All You Need to Know about Robotic Welding Systems

by Mitsubishi Electric India Manufacturer and Supplier of electrical and electr

Robotic welding provides several benefits over manual welding. To start with, it offers higher productivity as well as better product quality with reduced operational cost. Automating welding processes helps organizations fetch better returns by maximizing efficiency. If you plan to incorporate a robotic automation system in your operations, there are various options available for the same.

When choosing to automate welding processes, you need to consider several components to find the best robotic welding systems according to your specific welding requirements.

Types of Robotic Welding

There are several types of robotic welding, including: -

Plasma welding
Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW)
Resistance Spot Welding
Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW)
Laser welding
Laser Hybrid Welding
Thin Gauge Arc Welding

Of all these types, choosing the one as per your welding requirements can help you achieve high operational efficiency.

Now that you know different types of robotic welding, let us take a glance at the different features to be considered while choosing a robotic welding system.

Workcell Features

The parts you will be welding will mainly determine the type of workcell features you need. These parts could be fixtures, turntables, shields or stationary tables, depending on the weight, size, and availability of your parts, and production volume. The robot can effortlessly reach to smaller parts and will require fewer workcell features while extremely big parts will require substantial positioning and fixturing.

Communication and Intelligence

In robotic welding systems, human-machine interface (HMI), system controllers for parts motion and robot controllers for tooling and movement and environmental communication are all critical factors. For instance, data acquisition can deviate between systems as per the type of information required.

Welding Robot Features

Choosing the right robot, workcell, and software has a crucial role to play, but understanding your welding requirements is equally vital. Depending on your needs, you may require GMAW, MIG or laser welding. Your application will ascertain the types of consumables and metal filler, contact tip and wire feeding you may require for proper execution.

To ensure your robotic welding system works properly, it is important to pay heed to the preventive maintenance of the same.

Reasons to get preventative maintenance

Preventative maintenance decreases unexpected downtime and the related costs due to production shut down. It also cuts down on the demand for expensive repairs and equipment replacements. Here are a few key ways that can help improve the Robotic

Welding Performance:

Monitor wire feeding

Too short a liner, particularly with small-diameter wires, can lead to bad wire feeding and burn backs. You need to monitor wire feeding to ensure the right wire feeding and welding.

Expand contact tip life

Make sure you are using the correct-sized wire for the contact tip diameter to avoid the wire from getting stuck in the tip as it can lead to burn back. You also need to clean the contact tip regularly with compressed air to evade splatter and debris creation. You can also consider using contact tips that revolve around to further boost the lifespan and decrease

costs.

So, these were few pointers to help you understand about robotic welding systems. You can incorporate a robotic welding system to improve your operations and boost your productivity.