity and center coordinates of the pipe segment. Simultaneously, a handling unit adaptively adjusts the installation posture and angle of the ring based on the collected data, effectively eliminating the adverse effects of pipe segment rolling errors and ensuring consistent alignment gaps between the ring and the pipe segment throughout the circumference. This provides a fundamental guarantee for high-quality welding operations and improves the structural reliability of the jacket support.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides an automated installation device for reinforcing rings and crushing rings of deep-water jacket structures in marine engineering, which includes a support unit; A walking unit, which is movably mounted on the support unit; A measuring unit, which is mounted on the support unit or the traveling unit, is used to collect information on the welding area of ​​the pipe section to be installed and the size and position information of the ring to be installed. A cutting unit is disposed on the walking unit and is used to cut the ring to be installed based on the information collected by the measuring unit; A transport unit, which is mounted on the walking unit, is used to transport and assemble the cut ring parts to the welding position of the pipe section to be installed, based on the information collected by the measuring unit. A welding unit is mounted on the walking unit and is used to weld the assembled ring to the pipe section to be installed based on the information collected by the measuring unit. The walking unit can drive the cutting unit, the transport unit and the welding unit to move in three-dimensional space to collaboratively complete the automated installation of the ring to be installed.

[0007] In traditional manual or semi-automated operation modes, it is often difficult to maintain a consistent assembly gap between the ring and the pipe segment, and the equipment needs to be stopped frequently during process switching, which seriously affects the overall construction cycle. To improve these situations, this invention uses a measurement unit to collect the ellipticity and center coordinates of the pipe segment in real time, and uses a handling unit to adaptively adjust the installation posture and angle of the ring based on the collected data, effectively eliminating the adverse effects of pipe segment rolling errors.

[0008] The supporting unit is a supporting truss, and the walking unit includes two sets of walking mechanisms. The supporting trusses are distributed on both sides of the production area, and the two sets of walking mechanisms are straddled on the two supporting trusses. The walking mechanisms can move back and forth along the supporting trusses.

[0009] The measurement unit includes a global vision sensor for acquiring the size and position information of the ring to be installed, and a laser rangefinder for acquiring the ellipticity information of the pipe section to be welded; the welding unit includes a gas metal arc welding robot and a submerged arc welding robot; the global vision sensor is mounted on the support truss.

[0010] The cutting unit and the transport unit are mounted on one of the walking mechanisms, while the laser rangefinder, the gas metal arc welding robot, and the submerged arc welding robot are mounted on the other walking mechanism.

[0011] The ring to be installed includes a reinforcing ring, an inner crushing ring, and an outer crushing ring. The pipe section to be installed includes a conduit and a tie rod. The reinforcing ring is installed inside the conduit, the inner crushing ring is installed inside the tie rod, and the outer crushing ring is installed outside the tie rod. During installation, the ring spacing of the reinforcing ring is ≥500mm, and the ring spacing of both the inner and outer crushing rings is ≥500mm.

[0012] The cutting unit is a cutting robot, which is equipped with a line laser sensor for scanning and precisely positioning the ring before cutting; the cutting robot is used to cut the outer ring of the reinforcing ring into a single-sided V-shaped bevel.

[0013] The walking unit is configured to drive the measuring unit to rotate 360° around the axis of the pipe section to be installed in order to obtain the center and ellipticity information of the part to be welded.

[0014] The transport unit is a transport crane, which is configured to adjust the installation angle of the ring body according to the information collected by the measurement unit to ensure that the assembly gap between the ring body and the pipe section remains consistent throughout the circumference after installation; the assembly gap is 2-4mm.

[0015] The gas metal arc welding robot is configured to perform spot welding between the ring and the pipe section, and to perform single-sided welding and double-sided forming of the root pass welding on the reinforcing ring after spot welding; the gas metal arc welding robot or the submerged arc welding robot is configured to complete the filling and cover welding of the reinforcing ring and the fillet weld welding of the crushing ring after spot welding or root pass welding.

[0016] The device is used to place the pipe section to be welded with its axis perpendicular to the ground, so that the reinforcing ring is in the flat welding position and the crushing ring is in the flat fillet welding position.

[0017] Through the aforementioned structural design, this invention uses a measuring unit to collect the ellipticity and center coordinates of the pipe segment in real time, and a transport unit to adaptively adjust the installation posture and angle of the ring body based on the collected data. This effectively eliminates the adverse effects of pipe segment rolling errors, ensuring that the assembly gap between the ring body and the pipe segment remains consistent throughout the circumference. This provides a fundamental guarantee for high-quality welding operations and improves the structural reliability of the jacket. The invention, through the cooperation of the support unit and the traveling unit, enables the cutting, transporting, and welding functional modules to move flexibly and complete continuous automated operations. This integrated design avoids equipment idleness and manual waiting caused by process switching in traditional operations, shortens the construction cycle, reduces labor intensity, and meets the needs of efficient deep-water jacket construction. Attached Figure Description

[0018] Figure 1 This is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the automated installation equipment for the deep-water jacket reinforcement ring and crushing ring of the present invention. Figure 2 These are a side view and a perspective view of the reinforcing ring of the present invention installed on the conduit; Figure 3 These are a side view and a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the internal pressure shatter ring of the present invention installed on the tie rod; Figure 4 These are a side view and a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the external pressure shatter ring of the present invention installed on the tie rod; Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the welding bevel between the conduit and the reinforcing ring of the present invention; Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the tie rod and the inner / outer crushing ring fillet weld of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0019] The directions or similar terms used throughout this invention, such as "front," "back," "left," "right," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," and "side," are mainly for reference to the directions in the accompanying drawings. These directions or similar terms are only used to assist in explaining and understanding the various embodiments of this invention and are not intended to limit this invention.

[0020] The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the embodiments described are only used to illustrate the technical features of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0021] Please see Figures 1 to 6 As shown, this invention discloses an automated installation device for reinforcing rings and crushing rings on deep-water jacket supports for marine engineering. This device is used to automatically install reinforcing rings, inner crushing rings, and outer crushing rings, among other components, onto the jacket and tie rod sections. The device mainly consists of a support unit, a traveling unit, a measuring unit, a cutting unit, a handling unit, and a welding unit.

[0022] The support unit uses support trusses 1, with two sets of support trusses 1 distributed on both sides of the production area to support the weight of the entire equipment and provide the running track. The traveling unit includes two sets of traveling mechanisms 2, which are straddled on the two support trusses 1 and can reciprocate along the length of the support trusses 1, thereby covering the working range of the entire pipe section to be installed.

[0023] The traveling mechanism 2 adopts a gantry truss structure, specifically including a linear guide rail and a rack laid along the length of the top of the supporting truss 1; a slider that slides with the guide rail is provided under the body of the traveling mechanism 2, and a servo motor and a precision reducer are installed thereon. The output shaft of the reducer is connected to a gear that meshes with the rack. The servo motor drives the gear to rotate on the rack, thereby driving the entire traveling mechanism 2 to reciprocate along the supporting truss 1.

[0024] The measurement unit includes a global vision sensor 3 and a laser rangefinder 6. The global vision sensor 3 is mounted on the support truss 1 and is used to acquire the position information of the ring to be installed. The laser rangefinder 6 is mounted on one of the walking mechanisms 2, specifically fixed to the sixth axis of the gas metal arc welding robot 7, and is used to scan the three-dimensional contour of the pipe section surface at close range to obtain the center coordinates and ellipticity information of the part of the pipe section to be welded.

[0025] The cutting unit employs a cutting robot 4, which is mounted on another traveling mechanism 2. The end effector of the cutting robot 4 is equipped with a wired laser sensor for scanning and positioning the ring surface before cutting to obtain the precise dimensions of the ring. The transport unit uses a transport crane 5, mounted on the same traveling mechanism 2 as the cutting robot 4, for gripping and moving the ring.

[0026] The welding unit includes a gas metal arc welding robot 7 and a submerged arc welding robot 8. Both welding robots are mounted on another walking mechanism 2. The gas metal arc welding robot 7 is used to perform spot welding and single-sided welding with double-sided forming for the root pass; the submerged arc welding robot 8 is used to perform filler and capping layer welding to improve the efficiency of thick plate welding.

[0027] In the actual operation, the rolled conduit section is first hoisted to the work area using a gantry crane, and its orientation is adjusted so that its cylinder axis is perpendicular to the ground, ensuring that the subsequent reinforcing ring is installed in the flat weld position and the crushing ring is installed in the fillet weld position. Then, the traveling mechanism 2 moves the gas metal arc welding robot 7, bringing the laser rangefinder 6 to the center height of the first reinforcing ring installation location on the conduit section. The laser rangefinder 6 rotates 360 degrees around the pipe section's axis to accurately measure the ellipticity and center coordinates of that location, and feeds the data back to the external control system.

[0028] Simultaneously, the reinforcing ring to be installed is moved to the workstation below the cutting robot 4, with its outer ring facing upwards. The global vision sensor 3 first takes a picture to identify the position of the reinforcing ring, guiding the cutting robot 4 to move directly above the ring. The cutting robot 4 uses its built-in line structured light sensor to scan the surface of the ring, obtaining the actual diameter and geometric tolerances of the ring.

[0029] The external control system, based on the ellipticity information of the integrated pipe section and the precise dimensions of the ring, automatically calculates the optimal cutting path. The control system of cutting robot 4, based on the received precise information about the ring and the ellipticity information of the area to be welded on the conduit section, automatically generates the cutting path and cutting parameters. It performs beveling cuts on the outer ring of the reinforcing ring, controlling the cut to form a single-sided V-shaped bevel with an angle set at 45±5 degrees. Through precise path planning, it ensures that the theoretical assembly gap between the inner diameter of the reinforcing ring and the inner wall of the conduit section after cutting is controlled to approximately 2-4 mm.

[0030] After cutting, the overhead transport crane 5 moves to the cutting station according to the trajectory planned by the control system to grab the reinforcing ring. Based on the previously measured coordinates of the pipe section's center and ellipticity, the overhead transport crane 5 dynamically adjusts the clamping angle and spatial orientation of the reinforcing ring, precisely transporting and assembling it to the installation position on the inner wall of the conduit. During the assembly process, the overhead transport crane 5 makes fine adjustments to ensure that the gap between the reinforcing ring and the inner wall of the conduit remains at 3mm throughout the entire circumference, achieving a high degree of consistency in the assembly gap.

[0031] After assembly, the gas metal arc welding robot 7 moves to the welding position and uses gas metal arc welding to spot weld and fix the reinforcing ring and the guide section. Spot welding typically involves eight points evenly distributed along the circumference, each 100mm long, to ensure the ring does not shift during welding. After spot welding, the gas metal arc welding robot 7 continues with the root pass welding. Based on the previously acquired pipe section ellipticity data, the robot generates an adaptive welding path and uses a single-sided welding with double-sided forming process to complete the root pass welding, ensuring weld penetration.

[0032] After the root pass welding is completed and inspected, the submerged arc welding robot 8 intervenes. Based on the bevel size and welding process specifications, the robot automatically generates multi-layer, multi-pass welding paths and sets the corresponding welding current, voltage, and welding speed to perform filling and capping welding on the reinforcing ring until the weld metal accumulation height reaches the design requirements.

[0033] When welding the reinforcing ring, use a single-sided or double-sided V-groove, with an inner diameter ≥ 500 mm and a ring spacing ≥ 500 mm; when welding the inner crushing ring, use a double-sided fillet weld, with an inner diameter ≥ 500 mm and a ring spacing ≥ 500 mm; when welding the outer crushing ring, use a double-sided fillet weld and a ring spacing ≥ 500 mm.

[0034] For the inner and outer pressure-crushing rings on the tie rods, and the subsequent reinforcing rings on the conduit, the equipment will cycle through the above process until all rings on the pipe section are installed. Finally, the installed pipe section is moved out of the work area for the processing of the next pipe section. This invention effectively solves the problems of poor accuracy and low efficiency in traditional manual installation through this integrated automated operation mode.

Claims

1. An automated installation device for reinforcing rings and crushing rings of deep-water jacket supports in marine engineering, used to install the ring components to be installed on the pipe section to be installed, characterized in that, Include: Support unit; A walking unit, which is movably mounted on the support unit; A measuring unit, which is mounted on the support unit or the traveling unit, is used to collect information on the welding area of ​​the pipe section to be installed and the size and position information of the ring to be installed. A cutting unit is disposed on the walking unit and is used to cut the ring to be installed based on the information collected by the measuring unit; A transport unit, which is mounted on the walking unit, is used to transport and assemble the cut ring parts to the welding position of the pipe section to be installed, based on the information collected by the measuring unit. A welding unit is mounted on the walking unit and is used to weld the assembled ring to the pipe section to be installed based on the information collected by the measuring unit. The walking unit can drive the cutting unit, the transport unit and the welding unit to move in three-dimensional space to collaboratively complete the automated installation of the ring to be installed.

2. The automated installation equipment for reinforcing rings and crushing rings of deep-water jacket supports for marine engineering according to claim 1, characterized in that, The support unit is a support truss (1), and the walking unit includes two sets of walking mechanisms (2). The support truss (1) is distributed on both sides of the production area, and the two sets of walking mechanisms (2) are straddled on the two support trusses (1). The walking mechanism (2) can move back and forth along the support truss (1).

3. The automated installation equipment for reinforcing rings and crushing rings of deep-water jacket structures for marine engineering according to claim 2, characterized in that, The measurement unit includes a global vision sensor (3) for acquiring the size and position information of the ring to be installed, and a laser rangefinder (6) for acquiring the ellipticity information of the pipe section to be welded; the welding unit includes a gas metal arc welding robot (7) and a submerged arc welding robot (8); the global vision sensor (3) is mounted on the support truss (1).

4. The automated installation equipment for reinforcing rings and crushing rings of deep-water jacket supports in marine engineering according to claim 3, characterized in that, The cutting unit and the transport unit are mounted on one of the walking mechanisms (2), and the laser rangefinder (6), the gas metal arc welding robot (7) and the submerged arc welding robot (8) are mounted on the other walking mechanism (2).

5. The automated installation equipment for reinforcing rings and crushing rings of deep-water jacket supports in marine engineering according to claim 1, characterized in that, The ring component to be installed includes a reinforcing ring, an inner crushing ring, and an outer crushing ring. The pipe section to be installed includes a conduit and a tie rod. The reinforcing ring is installed inside the conduit, the inner crushing ring is installed inside the tie rod, and the outer crushing ring is installed outside the tie rod. During installation, the ring spacing of the reinforcing ring is ≥500mm, and the ring spacing of both the inner and outer crushing rings is ≥500mm.

6. The automated installation equipment for reinforcing rings and crushing rings of deep-water jacket supports for marine engineering according to claim 1, characterized in that, The cutting unit is a cutting robot (4), which is equipped with a line laser sensor for scanning and precisely positioning the ring before cutting; the cutting robot (4) is used to cut the outer ring of the reinforcing ring into a single-sided V-shaped bevel.

7. The automated installation equipment for reinforcing rings and crushing rings of deep-water jacket supports for marine engineering according to claim 1, characterized in that, The walking unit is configured to drive the measuring unit to rotate 360° around the axis of the pipe section to be installed in order to obtain the center and ellipticity information of the part to be welded.

8. The automated installation equipment for reinforcing rings and crushing rings of deep-water jacket supports for marine engineering according to claim 1, characterized in that, The transport unit is a transport crane (5), which is configured to adjust the installation angle of the ring body according to the information collected by the measurement unit, so as to ensure that the assembly gap between the ring body and the pipe section is consistent in the whole circumference after the ring body is installed; the assembly gap is 2-4mm.

9. The automated installation equipment for reinforcing rings and crushing rings of deep-water jacket supports for marine engineering according to claim 3, characterized in that, The gas metal arc welding robot (7) is configured to perform spot welding of the ring body and the pipe section, and to perform single-sided welding and double-sided forming of the root pass welding on the reinforcing ring after spot welding; the gas metal arc welding robot (7) or the submerged arc welding robot (8) is configured to complete the filling and cover welding of the reinforcing ring and the fillet weld welding of the crushing ring after spot welding or root pass welding.

10. The automated installation equipment for reinforcing rings and crushing rings of deep-water jacket supports for marine engineering according to claim 1, characterized in that, The equipment is used to place the pipe section to be welded with its axis perpendicular to the ground, so that the reinforcing ring is in the flat welding position and the crushing ring is in the flat fillet welding position.

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