How to choose an automatic robot suitable for industrial welding?

Choosing an automatic robot suitable for industrial welding requires comprehensive consideration of many factors. The following are some suggestions:

Clear welding requirements

Welding material and thickness: Different welding materials, such as carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum alloy, etc., and different material thicknesses have different requirements for welding technology and parameters of the robot. For example, welding thick carbon steel materials may require a large welding current and a high wire feeding speed, which is suitable for choosing a high-power arc welding robot; Welding thinner aluminum alloy materials requires more precise welding control, such as robots using TIG welding process.

Welding process requirements: Determine the required welding process, such as MIG/MAG, TIG, submerged arc welding, etc. There are differences in equipment structure, control system and welding parameters of welding robots with different processes. For example, MIG/MAG welding robot is suitable for welding most metal materials with high welding speed and efficiency. TIG welding robot is more suitable for occasions with high welding quality and strict welding accuracy, such as aerospace, medical equipment and other fields.

Welding speed and quality requirements: if the production task requires high welding speed to improve production efficiency, then the robot model with fast welding speed should be selected; For products that require high welding quality, such as automobile engines and pressure vessels, it is necessary to focus on the welding accuracy, stability and repeatability of the robot to ensure the consistency of weld quality.

Considering robot performance

Degrees of Freedom: Generally speaking, arc welding and cutting robots need at least 5 degrees of freedom, and spot welding robots need 6 degrees of freedom to ensure that the welding gun can reach the required welding position and maintain a proper posture.

Load capacity: according to the size and weight of the workpiece to be welded, choose the robot with corresponding load capacity. The load capacity of arc welding and cutting robots is usually 6kg-10kg, and the load capacity of spot welding robots should be 60kg-90kg when integrated transformers and electrode holders are used, and 40kg-50kg when separated electrode holders are used.

Workspace: whether the working radius of the robot can cover the whole welding work area should be considered. At the same time, it should be noted that the actual weldable space will be reduced after the end manipulator such as welding gun is installed, and it should be carefully accounted by proportional drawing method or model method to ensure that it meets the actual production requirements.

Repetitive positioning accuracy and trajectory repetition accuracy: these are the key indexes that affect welding quality. For arc welding robots, the trajectory repetition accuracy should be less than 1/2 of the welding wire diameter, and generally it should be below 0.3 mm-0.5 mm; For the spot welding robot, the point-to-point repetition accuracy should be less than 1/2 of the electrode diameter of the electrode holder, that is, 1 mm-2 mm.

Maximum speed: Although the welding speed is usually low, the maximum speed will affect the position, idle stroke and return time of the welding torch, thus affecting the overall production efficiency.

Attention control system

Programming mode: Common programming modes include teaching programming and off-line programming. Teaching programming is simple and intuitive, suitable for beginners and simple welding tasks; Off-line programming can be programmed on the computer without taking up the production time of the robot, which is suitable for complex welding paths and large-scale production tasks and can improve the programming efficiency and quality.

Intelligent functions: For example, the adaptive welding function can automatically adjust the welding parameters according to the shape, position and size of the weld, and the weld tracking function can monitor the change of the weld in real time and automatically correct the welding path, so as to improve the welding quality and efficiency and reduce the welding defects.

Operation interface: Choosing a control system with friendly operation interface and easy operation can reduce the training difficulty and cost of operators and improve work efficiency.

Consider budget and return on investment.

Budget: The price of welding robot varies with brand, model and function. When choosing, we should determine the affordable price range according to the actual budget of the enterprise, and choose the robot with the most suitable performance and function within this range.

Return on investment: Calculate the return on investment of the robot, including the saved labor cost, improved production efficiency, reduced welding defect cost and the service life of the equipment. Although the initial investment of automated robots is high, in the long run, if it can significantly improve production efficiency, reduce costs and improve product quality, its return on investment is considerable.

Pay attention to brand and after-sales service

Brand reputation: Choose a well-known brand of welding robot, usually its product quality, performance stability and reliability are more guaranteed. Such as ABB, FANUC, KUKA, Yaskawa and other international famous brands, as well as domestic excellent brands such as Kelda, have a high reputation and a large number of successful application cases in the market.

After-sales service: High-quality after-sales service is very important, including equipment installation and debugging, training, maintenance and technical support. Ensure that suppliers can provide timely and effective after-sales service, so as to reduce the downtime of equipment failure and ensure the normal production.