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Welding motion synchronization of tank with variable curvature section based on discrete planning method of welding torch posture

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Abstract

Welding path planning and motion synchronization of complex tanks are important research areas in the intelligentization of welding equipment. In the present work, the welding of tank with variable curvature section was taken as the study object, an innovative method to automatically generate the posture of welding torch at the welding spots of variable curvature section was proposed. The method involves establishing a homogeneous transformation matrix for the torch posture and combining it with the angle planning equation of the positioner to form an equation for welding motion synchronization based on the torch posture planning method. Then, a set of welding torch posture and positioner’s rotation angles along the welding path of variable curvature section was created in Matlab, and the combination code of the welding torch movement and positioner rotation were obtained to accurately control the welding speed, wire feed rate and the posture of welding torch. An aluminum alloy tank composed of eight arcs was chosen to verify the proposed technique. The results show that the difference of welding position at the same positioner’s rotation angle ranged from -0.7976 mm to 0.7616 mm, the repeatability accuracy of the automatic welding system's posture was less than 0.1 mm, and the weld qualification rate of the aluminum alloy tank exceeds 98% with limited weld defects. That is, the tanks with variable curvature sections can be automatically and accurately welded by the proposed method.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 51975440); Hubei provincial key R & D plan project (2020BAB143); the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (WUT: 2022III006XZ); the 111 Project (Grant no. B17034); and the Innovative Research Team Development Program of Ministry of Education of China (Grant no. IRT_17R83).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hubei Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Automotive Components, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Yanli Song, Weihao Li, Jun Wang, Jue Lu & Shulei Zhang

  2. Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Automotive Components Technology, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Yanli Song, Weihao Li, Jun Wang, Jue Lu & Shulei Zhang

  3. Hubei Engineering Research Center for Green & Precision Material Forming, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Yanli Song, Jue Lu & Xuanguo Wang

  4. Hubei Qixing Automobile Body Co., Ltd., Suizhou, 441300, China

    Hongzhou Zuo

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  1. Yanli Song
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Contributions

Yanli Song: Resources, Writing-reviewing and editing, Supervision, Project, Funding acquisition, Weihao Li: Translating, Experimental, Writing-reviewing and editing, Graphical Abstracts, Jun Wang: Writing-original draft, Conceptualization, Methodology, Experimental, Jue Lu: Resources, Project, Supervision, Translating, Reviewing, Funding acquisition, Shulei Zhang: Supervision, Writing-reviewing, Hongzhou Zuo: Project administration, Supervision, Resources, Administration, Xuanguo Wang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Experimental.

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Correspondence to Jue Lu.

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Song, Y., Li, W., Wang, J. et al. Welding motion synchronization of tank with variable curvature section based on discrete planning method of welding torch posture. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 130, 5727–5742 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-024-13045-5

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