Steel structures are widely used in industries such as architecture, bridges, ships, engineering machinery, nuclear power, railways, etc. due to their seismic resistance, durability, economy, environmental protection, and energy efficiency.
According to statistics from the China Iron and Steel Industry Association, the demand for steel reached 890 million tons in 2020, a year-on-year increase of 2%. The 14th Five Year Plan mentions that by 2035, China's steel structure consumption will reach over 200 million tons per year.
Among them, the construction industry consumes 56% of steel, followed closely by industries such as machinery, automobiles, and shipping. Industry insiders predict that with the increase in infrastructure investment, the promotion of green buildings, and the implementation of new shipbuilding standards, the demand for steel in the shipbuilding and construction industries will steadily increase.
In the construction process of steel structures, welding technology is a very important connection method.
In theory, with the growth of the steel structure field and the attention of the country, the prospects for steel structure welding are very promising. However, the fact is that steel structure welding is facing significant difficulties.
On the one hand, traditional welding has lost its charm. The demand for welders in enterprises has been increasing year by year, but young people are no longer willing to enter factories and engage in the welding profession with harsh working conditions, resulting in an increase in the labor cost of skilled welders.
On the other hand, the demand for welding in the work environment is changing in the welding of steel structures. Even if welding robots are used to complete the welding process, traditional welding still relies on manual programming and teaching, which is inefficient and time-consuming, and the operation is complex; At present, welding robots are gradually occupying a place in steel structure welding with the trend of digitization, automation, and intelligence.
This means that the steel structure market has an urgent demand for intelligent welding.
Why are we all doing 3D intelligent welding?
In August 2023, the steel structure leader Honglu Steel Structure publicly tendered 1000 sets of robot welding vision, which pointed out the future development direction for the welding industry.
Requirements for visual technical parameters of robot welding in the bidding documents:
Functional requirements:
① Development ecology: an open platform that can adapt to mainstream welding robots, with multiple weld seam recognition modules and chemical technology packages;
② Visual management: The interactive interface needs to be visualized, making it easy to test and deploy;
③ Easy to operate ability: easy to use and operate, achieving simple operation and quick mastery;
④ Connecting with Tekla: supports digital and analog import, and can seamlessly connect with Tekla steel structure design software, achieving automatic recognition and precise positioning;
⑤ High flexibility and fault-tolerant: The visual system can recognize the actual position of the weld seam, align the workpiece, scan and splice, identify the starting point, automatically plan the welding path, and automatically generate robot welding programs with intelligent and teaching free functions;
⑥ Digital interface: Vision has good compatibility with major international well-known brands and mainstream robots in the industry, accurately providing real-time feedback on actual displacement information and robots. Flexible communication interface options include TCP/IP, EnterNetIP, and other communication methods
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Recently, it has been discovered that manufacturers such as arc welding, spot welding, and laser welding are all developing 3D intelligent welding products.
The commonality lies in creating 3D visual sensors as the welding core, combining with intelligent welding systems and welding robots for operation, achieving fully intelligent welding without teaching or programming.
The advantage of this type of solution lies in saving labor costs, avoiding teaching and programming, and allowing workers to operate without complex training; In addition, 3D cameras will improve the accuracy of weld seam positioning and broaden the application fields for welding robots.
At present, there are thousands of steel structure enterprises in China, but the entry threshold is low, resulting in low industry concentration.
From a market perspective, manufacturers who closely follow the trend of 3D intelligent welding and are the first to implement scenario iteration will continue to benefit in the steel structure application industry.
On October 12th, the 2023 (Second) Welding Robot Technology and Application Summit will be held at the Sofitel Hotel Shanghai New Hualian. At that time, Dr. Yang Tao, co-founder of Zhixiang Optoelectronics, will give a keynote speech on "The Application, Challenges, and Opportunities of 3D Vision in Robot Welding" at the new product section, and participate in the round table dialogue to discuss issues such as "different requirements for welding in different industries and scenarios".