A laser cladding device for pipes and method of use thereof

Abstract

The application relates to the technical field of laser cladding, and discloses a laser cladding device for a pipeline and a use method thereof, which comprises a supporting base, a rotating mechanism rotatably arranged on the supporting base, and a cladding head arranged on the rotating mechanism, further comprises a swing mechanism, the swing mechanism comprises a profiling part and a swing part; when the rotating mechanism drives the swing part to rotate circumferentially, the following part moves along the profiling curved surface and forces the swing part to drive the cladding head to swing, so that the cladding head is superimposed with radial swing on the basis of circumferential rotation and axial feeding, the cladding layer with specific radial undulation in the form of a wave shape or a sawtooth shape along the circumference can be formed on the inner wall of the pipeline, the problems of fixed radial position and single cladding track form of the existing device are overcome, and the flexibility of the cladding layer structure design and the process adaptability are improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of laser cladding technology, and more specifically to a laser cladding device for pipelines and its usage method. Background Technology

[0002] Laser cladding technology is a surface modification technique that uses a high-energy laser beam to simultaneously melt the cladding material and the substrate surface, forming a metallurgically bonded coating after rapid solidification. This technology offers advantages such as a small heat-affected zone, high coating-substrate bonding strength, low dilution rate, and precise control over the cladding area. It has been widely applied in the repair and reinforcement of key components in aerospace, petrochemical, and nuclear power equipment industries. In industries such as petrochemicals and natural gas transportation, pipelines operate under high temperature, high pressure, and corrosive media environments for extended periods, making their inner walls susceptible to wear, corrosion, and cracking. Using laser cladding technology to prepare wear-resistant, corrosion-resistant, or high-temperature-resistant coatings on the inner walls of pipelines is an effective means of extending pipeline service life and reducing maintenance costs. Existing laser cladding devices for pipeline inner walls typically include a support base that can move along the pipeline axis, a rotating mechanism mounted on the support base, and a cladding head mounted on the rotating mechanism. During operation, the rotating mechanism drives the cladding head to rotate circumferentially around the pipeline axis, while the support base feeds along the pipeline axis, thereby forming a spiral cladding trajectory on the inner wall of the pipeline. However, the aforementioned prior art has at least the following shortcomings: the movement of the cladding head in the existing device is relatively simple, usually only capable of circumferential rotation and axial feed. The radial position of the cladding head relative to the inner wall of the pipe remains fixed, making it difficult to achieve radial reciprocating oscillation. When it is necessary to form a cladding trajectory with specific radial undulations on the inner wall of the pipe (e.g., a cladding layer distributed in a wavy or sawtooth pattern along the circumference), the existing device cannot meet the process requirements, limiting the flexibility of the cladding layer structure design. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The main objective of this invention is to provide a laser cladding device for pipelines, in order to solve the problem that the cladding head in existing laser cladding devices has a single movement pattern, cannot swing relative to the inner wall of the pipeline, and is difficult to form a radial undulating cladding trajectory.

[0004] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides a laser cladding device for pipelines, comprising a support base, a rotating mechanism rotatably disposed on the support base, and a cladding head disposed on the rotating mechanism, and further comprising a swinging mechanism, the swinging mechanism comprising a contouring component and a swinging component.

[0005] A detachable contouring component mounted on a support base, the contouring component having a contouring surface that undulates circumferentially;

[0006] The swing component is hinged to the rotating mechanism, the cladding head is fixed to the swing component, and the swing component is provided with a follower component that abuts against the contoured curved surface;

[0007] When the rotating mechanism drives the oscillating component to rotate circumferentially, the following component moves along the contoured surface, forcing the oscillating component to drive the cladding head to oscillate.

[0008] Furthermore, the support base includes a tracked robot for moving within the pipe, with a contoured component detachably mounted at the tail end of the tracked robot.

[0009] Furthermore, the oscillating component includes a main rod fixed to the rotating mechanism and an oscillating rod hinged to the main rod; a cladding head is fixed to one end of the oscillating rod; and a follower component is a roller, which is mounted on the oscillating rod.

[0010] Furthermore, the swing element also includes a spring and a vertical plate; one end of the vertical plate is fixedly connected to the main rod; one end of the spring is connected to the vertical plate, and the other end is connected to the end of the swing rod away from the cladding head, so as to provide a preload force that keeps the roller pressed against the contoured surface.

[0011] Furthermore, the rotating mechanism includes an annular rotating rail rotatably mounted on a support base, and a driving mechanism for driving the annular rotating rail to rotate relative to the support base; the driving mechanism includes a drive motor, a chain, and multiple rotating wheels, which are distributed circumferentially and rotatably mounted on the support base. The outer wall of the annular rotating rail is provided with an annular groove, and the multiple rotating wheels are embedded in the annular groove to support the annular rotating rail; wherein a driven sprocket is coaxially fixed on each of two adjacent rotating wheels, the drive motor drives and connects to the drive sprocket, and the chain is sleeved on the drive sprocket and the driven sprocket.

[0012] Furthermore, the cladding head is fixed to the swing rod by an adjustment assembly, which includes multiple stacked shims. The cladding head is fixed to the swing rod by bolts and nuts passing through the shims. The radial position of the cladding head can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the number of shims or by replacing shims of different thicknesses.

[0013] Furthermore, the annular rotating track is provided with a notch that is broken along the circumference, and the arc length of the notch along the circumference of the annular rotating track is smaller than the circumferential distance between two adjacent rotating wheels.

[0014] This invention provides a method of using a laser cladding device for pipelines, wherein the laser cladding device is the aforementioned laser cladding device for pipelines, and includes the following steps:

[0015] S1: Introduce the support base into the pipe to be processed and move it to the target position;

[0016] S2: Start the rotation mechanism to drive the swinging component and the cladding head mounted on it to rotate circumferentially. At the same time, the follower moves along the contoured surface of the contouring component, forcing the swinging component to drive the cladding head to swing.

[0017] S3: Start the cladding head and perform cladding on the inner wall of the pipe under the combined motion of circumferential rotation and radial reciprocating oscillation.

[0018] The beneficial effects of the above scheme are as follows:

[0019] By setting up a contouring component fixed on the support base and a swinging component hinged to the rotating mechanism, when the rotating mechanism drives the swinging component to rotate circumferentially, the following component moves along the contoured curved surface and forces the swinging component to drive the cladding head to swing. This allows the cladding head to be superimposed with radial swing on the basis of circumferential rotation and axial feed, which can form a cladding layer with specific radial undulations such as wave-shaped or sawtooth-shaped along the circumferential direction on the inner wall of the pipe. This overcomes the problems of fixed radial position and single cladding trajectory in existing devices, and improves the flexibility of cladding layer structure design and process adaptability. Attached Figure Description

[0020] The present invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0021] Figure 1 This is a three-dimensional structural schematic diagram of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 2 yes Figure 1 Enlarged structural diagram of region A in the middle;

[0023] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the front structure of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 4 This is a three-dimensional structural schematic diagram of the present invention from another perspective;

[0025] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the right-side structure of the present invention.

[0026] Explanation of reference numerals in the attached figures

[0027] 1. Support base; 11. Tracked robot; 2. Rotating mechanism; 21. Circular rotating rail; 211. Circular groove; 212. Notch; 22. Drive mechanism; 221. Drive motor; 222. Chain; 223. Rotating wheel; 224. Driven sprocket; 225. Drive sprocket; 3. Cladding head; 31. Adjustment assembly; 311. Washer; 312. Bolt; 313. Nut; 4. Swinging mechanism; 41. Profile component; 411. Profile curved surface; 42. Swing component; 421. Main rod; 422. Swing rod; 423. Follower component; 426. Spring; 420. Vertical plate. Detailed Implementation

[0028] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Many specific details are set forth in the following description to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, the present invention may also be implemented in other ways different from those described herein. Those skilled in the art can make similar extensions without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

[0029] Example:

[0030] like Figure 1 , Figure 3 , Figure 4 As shown, this embodiment provides a laser cladding device for pipelines, including a support base 1, a rotating mechanism 2, a cladding head 3, and a swinging mechanism 4. The support base 1 includes a track robot 11. The track robot 11 can adopt a pipeline crawling robot structure commonly used in the art, which includes a robot body, wheels, and a drive motor. The wheels are circumferentially arranged and supported on the inner wall of the pipeline to be processed. The drive motor drives the wheels to rotate, thereby moving the entire device along the pipeline axis. After reaching the target position, the axial positioning can be maintained by self-locking of the wheels or by a brake on the robot body. A mounting base is fixed to the tail end of the track robot 11 for mounting a contouring component 41. The contouring component 41 is detachably mounted on the mounting base, for example, by a positioning stop and multiple bolts. The positioning stop ensures that the contouring component 41 is coaxial with the pipeline axis. The contouring component 41 is a ring-shaped or disc-shaped cam structure, and its outer contour surface forms a contouring surface 411. The radial dimension of the contouring surface 411 varies circumferentially. In this embodiment, the contoured surface 411 is wavy. Depending on the actual process requirements, the contoured surface 411 can also be made into a sawtooth shape, trapezoidal shape, or other undulating form composed of multiple protrusions and pits. The contoured part 41 can be machined as a whole or spliced ​​from multiple arc segments to facilitate the replacement of contoured surfaces with different wave numbers and different wave amplitudes.

[0031] like Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 4 and Figure 5As shown, the rotating mechanism 2 includes an annular rotating rail 21 and a driving mechanism 22. The annular rotating rail 21 is rotatably mounted on the support base 1 and is coaxial with the pipe axis. An annular groove 211 is formed on the outer wall of the annular rotating rail 21. A bracket is provided on the support base 1, and multiple rotating wheels 223 are distributed circumferentially and rotatably mounted on the bracket. In this embodiment, there are six rotating wheels 223, and the rotation axis of each rotating wheel 223 is parallel to the pipe axis. Each rotating wheel 223 is embedded in the annular groove 211 to support the annular rotating rail 21 and allow it to rotate around the pipe axis. Driven sprockets 224 are coaxially fixed on each adjacent rotating wheel 223. The drive motor 221 is fixed on the support base 1, and a drive sprocket 225 is mounted on its output shaft. A chain 222 is sleeved on the drive sprocket 225 and the two driven sprockets 224. The drive motor 221 drives two driven sprockets 224 and corresponding rotating wheels 223 to rotate via the drive sprocket 225 and chain 222. The two rotating wheels 223 drive the annular rotating rail 21 to rotate circumferentially within the annular groove 211 through friction. The remaining rotating wheels 223 act as driven support wheels, ensuring the smooth rotation of the annular rotating rail 21. Using two driving rotating wheels increases the driving torque and avoids rotational instability caused by slippage when driven by a single wheel. The annular rotating rail 21 has a notch 212 that is broken circumferentially. The notch 212 facilitates the installation and repositioning of the annular rotating rail 21. The arc length of the notch 212 along the circumference of the annular rotating rail 21 is smaller than the circumferential distance between two adjacent rotating wheels 223. Therefore, during the rotation of the annular rotating rail 21, the notch 212 will not simultaneously cover two adjacent rotating wheels 223, ensuring that a sufficient number of rotating wheels 223 always support the annular rotating rail 21, preventing the annular rotating rail 21 from falling out of the annular groove 211 or generating excessive vibration. The swing component 42 includes a main rod 421, a swing arm 422, a roller, a vertical plate 420, and a spring 426. The main rod 421 is fixedly mounted on the annular rotating rail 21 and extends radially outward. A hinge seat is provided on the main rod 421, and the swing arm 422 is hinged to this hinge seat via a pin. The pin axis is parallel to the pipe axis, allowing the swing arm 422 to swing in a plane perpendicular to the pipe axis. A cladding head 3 is mounted on one end of the swing arm 422, and a roller is mounted on the other end, serving as a follower component 423. The roller is rotatably mounted on the swing arm 422 via a roller shaft and bearings. The cladding head 3 is located near the inner wall of the pipe, with its outlet facing the inner wall. The outer circumferential surface of the roller abuts against the contoured curved surface 411.

[0032] One end of the vertical plate 420 is fixedly connected to the main rod 421, for example, by welding or integral molding. The vertical plate 420 extends towards the roller side. One end of the spring 426 is connected to the vertical plate 420, and the other end is connected to the end of the swing rod 422 away from the cladding head 3. The spring 426 is configured to provide a preload force, causing the swing rod 422 to generate a torque about the hinge axis, which keeps the roller pressed against the contoured surface 411 at all times. In this way, when the annular rotating rail 21 rotates, the roller rolls along the contoured surface 411 and will not disengage from the contoured surface due to gaps or vibrations.

[0033] like Figure 2 As shown, the cladding head 3 is fixed to the swing rod 422 via an adjustment assembly 31. The adjustment assembly 31 includes a pad 311, a bolt 312, and a nut 313. The swing rod 422 has mounting holes, and the mounting base of the cladding head 3 has through holes. Multiple pads 311 are stacked between the mounting base of the cladding head 3 and the swing rod 422. The bolt 312 passes sequentially through the mounting holes of the mounting base of the cladding head 3, each pad 311, and the swing rod 422, and is then locked with the nut 313, thereby fixing the cladding head 3 to the swing rod 422. By increasing or decreasing the number of pads 311, or by replacing pads 311 with pads of different thicknesses, the radial position of the cladding head 3 relative to the swing rod 422 can be changed, thus adjusting the initial radial position of the cladding head 3 to adapt to different pipe diameters and laser focus position requirements. The cladding head 3 can be a coaxial powder-feeding laser cladding head or a side-axis powder-feeding laser cladding head, and has a laser fiber interface, a powder feeding channel, and a protective gas channel. The laser is transmitted through an optical fiber to the cladding head 3 and then focused. The powder feeding channel delivers the cladding powder into the laser action area, and the protective gas channel introduces inert protective gas.

[0034] The working process and principle of this embodiment are as follows:

[0035] When the rotating mechanism 2 is started, the drive motor 221 drives the driven sprocket 224 and the corresponding rotating wheel 223 to rotate via the chain 222. The rotating wheel 223 drives the annular rotating rail 21 to rotate around the pipe axis by friction within the annular groove 211. The main rod 421, the swing rod 422, and the cladding head 3 rotate circumferentially together with the annular rotating rail 21. At the same time, the roller on the swing rod 422 rolls along the contoured surface 411 of the contouring part 41. Since the contoured surface 411 has radial undulations along the circumference, the roller generates radial displacement while revolving. This radial displacement is transmitted to the cladding head 3 through the lever action of the swing rod 422, causing the cladding head 3 to superimpose radial reciprocating oscillation on the basis of circumferential rotation.

[0036] During the above process, the preload of spring 426 keeps the roller pressed firmly against the contoured surface 411, thus ensuring that the radial oscillation of the cladding head 3 is synchronized with the contour shape of the contoured surface 411. When the track robot 11 feeds along the pipe axial direction, the cladding head 3 forms a spiral-shaped composite cladding trajectory that undulates circumferentially on the inner wall of the pipe. The number of circumferential ripples in the cladding trajectory is determined by the wave number of the contoured surface 411, and the radial oscillation amplitude is determined by the radial height difference of the contoured surface 411 and the lever ratio of the swing rod 422. By replacing different contouring parts 41, radial undulations with different wave numbers and amplitudes can be obtained, thereby meeting the structural design requirements of different pipe inner wall cladding layers.

[0037] The method of using the laser cladding device for pipelines in this embodiment includes the following steps:

[0038] S1: Based on the inner diameter of the pipe to be processed and the required cladding trajectory, select a suitable contouring component 41 and install it on the mounting base at the tail end of the track robot 11; adjust the radial position of the cladding head 3 by adding or removing pads 311 or replacing pads 311 of different thicknesses, so that the laser focus is located on the inner wall of the pipe or at the set defocus position. Introduce the support base 1 into the pipe to be processed, and use the track robot 11 to move along the axial direction of the pipe to the target position.

[0039] S2: The drive motor 221 of the rotating mechanism 2 is activated, driving two rotating wheels 223 to rotate via chain 222 and driven sprocket 224. The rotating wheels 223 rub against the annular groove 211, driving the annular rotating rail 21 to rotate around the pipe axis. The main rod 421, swing rod 422, and cladding head 3 rotate circumferentially with the annular rotating rail 21; the rollers roll along the contoured surface 411 of the contoured part 41 and remain in contact with the contoured surface 411 under the preload of the spring 426. The undulation of the contoured surface 411 forces the swing rod 422 to swing back and forth around the hinge axis, driving the cladding head 3 to swing. At the same time, the track robot 11 can be activated to feed along the pipe axis at a set speed as needed.

[0040] S3: Start the cladding head 3, output laser and feed powder. Under the combined action of circumferential rotation, axial feed and radial reciprocating oscillation, cladding is performed on the inner wall of the pipe to form a cladding layer with specific radial undulations along the circumferential direction. After cladding is completed, turn off the laser and powder feeding, stop the rotation mechanism 2 and axial feed, and remove the device from the pipe.

[0041] It should be noted that the wavy shape of the contoured surface 411 in the above embodiments is only an example, and the specific shape, wave number, and wave amplitude of the contoured surface 411 can be designed according to actual process requirements. The number and arrangement of the rotating wheels 223 can be adjusted according to the pipe diameter and load. In addition to chain drive, the drive mechanism 22 can also adopt synchronous belt drive or gear drive, etc., which can realize the rotation of the annular rotating rail 21. The above modifications and substitutions should all be included within the protection scope of this invention.

[0042] Obviously, the described embodiments are only some, not all, of the embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without inventive effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A laser cladding device for pipelines, comprising a support base (1), a rotating mechanism (2) rotatably mounted on the support base (1), and a cladding head (3) mounted on the rotating mechanism (2), characterized in that, It also includes a swing mechanism (4), which includes: A contouring component (41) is detachably mounted on the support base (1), the contouring component (41) having a contouring surface (411) that undulates in the circumferential direction. A swinging component (42) is installed on the rotating mechanism (2), the cladding head (3) is fixed on the swinging component (42), and the swinging component (42) is provided with a follower (423) that abuts against the contoured surface (411). When the rotating mechanism (2) drives the swinging member (42) to rotate circumferentially, the following member (423) moves along the contoured surface (411), forcing the swinging member (42) to drive the cladding head (3) to swing.

2. The laser cladding device for pipelines according to claim 1, characterized in that, The support base (1) includes a track robot (11) for moving within the pipe, and the contouring element (41) is detachably disposed at the tail end of the track robot (11).

3. The laser cladding device for pipelines according to claim 1, characterized in that, The swinging component (42) includes a main rod (421) fixed on the rotating mechanism (2) and a swinging rod (422) hinged to the main rod (421). The cladding head (3) is fixed to one end of the swing rod (422); The follower (423) is a roller, which is mounted on the swing arm (422).

4. The laser cladding apparatus for pipelines according to claim 3, characterized in that, The swing member (42) also includes a spring (426) and a vertical plate (420); One end of the vertical plate (420) is fixedly connected to the main rod (421); One end of the spring (426) is connected to the vertical plate (420), and the other end is connected to the end of the swing rod (422) away from the cladding head (3) to provide a preload force that keeps the roller pressed against the contoured surface (411).

5. The laser cladding device for pipelines according to claim 1, characterized in that, The rotating mechanism (2) includes an annular rotating rail (21) rotatably disposed on the support base (1), and a driving mechanism (22) for driving the annular rotating rail (21) to rotate relative to the support base (1). The drive mechanism (22) includes a drive motor (221), a chain (222) and multiple rotating wheels (223). The multiple rotating wheels (223) are distributed along the circumferential direction and rotatably mounted on the support base (1). The outer wall of the annular rotating rail (21) is provided with an annular groove (211). The multiple rotating wheels (223) are embedded in the annular groove (211) to support the annular rotating rail (21). Each of the two adjacent rotating wheels (223) is coaxially fixed with a driven sprocket (224), and the drive motor (221) drives and connects a drive sprocket (225). The chain (222) is sleeved on the drive sprocket (225) and the driven sprocket (224).

6. The laser cladding apparatus for pipelines according to claim 3, characterized in that, The cladding head (3) is fixed to the swing rod (422) by an adjustment assembly (31). The adjustment assembly (31) includes a plurality of stacked pads (311). The cladding head (3) is fixed to the swing rod (422) by a bolt (312) and a nut (313) passing through the pads (311). The radial position of the cladding head (3) can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the number of the pads (311) or by replacing the pads (311) with pads of different thicknesses.

7. The laser cladding apparatus for pipelines according to claim 5, characterized in that, The annular rotating rail (21) has a notch (212) that is broken along the circumference. The arc length of the notch (212) along the circumference of the annular rotating rail (21) is smaller than the circumferential distance between two adjacent rotating wheels (223).

8. A method of using a laser cladding device for pipelines, wherein the laser cladding device is a laser cladding device for pipelines according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: S1: Introduce the support base (1) into the pipe to be processed and move it to the target position; S2: Start the rotating mechanism (2) to drive the swinging member (42) and the cladding head (3) set thereon to rotate in a circumferential direction. At the same time, the following member (423) moves along the contoured surface (411) of the contouring member (41), forcing the swinging member (42) to drive the cladding head (3) to swing. S3: Start the cladding head (3) and clad the inner wall of the pipe under the combined motion of circumferential rotation and radial reciprocating oscillation.

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