I. Project Background
Wuhu Tianhang Heavy Industry is a state-controlled specialized, refined, distinctive and innovative enterprise producing multiple types of steel structures including thick-plate full-penetration components, H-beam joints, thin-walled corrugated plates and bridge manhole irregular-shaped parts. Component weld types are complex, automation of irregular spatial-curve welds is difficult, and large workpieces require multiple lifting and repositioning; traditional equipment adapts to a single category, teaching robots have long changeover debugging times, and manual welding is prone to defects such as incomplete penetration and burn-through with high rework costs. The company urgently needs a highly flexible, large-coverage intelligent welding solution.
The company chose 3Srobotics for its equipment that flexibly adapts to various components through vision; its ability to weld spatial-curve irregular welds such as manholes; the 9-axis gantry’s ultra-large working range with dual-machine collaboration to improve capacity; and mature, proven technology that meets the strict supplier qualification assessment requirements of state-owned enterprises.
II. Solution & Implementation
3Srobotics deployed 1 set of 7-axis cantilever equipment and 4 sets of 9-axis gantry equipment, of which 2 gantries have been put into production. The equipment relies on the vision system to automatically recognize weld features of different components and autonomously generate welding trajectories, requiring no per-piece teaching and compatible with butt and fillet welds. For bridge plate unit manhole irregular-shaped parts, 3D vision scanning tracks spatial-curve welds and dynamically adjusts torch posture and process parameters. The 9-axis gantry workstation covers large bridge plate units, completing long welds in a single pass to avoid arc-restrike defects, with two gantries able to work collaboratively. The 7-axis cantilever equipment flexibly handles small and medium components such as H-beams and corrugated plates, forming capacity complementarity with the gantry equipment and optimizing workshop production scheduling.
III. Project Value & Results
After deployment, dual-gantry collaborative operation significantly improves the welding efficiency of large components and irregular-shaped parts compared with the manual mode. A single set of equipment can cover multiple workpiece categories including thick plates, thin walls and irregular-shaped parts, greatly enhancing flexible production capability. The system precisely controls welding trajectories and process parameters, reducing quality defects such as incomplete penetration, burn-through and uneven fillet size. The combined configuration of 7-axis cantilever and 9-axis gantry allows flexible capacity allocation according to order tasks. Currently 2 sets of 9-axis gantry are in stable production, with the remaining equipment in the acceptance stage and more welding capacity to be gradually released.
