The market for robots is steadily growing across the world, and Europe has an excellent tradition both in terms of construction and integration of robotic automation systems in production plants. The sectors that absorb the most production and use of industrial robots are: automotive, electronics, metals, and plastics.  The inclusion of robotic islands in the industrial context has changed the production cycle of many companies, increasing the quality of products and the speed of processing, thereby cutting costs and reducing safety risks for operators.

Welding and Robots: how are we doing?

The islands are usually used for handling, assembly, painting and welding.  Handling is the primary field in robotics use, with a global share of 44%, while robots used in the welding sector account for 37% (spot welding, laser welding, etc.).

The Metal sector has shown considerable interest in technological innovation in terms of increasing production and use of automation. This has led to a dynamic trend in all markets, with a high percentage of robot sales and automated systems. Indeed, annuel root consumption increases by 12~22% compared to the previous year.

It is recognized that automated welding produces high quality and repeatable joints while reducing heat production, slags and, wastes during the process. The use of a welding robot avoids oversized joints, since the systems are programmed with parameters that allow to joint production with precise dimensional characteristics, avoiding expansion or contraction processes in the surrounding metal during heating and cooling cycles.

Automated systems guarantee high reproducibility and shorter cycle times in welding processes, reducing the consumption of resources and electricity compared to manual processes, thus meeting the growing need for energy efficiency. The speed of the machines is about five times higher than the average man, not to mention that the robot can move quickly from one joint to the next, allowing the execution of several operations in series.

Automation reduces labour costs and compensates for the shortage of skilled welders, as less practice is required. Therefore, the welder becomes a process monitoring operator.

Flexibility also extends to the variety of process types and joints that can be manufactured based on a variety of materials and components. Generally speaking, the robotic stations are equipped with a repository with various welding programs that can be used on different materials and thicknesses, for example MIG, MAG and TIG. Here it is possible to install standard robots, hollow wrist robots, robots with push-pull torch or with master-slave system.

Cobotized welding

In particular, it is worth mentioning how welding benefits considerably from the use of collaborative robots (cobots), which carry out the tasks alongside the operators in the assembly lines. Cobots estimates indicate average annual growth of more than 50% until 2026. While large companies are mainly interested in installing fast-working robots in their production lines in order to maximize productivity, the cobots are more suited to the needs of small and medium-sized companies. They are slower and more flexible since they have to learn, repeat, and save movements to be carried out from the operator. In essence, the robotic arm is able to replicate, the work that a highly qualified welder would do with greater quality and in less time, implying additional health and safety benefits.

Welding requires repetitive and precise torch movements. As such, the welder’s fatigue is not an inconsiderable problem. This physical condition can lead to musculoskeletal disorders. By placing a robotic arm next to the human, fatigue is drastically reduced as the torch is manipulated by the cobot. The welders are only required to monitor the process and guide the torch where necessary. The ergonomics of the working environment is considerably improved, since the use of robots allows to avoid welding in forced positions. This prevents stress to the operator’s body and limbs experienced during manual work and risky for their health.

Carrying out the operation with the help of a robot protects the operators’ health, preventing them from being exposed to the UV/IR light generated by arc welding, which can cause visual disorders, as well as long-term carcinogenic pathologies generated by continuous exposure to smoke and toxic gases. In particular, the use of collaborative robots allows better control of emissions, thereby reducing the environmental impact.

There are considerable benefits in terms of joint quality, since the use of a robotic arm guarantees a defect rate of less than 3%, avoiding additional work processes. It is not necessary for the operator to act manually to file or roughen the beads released from the welding material or to repeat the work, using a gas torch if any defects have to be eliminated. The cobots’ precision combined with optimized welding power avoids the use of additional welding wire which causes energy and material waste. By reducing the quantity of defects and using adequate power, the use of a cobot allows to considerably reduce the consumption of gas to maintain the flame active. CO2 emissions into the environment are lower. In this regard, it should be noted that welding accounts for 4.5% of the European Union’s gross energy consumption, and arc welding produces 9.82 grams of CO2 per second.

Lasermach new product PhotonWeld-R with the Wobble-6R-PRO+ high-power wobble welding head is released! It highly integrates high-power two-dimensional scanning galvanometer, control system, human-machine interface, observation camera, QBH, collimator lens, focusing lens and other optical components. It does not need an external controller. It can directly control the galvanometer and laser, and supports external IO triggers to start and supports secondary development of customer remote interface. It can be widely used in high-end processing fields such as laser welding and laser quenching of wide welds. The system is stable and reliable, compact in structure, precise in optical path, good in sealing, exquisite appearance, light in weight and easy to install.

The new PhotonWeld-R power swing welding system supports linear, rectangular, circular, elliptical, figure 8 and other swing modes, each of which is adjustable in length and width; supports rotation, and each mode can modify the rotation angle online according to the welding path;  The mode supports the independent setting of the power on both sides to support the user's research and implementation of complex processes; it supports the storage and import of 64 sets of programming parameters, which can be combined freely, giving users the flexibility to program different welding paths.

The PhotonWeld-R can provide a wealth of interfaces and DEMO development codes, support MODBUS protocol, and support customers to quickly integrate all controls into their own main control software. It also supports laser alarm shutdown, online recording of temperature curves in 3 key temperature zones, and abnormal alarm shutdown.  It uses high-speed high-performance scanning galvanometer, high swing frequency, faster welding speed and higher efficiency. It will be your better working partner for high-end welding!