A robotic welding station

Abstract

This utility model relates to a robotic welding workstation for welding structural components of tunnel boring machines (TBMs). It includes positioning equipment, mobile rails, and welding equipment. At least two positioning devices are arranged side-by-side in a straight line. Each positioning device includes two positioners and a clamping fixture positioned between them. Mobile rails are laid on the ground on both sides of the positioning devices, extending along the arrangement direction of the positioning devices and covering the length of at least two positioning devices. At least two welding devices are slidably mounted on each side of the mobile rails, and the working range of each welding device covers at least two positioning devices. This utility model, through the coordinated arrangement of two positioners and four welding robots, can achieve various combined application modes, meeting the adaptive welding requirements of large-size TBM structural components and improving welding efficiency and work quality.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to the field of welding equipment technology, and in particular to a robotic welding workstation. Background Technology

[0002] Key structural components of tunnel boring machines, such as the cutterhead, can have diameters ranging from several meters to tens of meters and weigh tens of tons. Welding these components is difficult due to their large size. Traditional manual welding requires frequent flipping, positioning, and welding, resulting in low efficiency and safety risks. Manual welding is susceptible to fatigue and variations in skill, leading to inconsistent weld quality. Furthermore, the cutterhead must withstand the immense impact forces during underground excavation, and weld defects can cause fractures. Welding fumes, high temperatures, and intense arc light pose significant health hazards to workers, making prolonged manual labor unsustainable. While conventional welding robots can replace manual labor and automate welding operations, their application also presents challenges: one robot serves only one chassis component, limiting the welding range; and single-robot welding is time-consuming and inefficient. Summary of the Invention

[0003] To address the problem that conventional welding equipment is unable to weld large-sized shield tunneling workpieces, this utility model provides a robotic welding workstation. This workstation overcomes the technical bottleneck of relying on manual welding in existing technologies. Furthermore, it employs two positioners and four welding robots arranged in a coordinated manner to meet the welding requirements of large-sized shield tunneling workpieces.

[0004] To achieve the above objectives, the technical solution adopted by this utility model is as follows: A robotic welding workstation for welding structural components of a tunnel boring machine includes a positioning device, a moving ground rail, and welding equipment. The number of positioning devices is at least two, and the two positioning devices are arranged side by side in a straight line. Each positioning device includes two positioners and a clamping fixture set between the two positioners, which facilitates the lifting, lowering, and rotating of the clamping fixture by the positioners. Movable ground rails are laid on the ground on both sides of the positioning equipment to provide tracks for the movement of welding equipment. The movable ground rails extend along the arrangement direction of the positioning equipment, and the length of the movable ground rails covers at least two positioning equipment. At least two welding equipment are slidably connected on the movable ground rails on each side, and the working range of each welding equipment covers at least two positioning equipment.

[0005] Furthermore, each positioner includes a vertical frame, a lifting seat, and a tilting seat. The vertical frame is arranged vertically, and the lifting seat is slidably mounted on the vertical frame. The tilting seat is rotatably mounted on the lifting seat. The tilting seat can move up and down and can also be tilted.

[0006] Furthermore, a clamping fixture is provided between the flipping seats of the two positioners for quick clamping and fixing of the tunnel boring machine structural components. This facilitates the vertical movement and flipping of the clamping fixture.

[0007] Furthermore, the movable ground rails on both sides are arranged in parallel at intervals, and the length of the movable ground rails is greater than the maximum spacing between the clamping fixtures. This facilitates the welding equipment's operating range covering the clamping fixtures.

[0008] Furthermore, the welding equipment includes a sliding table, a column, a rotary cantilever beam, and a welding robot. The sliding table is slidably connected to a moving ground rail. The column is installed on one side of the sliding table, arranged vertically. The rotary cantilever beam is connected above the column, arranged horizontally, and the welding robot is installed on the rotary cantilever beam. This facilitates the swinging of the welding robot.

[0009] Furthermore, the columns and welding robots are staggered at both ends of the rotary cantilever beam, with the welding robots rotating parallel to or at an angle to the moving ground rail.

[0010] Furthermore, the welding robot is a six-axis robot, comprising a robot body and welding equipment. The robot includes a robot body and a control cabinet, while the welding equipment includes a welding power source, a wire feeder, and a welding torch. The structure and operating principle of the welding robot are existing technologies.

[0011] The beneficial effects of this utility model through the above technical solution are: This utility model has a reasonable structural design, employing two positioning devices and four welding devices arranged in a coordinated manner. The two positioning devices are arranged back to back, and the four welding devices are evenly distributed on both sides of the positioning devices. Each pair of welding devices shares a moving ground rail, thereby realizing multiple combination application modes of positioning devices + welding devices. One positioning device can match one, two, three or even four welding devices to perform adaptive welding operations on large-sized structural components of the tunnel boring machine.

[0012] The positioner in this utility model's positioning device can control the height and flipping posture of the clamping fixture, thereby facilitating the attitude adjustment of the tunnel boring machine's structural components. The welding equipment operates independently, moving along a mobile ground rail. The sliding table slides along the rail, and the rotating cantilever beam can rotate, allowing the welding robot to cover a wider area and effectively improving welding efficiency. Attached Figure Description

[0013] Figure 1 This is a top view of a robotic welding workstation according to the present invention, in which the clamping fixture is in two different postures.

[0014] Figure 2 This is a side view of a robotic welding workstation according to the present invention.

[0015] The attached diagram is labeled as follows: 1. Positioning device, 2. Moving ground rail, 3. Welding equipment, 4. Positioner, 5. Clamping fixture, 6. Stand, 7. Lifting seat, 8. Tilting seat, 9. Sliding table, 10. Column, 11. Rotary cantilever beam, 12. Welding robot, 13. Rotary motor. Detailed Implementation

[0016] The specific embodiments of this utility model are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings: like Figures 1-2 As shown, a robotic welding workstation for welding structural components of a tunnel boring machine includes a positioning device 1, a moving ground rail 2, and a welding device 3. The number of positioning devices 1 is at least two; here, there are two positioning devices 1 arranged side-by-side in a straight line, with a gap between them.

[0017] The positioning device 1 is used to change the attitude of the tunnel boring machine's structural components. Each positioning device 1 includes two positioners 4 and a clamping fixture 5 set between the two positioners 4. The positioner 4 includes a frame 6, a lifting seat 7, and a tilting seat 8. The frame 6 is vertically arranged on the ground, and the lifting seat 7 is slidably mounted on the frame 6. A lifting screw module is installed on the frame 6, which drives the lifting seat 7 to move linearly up and down along the frame 6. The lifting screw module is existing technology.

[0018] A tilting seat 8 is rotatably mounted on the lifting seat 7, and the tilting seat 8 can rotate relative to the lifting seat 7. A slewing bearing is provided between the lifting seat 7 and the tilting seat 8. A drive motor is used, and the output shaft of the drive motor has a gear that meshes with the outer ring of the slewing bearing. Thus, the rotation of the tilting seat 8 can be controlled by the drive motor.

[0019] A clamping fixture 5 is installed between the tilting seats 8 of the two positioners 4. This allows the clamping fixture 5 to be raised, lowered, and tilted, and it is used for the rapid clamping and fixing of the tunnel boring machine (TBM) structural components. The operator hoists the TBM structural component onto the clamping fixture 5, and then operates the clamping fixture 5 to fix the component in the predetermined position. Then, the welding equipment 3 can begin operation. The clamping fixture 5 can adopt a known structure from the prior art, such as the clamping fixture 5 for welding the cutter box of a TBM disclosed in patent publication number CN208528391U.

[0020] Two movable ground rails 2 are laid on the ground on both sides of the positioning device 1, and the two movable ground rails 2 are arranged in parallel with a gap between them. The movable ground rails 2 extend along the arrangement direction of the positioning devices 1, and the length of the movable ground rails 2 covers at least two positioning devices 1, that is, the length of the movable ground rails 2 is greater than the maximum distance between at least two clamping fixtures 5.

[0021] At least two welding devices 3 are slidably mounted on each side of the movable ground rail 2. Here, two welding devices 3 are arranged on one movable ground rail 2. The two welding devices 3 slide along the movable ground rail 2, and the working range of each welding device 3 covers at least two displacement devices 1. Therefore, the two welding devices 3 can serve one displacement device 1 at the same time, or serve two displacement devices 1 respectively.

[0022] The welding equipment 3 includes a sliding table 9, a column 10, a rotary cantilever beam 11, and a welding robot 12. The sliding table 9 is horizontally arranged and slides on the moving ground rail 2. The sliding driving force of the sliding table 9 is existing technology, which can be achieved by using a gear and rack travel mechanism to drive the movement of the sliding table 9. The two welding equipment 3 on one moving ground rail 2 are independently driven, each moving independently along the moving ground rail 2 without affecting each other.

[0023] A column 10 is installed on one side of the sliding table 9. The columns 10 are arranged vertically, and a rotary cantilever beam 11 is connected to the top of the column 10. To enable the rotation of the rotary cantilever beam 11, a rotary bearing is installed between the rotary cantilever beam 11 and the column 10. The outer ring of the rotary bearing is toothed. The inner ring of the rotary bearing is fixedly connected to the column 10, and the outer ring is fixedly connected to the rotary cantilever beam 11. At the same time, a rotary motor 13 with a gear on the output shaft is installed on the column 10. The gear meshes with the outer ring of the rotary bearing, and the rotary motor 13 drives the rotary bearing to rotate, thereby allowing the rotary cantilever beam 11 to rotate.

[0024] A horizontally arranged cantilever beam 11 is capable of horizontal circular oscillation. A welding robot 12 is mounted on the cantilever beam 11. The column 10 and the welding robot 12 are staggered at both ends of the cantilever beam 11, with the column 10 positioned below one end of the cantilever beam 11 and the welding robot 12 positioned above one end of the cantilever beam 11. Because the cantilever beam 11 can rotate, the welding robot 12 can also rotate. The welding robot 12 is either parallel to or at an angle to the moving ground rail 2.

[0025] The welding robot 12 is a six-axis robot, and this is existing technology. The welding robot 12 includes a robot body and a welding equipment 3. The robot includes a robot body and a control cabinet, and the welding equipment 3 includes a welding power source, a wire feeder, and a welding torch, etc. The above configuration of the welding robot 12 is existing technology and will not be described in detail here. The control cabinet, welding power source, and wire feeder are all mounted on a sliding table 9 and move with the sliding table 9; the welding torch is mounted on the robot body.

[0026] The principle of this invention is as follows: the shield machine structural component to be welded is manually fixed onto the clamping fixture 5, and the welding operation of the shield machine structural component is realized through the coordinated cooperation of the positioning device 1 and the welding device 3. Specifically, using two positioning devices 1 in conjunction with four welding devices 3 allows for various combinations of the positioning devices 1 and welding devices 3. For example, one positioning device 1 can be used in conjunction with one, two, three, or even four welding devices 3, thereby achieving multi-device collaborative operation and enabling rapid welding of large-sized shield machine structural components.

[0027] The embodiments described above are merely preferred embodiments of this utility model and are not intended to limit the scope of implementation of this utility model. Therefore, all equivalent changes or modifications made to the structure, features and principles described in the patent claims of this utility model should be included within the scope of the patent application of this utility model.

Claims

1. A robotic welding workstation for welding structural components of a tunnel boring machine, characterized in that, It includes a positioning device (1), a moving ground rail (2) and a welding device (3). The number of the positioning devices (1) is at least two. The two positioning devices (1) are arranged side by side in a straight line. Each positioning device (1) includes two positioners (4) and a clamping fixture (5) set between the two positioners (4). The ground on both sides of the displacement device (1) is provided with movable ground rails (2). The movable ground rails (2) extend along the arrangement direction of the displacement devices (1). The length range of the movable ground rails (2) covers at least two displacement devices (1). At least two welding devices (3) are slidably connected on each side of the movable ground rails (2). The working range of each welding device (3) covers at least two displacement devices (1).

2. The robotic welding workstation according to claim 1, characterized in that, Each of the positioners (4) includes a stand (6), a lifting seat (7) and a tilting seat (8). The stand (6) is arranged vertically, and the lifting seat (7) is slidably mounted on the stand (6). The tilting seat (8) is rotatably mounted on the lifting seat (7).

3. A robotic welding workstation according to claim 2, characterized in that, The clamping fixture (5) is provided between the flipping seats (8) of the two positioners (4) for quick clamping and fixing of the shield machine structural components.

4. The robotic welding workstation according to claim 1, characterized in that, The movable ground rails (2) on both sides are arranged in parallel at intervals, and the length of the movable ground rails (2) is greater than the maximum spacing between the clamping fixtures (5).

5. A robotic welding workstation according to claim 1, characterized in that, The welding equipment (3) includes a sliding table (9), a column (10), a rotary cantilever beam (11), and a welding robot (12). The sliding table (9) is slidably connected to the moving ground rail (2). The column (10) is set on one side of the sliding table (9). The column (10) is arranged vertically. The rotary cantilever beam (11) is connected above the column (10). The rotary cantilever beam (11) is arranged horizontally. The welding robot (12) is set on the rotary cantilever beam (11).

6. A robotic welding workstation according to claim 5, characterized in that, The column (10) and welding robot (12) are staggered at both ends of the rotating cantilever beam (11). The welding robot (12) rotates parallel to the moving ground rail (2) or at an angle.

7. A robotic welding workstation according to claim 5, characterized in that, The welding robot (12) is a six-axis robot. The welding robot (12) includes a robot and a welding equipment (3). The robot includes a robot body and a control cabinet. The welding equipment (3) includes a welding power source, a wire feeder and a welding torch.

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