Welding system

A welding system comprising:

• a welding stage having a table forming a horizontal surface on which materials to be welded are placed;
• reference position locating means having a reference plate which is contacted by an end surface of one of the materials to be welded, while protruding upward from an upper surface of the table, to position the end surface of the material to be welded, prior to butt welding for butting the end surfaces of the materials placed on the upper surface of the table and welding the end surfaces together, and which retreats downward from the upper surface of the table during welding;
• transport means for the materials to be welded, adapted to transport the material to be welded, which has been placed on the upper surface of the table, toward the reference plate, or the end surface of the one of the materials to be welded whose positioning has been completed upon contact with the reference plate;
• a horizontal beam supported at both ends by vertical end struts, and disposed horizontally like a bridge over the welding stage;
• a carriage traveling horizontally on the horizontal beam;
• and
• a welding head loaded on the carriage, and moved along a weld line together with the carriage to weld a weld area of the materials to be welded which have been placed on the welding stage, and wherein
• the welding head is a laser/arc combined welding head for simultaneously performing laser light irradiation and arc discharge of the materials to be welded, thereby welding the materials to be welded, and
• further includes arc electrode inclination angle adjusting means for inclining an arc electrode relative to an optical axis of laser light, thereby adjusting an inclination angle of the arc electrode.

A welding system comprising:

• a welding stage having a table forming a horizontal surface on which materials to be welded are placed;
• reference position locating means having a reference plate which is contacted by an end surface of one of the materials to be welded, while protruding upward from an upper surface of the table, to position the end surface of the material to be welded, prior to butt welding for butting the end surfaces of the materials placed on the upper surface of the table and welding the end surfaces together, and which retreats downward from the upper surface of the table during welding;
• transport means for the materials to be welded, adapted to transport the material to be welded, which has been placed on the upper surface of the table, toward the reference plate, or the end surface of the one of the materials to be welded whose positioning has been completed upon contact with the reference plate;
• a horizontal beam supported at both ends by vertical end struts, and disposed horizontally like a bridge over the welding stage;
• a carriage traveling horizontally on the horizontal beam;
• and
• a welding head loaded on the carriage, and moved along a weld line together with the carriage to weld a weld area of the materials to be welded which have been placed on the welding stage, and wherein
• the welding head is a laser/arc combined welding head for simultaneously performing laser light irradiation and arc discharge of the materials to be welded, thereby welding the materials to be welded, and
• further includes arc electrode distance adjusting means for bringing an arc electrode close to or away from a laser light irradiation position in the materials to be welded, thereby adjusting a distance between the laser light irradiation position and the arc electrode.

A welding system comprising:

• a welding stage having a table forming a horizontal surface on which materials to be welded are placed;
• reference position locating means having a reference plate which is contacted by an end surface of one of the materials to be welded, while protruding upward from an upper surface of the table, to position the end surface of the material to be welded, prior to butt welding for butting the end surfaces of the materials placed on the upper surface of the table and welding the end surfaces together, and which retreats downward from the upper surface of the table during welding;
• transport means for the materials to be welded, adapted to transport the material to be welded, which has been placed on the upper surface of the table, toward the reference plate, or the end surface of the one of the materials to be welded whose positioning has been completed upon contact with the reference plate;
• a horizontal beam supported at both ends by vertical end struts, and disposed horizontally like a bridge over the welding stage;
• a carriage traveling horizontally on the horizontal beam;
• and
• a welding head loaded on the carriage, and moved along a weld line together with the carriage to weld a weld area of the materials to be welded which have been placed on the welding stage, and wherein
• the welding head is a laser/arc combined welding head for simultaneously performing laser light irradiation and arc discharge of the materials to be welded, thereby welding the materials to be welded, and
• further includes an arc electrode adjusting mechanism composed of
• arc electrode position adjusting means for moving an arc electrode in a direction perpendicular to a direction of an optical axis of laser light applied to the materials to be welded, thereby adjusting a position of the arc electrode in the perpendicular direction relative to a laser light irradiation position in the materials to be welded,
• arc electrode inclination angle adjusting means for inclining the arc electrode relative to the optical axis of laser light, thereby adjusting an inclination angle of the arc electrode, and
• arc electrode distance adjusting means for bringing the arc electrode close to or away from the laser light irradiation position in the materials to be welded, thereby adjusting a distance between the laser light irradiation position and the arc electrode.

A welding system comprising:

• a welding stage having a table forming a horizontal surface on which materials to be welded are placed;
• reference position locating means having a reference plate which is contacted by an end surface of one of the materials to be welded, while protruding upward from an upper surface of the table, to position the end surface of the material to be welded, prior to butt welding for butting the end surfaces of the materials placed on the upper surface of the table and welding the end surfaces together, and which retreats downward from the upper surface of the table during welding;
• transport means for the materials to be welded, adapted to transport the material to be welded, which has been placed on the upper surface of the table, toward the reference plate, or the end surface of the one of the materials to be welded whose positioning has been completed upon contact with the reference plate;
• a horizontal beam supported at both ends by vertical end struts, and disposed horizontally like a bridge over the welding stage;
• a carriage traveling horizontally on the horizontal beam;
• and
• a welding head loaded on the carriage, and moved along a weld line together with the carriage to weld a weld area of the materials to be welded which have been placed on the welding stage, and wherein
• the welding head is a laser/arc combined welding head for simultaneously performing laser light irradiation and arc discharge of the materials to be welded, thereby welding the materials to be welded, and
• further includes gas flow generating means provided in a support portion of an arc electrode for generating and ejecting a gas flow along an axis of the arc electrode.

A welding system comprising:

• a welding stage having a table forming a horizontal surface on which materials to be welded are placed;
• reference position locating means having a reference plate which is contacted by an end surface of one of the materials to be welded, while protruding upward from an upper surface of the table, to position the end surface of the material to be welded, prior to butt welding for butting the end surfaces of the materials placed on the upper surface of the table and welding the end surfaces together, and which retreats downward from the upper surface of the table during welding;
• transport means for the materials to be welded, adapted to transport the material to be welded, which has been placed on the upper surface of the table, toward the reference plate, or the end surface of the one of the materials to be welded whose positioning has been completed upon contact with the reference plate;
• a horizontal beam supported at both ends by vertical end struts, and disposed horizontally like a bridge over the welding stage;
• a carriage traveling horizontally on the horizontal beam;
• and
• a welding head loaded on the carriage, and moved along a weld line together with the carriage to weld a weld area of the materials to be welded which have been placed on the welding stage, and wherein
• the welding head is a laser/arc combined welding head for simultaneously performing laser light irradiation and arc discharge of the materials to be welded, while disposing an arc electrode outside laser light, thereby welding the materials to be welded, and
• further includes gas flow generating means provided in a support portion of the arc electrode for generating and ejecting a gas flow along an axis of the arc electrode, with the arc electrode being disposed outside the laser light in the same welding head.

A welding system comprising:

• a welding stage having a table forming a horizontal surface on which materials to be welded are placed;
• reference position locating means having a reference plate which is contacted by an end surface of one of the materials to be welded, while protruding upward from an upper surface of the table, to position the end surface of the material to be welded, prior to butt welding for butting the end surfaces of the materials placed on the upper surface of the table and welding the end surfaces together, and which retreats downward from the upper surface of the table during welding;
• transport means for the materials to be welded, adapted to transport the material to be welded, which has been placed on the upper surface of the table, toward the reference plate, or the end surface of the one of the materials to be welded whose positioning has been completed upon contact with the reference plate;
• a horizontal beam supported at both ends by vertical end struts, and disposed horizontally like a bridge over the welding stage;
• a carriage traveling horizontally on the horizontal beam;
• and
• a welding head loaded on the carriage, and moved along a weld line together with the carriage to weld a weld area of the materials to be welded which have been placed on the welding stage, and wherein
• the reference position locating means is constituted such that
• a second table is divided so as to be contactable with or separable from a first table, the first table bearing one of the materials to be welded, and the second table bearing the other material to be welded which is butt welded to the one material to be welded,
• in positioning the end surface of the one material to be welded, the reference plate is protruded upward from the upper surface of the first table, with the second table being separated from the first table, and
• after completion of a positioning operation for the end surface of the one material to be welded, the reference plate is retreated downward from the upper surface of the first table, and the second table is moved toward the first table, whereupon its end surface contacts the end surface of the first table, thereby closing a space above the retreated reference plate, and
• the welding head is a laser/arc combined welding head for simultaneously performing laser light irradiation and arc discharge of the materials to be welded, thereby welding the materials to be welded, and
• further includes arc electrode position adjusting means for moving an arc electrode in a direction perpendicular to a direction of an optical axis of laser light applied to the materials to be welded, thereby adjusting a position of the arc electrode in the perpendicular direction relative to a position of irradiation with laser light in the materials to be welded.

A welding system comprising:

• a welding stage having a table forming a horizontal surface on which materials to be welded are placed;
• reference position locating means having a reference plate which is contacted by an end surface of one of the materials to be welded, while protruding upward from an upper surface of the table, to position the end surface of the material to be welded, prior to butt welding for butting the end surfaces of the materials placed on the upper surface of the table and welding the end surfaces together, and which retreats downward from the upper surface of the table during welding;
• transport means for the materials to be welded, adapted to transport the material to be welded, which has been placed on the upper surface of the table, toward the reference plate, or the end surface of the one of the materials to be welded whose positioning has been completed upon contact with the reference plate;
• a horizontal beam supported at both ends by vertical end struts, and disposed horizontally like a bridge over the welding stage;
• a carriage traveling horizontally on the horizontal beam;
• and
• a welding head loaded on the carriage, and moved along a weld line together with the carriage to weld a weld area of the materials to be welded which have been placed on the welding stage, and wherein
• the transport means has a plurality of transport arms, and is configured such that the plurality of transport arms are moved parallel toward a material to be welded, which is an odd-shaped member;
• each time a welded material detection sensor of each transport arm detects the material to be welded, drive means of the transport arm is driven to grasp an end portion of the material, to be welded, between an upper lever and a lower lever of the transport arm and detect a state of grasp by a grasp state detection sensor;
• and
• after a state of grasp by all the transport arms of the material to be welded is detected, each transport arm is moved parallel in the same amount to transport the material to be welded up to a predetermined position,
• the transport arm includes
• a bench having the welded material detection sensor at a front end thereof, and adapted to move toward the odd-shaped material to be welded,
• the drive means disposed on the bench,
• the lower lever caused to protrude forward from the bench by driving of the drive means, and rotating in one direction relative to the bench to contact the odd-shaped material, to be welded, from below the material to be welded, and
• the upper lever caused to protrude forward from the bench, integrally with the lower lever, upon driving of the drive means, and rotating in the opposite direction relative to the bench to contact the material, to be welded, from above the material to be welded, and
• after the welded material detection sensor detects the material to be welded, the upper lever and the lower lever are rotated, whereby the end portion of the material to be welded is grasped between the upper lever and the lower lever, and
• the welding head is a laser/arc combined welding head for simultaneously performing laser light irradiation and arc discharge of the materials to be welded, thereby welding the materials to be welded, and
• further includes arc electrode position adjusting means for moving an arc electrode in a direction perpendicular to a direction of an optical axis of laser light to be applied to the materials to be welded, thereby adjusting a position of the arc electrode in the perpendicular direction relative to a position of irradiation with laser light in the materials to be welded.

A welding system comprising:

• a plurality of welding stages each having a table forming a horizontal surface on which materials to be welded are placed, and being disposed adjacent to each other;
• a horizontal beam supported at both ends by vertical end struts, and disposed horizontally like a bridge over the welding stages;
• an intermediate strut supporting an intermediate site of the horizontal beam between the adjacent welding stages;
• a carriage traveling horizontally on the horizontal beam;
• a plurality of reference position locating means each having a reference plate which is contacted by an end surface of one of the materials to be welded, while protruding upward from an upper surface of each table, to position the end surface of the material to be welded, prior to butt welding for butting the end surfaces of the materials placed on the upper surface of each table and welding the end surfaces together, and which retreats downward from the upper surface of each table during welding;
• a plurality of transport means for materials to be welded, adapted to transport the material to be welded, which has been placed on the upper surface of each table, toward the reference plate, or the end surface of the one of the materials to be welded whose positioning has been completed upon contact with the reference plate;
• a welding head loaded on the carriage, and moved along a weld line together with the carriage to weld a weld area of the materials to be welded which have been placed on the welding stages, and wherein
• the welding head is a laser/arc combined welding head for simultaneously performing laser light irradiation and arc discharge of the materials to be welded, thereby welding the materials to be welded,
• further includes arc electrode position adjusting means for moving an arc electrode in a direction perpendicular to a direction of an optical axis of laser light applied to the materials to be welded, thereby adjusting a position of the arc electrode in the perpendicular direction relative to a position of irradiation with laser light in the materials to be welded, and
• is configured such that in accordance with movement in one direction of the carriage located at one of ends of the horizontal beam as an initial position, the welding head welds the material, to be welded, on each welding stage at a predetermined welding speed, and upon completion of welding of the materials, to be welded, on all the stages as a result of movement to the other end of the horizontal beam, the welding head moves in the opposite direction at a higher speed than the welding speed, arrives at the initial position, and performs a predetermined welding operation while moving again toward the other end along the horizontal beam.