Automated Truss Welding for Escalator Support Structures
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Solution Overview
Problem
The manual welding of truss components for passenger transport systems is time-consuming, costly, and prone to warping due to irregular heat input, leading to logistical and economic challenges in producing stable and precise support structures for escalators and moving walkways.
Innovation Solution
A method involving partially or fully automated joining stations with welding robots to assemble truss components in sequential steps, using tack welds to maintain shape during load-bearing welding, reducing warping and increasing efficiency and precision.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If manual welding is used to assemble truss components, then the structure can be fabricated with flexibility, but the production time and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The welding process is divided into multiple sequential steps (tack welding, positioning, final welding) that can be performed by different robots or robot configurations. This segmentation allows each step to be optimized independently, maintaining flexibility while increasing overall productivity through automated assembly stations.
Solution Approach 2:
Tack welding is performed as a preliminary action to secure components in their correct positions before final welding. This preliminary positioning enables automated systems to maintain precision without requiring manual intervention for each welding operation, thereby increasing production rate while preserving manufacturing flexibility.
2Reliability
If certified welders perform manual welding to ensure quality, then welding reliability is maintained, but production time and labor costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
Manual welding operations performed by certified welders are replaced with automated welding robots that execute predetermined welding paths and parameters. This substitution maintains welding quality through consistent automated execution while dramatically reducing production time and eliminating the need for certified human welders.
Solution Approach 2:
The automated welding system incorporates feedback mechanisms including position sensors, temperature monitoring, and quality inspection systems that verify weld integrity in real-time. This feedback ensures welding reliability matches or exceeds manual welding quality while maintaining high production speed.
3Strength
If manual welding is used to create load-bearing connections, then the truss components can be joined with sufficient strength, but distortion occurs due to uneven heat input
Solution Approach 1:
Tack welding is performed as a preliminary action to secure components in their correct positions and orientations before final load-bearing welding. This preliminary positioning prevents distortion by establishing accurate geometry early in the process, while the subsequent automated welding ensures sufficient joint strength without the uneven heat input problems of manual welding.
Solution Approach 2:
Manual welding that causes uneven heat input and distortion is replaced with automated welding robots that precisely control heat input distribution through programmed welding paths, speeds, and parameters. This substitution maintains joint strength while eliminating the distortion that compromises manufacturing precision.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple truss variants are manufactured to meet different customer requirements, then adaptability is improved, but logistical complexity and welding demands increase
Solution Approach 1:
The automated assembly system incorporates programmable robots and controllable assembly stations that can dynamically reconfigure welding paths, sequences, and parameters based on the specific truss variant being produced. This dynamic adaptability allows the same automated system to handle multiple product variants without increasing logistical complexity, as the complexity is managed through software control rather than physical reconfiguration.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach significantly reduces production time and costs, enhances the quality of the support structures by minimizing distortion and the need for certified welders, while improving the manufacturing rate and quality of the welding seams.
Implementation Method 1
A first joining step is performed at a first joining station and comprises holding truss components on a holding device and welding the truss components together using at least one welding robot to form side parts of the lower part, side parts of the middle part and side parts of the upper part of the truss
Implementation Method 2
A second joining step is performed at a second joining station and comprises holding the side parts of the lower part, the side parts of the middle part and the side parts of the upper part on at least one holding device, and arranging further truss components adjacently between the side parts of the lower part, the middle part and the upper part on the at least one holding device, and load-bearing welding together the truss components of the entire pre-positioned truss structure by creating continuous welded joints
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for producing a framework-like support structure (1) for a passenger transport system, such as an escalator, for example, in which an entire production sequence is subdivided into at least three separate joining steps, which can preferably be carried out with the aid of coordinated joining stations (101, 102, 103) cooperating with one another and operating in a partly or fully automated manner. Each of the joining stations (101, 102, 103) has components and machines in the form of at least one holding device (31, 35, 39) and at least one welding robot (33, 37, 41) and optionally at least one handling robot (38, 313, 321). The joining steps to be carried out in the individual joining stations (101, 102, 103) are designed in such a way with regard to the components and machines used in the same that intermediate products can be fabricated efficiently and in each case in a manner coordinated with a following joining step in a following joining station, such that the intermediate products can be passed on sequentially and with optimized short cycle times from joining station to joining station, in order at the end of the sequence to be able to provide a finished support structure (1) that is capable of bearing a load.