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US 5,957,366 AGranted
Helically formed welded pipe and diameter control
AssigneeAmeron International Corporation
InventorRalph S. Friedrich
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A helical weld servo controller for controlling the diameter of helically formed welded pipes adjusts the auxiliary hold down wheel position and the helix angle based on information provided by transducers regarding outgoing pipe diameter and by a laser vision device which generates weld gap and offset information.
Claims18
Apparatus for diameter control of a pipe formed by helically welding a sheet comprising:
- diameter measuring transducers on the pipe downstream from a welding location;
- offset control means for controlling offset of a leading edge of an incoming sheet to the welding location relative to an edge of the pipe at the welding location;
- and
- a servo control linking the transducers and the offset control means for holding the offset at a selected point.
1 more element
A method for diameter control of a pipe formed by helically welding a sheet comprising the steps of:
- measuring the diameter of the pipe;
- and
- adjusting radial offset of a leading edge of an incoming sheet to a welding location relative to an edge of the pipe at the welding location to maintain the pipe at a selected diameter.
Apparatus for diameter control of a pipe formed by helically welding a sheet comprising:
- diameter measuring transducers on the pipe downstream from a welding location;
- a movable guide roller for guiding an incoming sheet with a leading edge to the welding location;
- measuring means for measuring a radial offset between the leading edge and the pipe approximate the welding location;
- and
- a controller coupled to the transducers, the measuring means, and the guide roller, the controller moving the guide roller to maintain the pipe at a selected diameter.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.