Processing method and plant for welding metal strips

A processing method for processing metal strips in a processing plant, the processing plant including an accumulator, a welding machine upstream of the accumulator, and a processing device downstream of the accumulator, the method comprising:

• feeding a first metal strip to the welding machine and toward the strip accumulator in a transport direction (x), the first metal strip having a strip head with a leading edge, a strip tail with a trailing edge, and a fillet piece between the strip head and the strip tail thereof,
• feeding a second metal strip to the welding machine and toward the strip accumulator in the transport direction (x) while at least the strip tail of the first metal strip is in the welding machine, the first metal strip having a strip head with a leading edge, a strip tail with a trailing edge, and a fillet piece between the strip head and the strip tail thereof,
• inside the welding machine, rotating the first metal strip and the second metal strip so that the first and the second metal strip are oriented in a direction that is at an oblique angle (α) to the transport direction (x),
• inside the welding machine, cutting through the strip head of the rotated second metal strip and the strip tail of the rotated first metal strip along a direction that is perpendicular to the transport direction (x), thereby creating a new leading edge for the strip head of the second metal strip and a new trailing edge of the strip tail of the first metal strip,
• inside the welding machine, welding the new leading edge of the strip head of the second metal strip to the new trailing edge of the strip tail of the first metal strip to obtain a weld seam, wherein, when viewed transversely to the transport direction (x), the weld seam extends from a first lateral edge that runs along the transport direction (x) of one of the two metal strips to a second lateral edge thereof,
• storing the welded first and second metal strips in the strip accumulator, and
• feeding the welded first and second metal strips continuously or intermittently from the strip accumulator to the processing device,
• wherein first the strip heads, then the fillet pieces, and only then the strip tails of the first and second welded metal strips are fed to the processing device.