Laser system doubles tank production

Citation

(1998), "Laser system doubles tank production", Assembly Automation, Vol. 18 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/aa.1998.03318baf.004

Laser system doubles tank production

Laser system doubles tank production

Keywords Automation, Lasers, Meta Technology, Welding

After installing a Meta Laser Seam tracking system, Aquasan S.L., a company in the Lapesa Group based in Zaragoza, Spain, reports a 100 per cent increase in production coupled with reduced rework for two welded joints on domestic water tanks.

The system, called MTX II, was installed on a welding machine that joins the two dished ends of the tank to the pre-welded cylindrical body. In the Zaragoza factory 50,000 tanks are produced annually. Prior to installing the Meta vision system, the two ends were welded manually one after another (Plate 4).

A rotary indexing machine was used to manipulate the tank under the welding torch. The operator then used a joystick control to keep the weld torch centrally over the join. The engineers at Aquasan were looking for a solution that allowed both ends to be welded simultaneously so that output for this operation could be doubled.

The rotary welding machine was adapted so that there is now a welding set at each end of the machine. Trials very quickly established that the Meta Laser tracking system could automatically keep the torch weld centrally over at one end of the tank while the operator used the existing joystick control for the other end of the tank, thus welding both ends simultaneously.

Plate 4 The same sensor is used on the new MetaView as the more sophisticated tracker welding seam systems.

Such was the success of the process, within a few months of converting the first machine to simultaneous welding, a second MTX II system was ordered.

The pace of development at Meta meant that subsequent to ordering the first system the Meta Laser Probe has been introduced. This is a low cost version of the MTX II, the original system installed.

Although the Laser Probe does not do everything the original MTX II system does, it is more than adequate for the task in hand. More importantly, it costs 30 per cent less and is even easier to set up. It is estimated that with the doubling of productivity per operator, the payback for each system is well under one year.

According to a Lapesa welding engineer, "The increased productivity is coupled with improved weld quality because the system ensures consistent repetition of weld parameters time after time".

Options for future development include moving the two existing machines adjacent to each other and fitting a laser tracking system at both ends of the machine. This will enable one operator to load/unload both machines while both ends are welded under control of the laser tracking system. This would represent a 400 per cent increase in operator productivity over the original process.

Although both systems have only been installed for a matter of months, Lapesa is already looking at other applications in a sister plant that makes LPG tanks. Here the system will be used for both linear welds in the cylindrical body of the tank as well as welding the two dished ends into position.

Factors that makes the metal systems particularly attractive to the LPG production facility include the improved quality that comes from laser tracking systems and the capability of the system to handle multi-pass welding, claims Meta.

Contact Mike Wilson, Managing Director Meta Technology Limited, 10 Harrier Park, Southmead Industrial Estate, Didcot, Oxon OX11 7PL. Tel: +44 (0)1235 512215; Fax: +44 (0)1235 512115.