Pipe Flange & Elbow Welding Robot | haibao robot

Project photographs and equipment references

haibao robot · CUSTOMER APPLICATION

Robotic Welding of Flanged Elbows for Cooling-Water Systems

Large flanged elbows combine long circumferential seams, thick flanges and welds around lifting attachments. haibao robot developed a coordinated robot and L-type positioner cell for this mix of joints in cooling-water pipework.

The workpiece challenge

The flange and pipe wall have different thicknesses, making heat input and distortion control important. Long seams require repeatable torch access, while flange sealing faces must be protected from spatter and handling damage. Incoming fit-up variation also needs to be addressed before starting the weld.

Cell configuration

The documented system uses a FANUC M-10iD/8L robot with a 2,038 mm reach, an R-30iB B-CAB controller and a dual-station L-type turning positioner. Welding equipment includes a PM500 power source, VR11000 wire feeder and German TBI 82W torch with hollow-wrist routing. Controls, alarms, clamping components and guarding are integrated into the cell.

Touch sensing and seam tracking

Wire touch sensing establishes workpiece reference positions before welding. Through-arc seam tracking adjusts the path during weaving to compensate for position changes. Multi-layer, multi-pass programs control the sequence for thicker joints, with torch cleaning and wire trimming included in routine operation.

From loading to the next station

Lift the elbow into the fixture, locate and clamp it, select the matching program and check shielding gas and wire. The robot then performs sensing, root welding and subsequent passes while the positioner presents the joint. After completion, the system returns to its changeover position for the next workpiece.

Assess cycle time from the actual drawing

The source example gives 400 mm/min average welding speed and 9,700 mm of weld length, corresponding to 24.25 minutes of travel at that speed. This is a weld-travel calculation, not a guaranteed total production cycle: loading, sensing, pass count, cleaning and inspection must also be included.

Request an application review

Send pipe diameter, wall thickness, material, flange standard, lifting-lug locations, joint drawings and batch size.

haibao robot
Shao Yicheng · Key Account Project Director · International Welding Engineer (IWE)
Email: masterhyper@163.com
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